Naval battle near Barcelona (1642)
| date | June 29 to July 3, 1642 |
|---|---|
| place | before Barcelona , Catalonia , today's Spain |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 44 frigates 25 galleons 14 fire |
36 frigates 10 galleons 6 fires 35 barcos longos |
| losses | |
|
622 fallen and wounded |
approx. 3,000 fallen and wounded |
Les Avins - Leuven - Tornavento - Guetaria - Fontarrabie - Corbie - Diedenhofen 1639 - Turin - Aire-sur-la-Lys - Honnecourt - Barcelona - Cartagena - Diedenhofen 1643 - Rocroi - Orbetello - Fort Mardyck - Dunkirk - Rethel - Bordeaux - Lens - Arras - Valenciennes - Battle of the Dunes
The naval battle near Barcelona was a naval battle of the Franco-Spanish War that took place before Barcelona from June 29 to July 3, 1642 between a Spanish fleet under Juan Alonso Idiáquez , 2nd Duke of Ciudad Real and a French fleet under Jean Armand de Maillé -Brézé , Duke of Fronsac. In the three-day battle, Brézé defeated the Spanish fleet that had attempted to rush to the aid of isolated Spanish garrisons on the Catalan coast and forced Idiáquez to retreat to Mallorca for repairs . As usual in battles in which Maillé-Brézé was involved, the French fleet made extensive use of their burners . In this battle, however, the Galion-de-Guise , a large French vice-flagship, fell to its own fire , fell victim to the flames and sank. Nevertheless, this did not change anything in the French victory, which in the long term led to the fall of the Catalan Perpignans in September 1642.
background
After the outbreak of the Reapers ' Revolt, a Catalan revolt against Spanish rule, large parts of the principality were in the hands of the rebels and their French allies in mid-1641. The operations of the Spanish armed forces were limited to the area around Tarragona and Tortosa in the south and the county of Roussillon in the north, as well as some isolated ports along the coast. The French viceroy of Catalonia, Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt , tried to take Tarragona between May and August, but failed because the French blockade fleet under Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis was not numerically enough to prevent a large Spanish relief convoy from entering Tarragona . Sourdis was never particularly enthusiastic about the blockade of Tarragona, since he wanted to direct all efforts towards the conquest of Collioure in order to starve the Spanish army in Perpignan. Cardinal Richelieu later replaced him with his nephew Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, but he still followed his plans for the 1642 campaign, and devoted most of his energies to the conquest of Roussillon.
French preparations
Marshal Charles de La Porte took Collioure on April 13th and besieged Perpignan together with Friedrich von Schomberg . The French fleet blocked the coast between Tarragona and Collioure in order to involve the Spanish fleet in a battle if necessary. The fleets of Ponant and Levant gathered near Barcelona. The squadron of Brest , which consisted of 21 frigates, 2 flutes and 6 branders, doubled the number of ships on June 10 at Cabo de Gata . The Toulon squadron , led by the Chevalier de Cangé and consisting of 19 frigates, 4 flutes and 6 fires, reached Barcelona on May 8th. The flotte des galères under the Bailli de Forbin consisted of 25 units and arrived on June 21st. The fleet was completed by a small squadron under Abraham Duquesne , which had been left to cruise off the Catalan coast, and ten chartered English and Dutch ships, increasing the strength to almost 60 ships. After a council of war was held on deck on June 22, Maillé-Brézé had his ships set sail to intercept a Spanish fleet that had reportedly been sighted off Tarragona.
Spanish preparations
Spanish naval officers tried to have the Spanish fleet operational in time to prevent the merger of the French Levant and Ponant fleets, but failed. Therefore, they concentrated on assembling as many ships as possible for a relief fleet to relieve the isolated garrisons along the coast, and especially the beleaguered Roussillon. Relief from the seaside was the only remaining option, since a land army, which was supposed to move through the country to Perpignan and provide relief, was defeated at La Mothe-Houdancourt in the Battle of Montmeló and the subsequent Battle of La Granada , and Count Pedro Antonio was defeated de Aragón , his lieutenant Gerolamo Caracciolo and the entire remaining force of about 3,500 men was captured. In the face of defeat, all of Castile was placed under martial law. Foreign and private ships were confiscated, silver from private individuals was melted down to mint coins with which the troops could be paid, and soon Cadiz was full of soldiers and sailors who had flocked from all over the country. The Duke of Ciudad Real, a man devoid of any experience in maritime warfare, was appointed chief naval officer. His deputy was Admiral General Sancho de Urdanivia. The hastily rounded up fleet consisted of 31 galleons or larger sailing ships, 2 frigates, 3 pataches , 6 branders, a convoy of tartans and 35 Barcos longos , a newly developed type of counter-fire.
The battle
The Spanish fleet arrived off Barcelona on June 29 at around 3:00 p.m. and immediately attacked the French, despite the late hour, the rough seas and although they were not yet fully assembled. The battle raged until sunset. The Spaniards tried to board some of the French ships, but were unsuccessful. The French used one of their brands, the Spaniards even three, but these too remained without any notable success.
The next day the slower Spanish galleys reached Barcelona and the now completed Spanish fleet attacked again. Now the Magdalena and some smaller Spanish ships managed to isolate the great French Galion-de-Guise and threatened to board the ship. The French sent a fire in the direction of the Magdalena , but the Spanish managed to divert the fire to the Guise , which immediately caught fire. The Guise sank burning in the floods and with it her commander Hercule de Conigan de Cangé together with a crew of 540 men, including 500 French and about 30 Spanish.
On July 3, the battle continued, but now the French artillery gained the upper hand and several Spanish ships were badly damaged. The Duke of Ciudad Real was forced to withdraw and let the French win.