Battle of Cape Espartel

The Battle of Cape Espartel was a naval battle of the Spanish Civil War that broke the Republican blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar, securing the naval supply route to Spanish Morocco for the Nationalists early in the war. The action occurred on September 29, 1936 between two Nationalist cruisers and two Republican destroyers.

Background
The rebel conspirators at Ferrol had been able to seize the city's naval base in July, but at a large cost: over 30 mutinous officers had been shot by hundreds of sailors loyal to the Republic.

Their prize included the old battleship España (formerly the Alfonso XIII), the cruisers Almirante Cervera and the unfinished Canarias, two light cruisers, one destroyer, and a number of torpedo boats and sloops. In September, a small squadron, including the Almirante Cervera and Canarias, steamed from Ferrol to engage the Republican navy.

At the start of the war, the Spanish Republican Navy had the battleship Jaime I, three light cruisers, 14 destroyers, plus five submarines. In addition to the España, the two cruisers and one destroyer taken by the Nationalists, by the following year they had completed the Almirante Cervera and Canarias. They also had purchased four destroyers and two submarines from Fascist Italy. The Nationalists established a blockade of the Republican-held coastline for the entire duration of the war, but their paucity of ships limited the blockade's effectiveness.

The battle
The Nationalists engaged a squadron of Republican destroyers stationed on the western end of the Straits. The destroyer Gravina was deployed near Cape Espartel, while her sister ship Almirante Ferrándiz was patrolling off Ceuta. A fierce exchange of fire followed, during which the destroyer Almirante Ferrándiz was chased and sunk by the Canarias in the Alboran Sea, while the Gravina was pursued and hit twice by the Cervera along the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The main guns of the Canarias found their mark at a range of 11 miles with their second salvo, while those of Cervera performed poorly. The surviving Republican destroyer retreated toward Casablanca. This action was decisive to open the Straits to the insurgents' shipping.