Sea battle at Cape St. Vincent (1797)

Sea battle at Cape St. Vincent (1797)

Part of: First Coalition War

The Battle of Cape St. Vincent, painting by Robert Cleveley, 1798

date	February 14, 1797
place	off the coast of Portugal , at Cabo de São Vicente
output	British victory

Parties to the conflict
Great Britain	Spain
Commander
John Jervis	José de Cordoba
Troop strength
15 ships of the line	27 ships of the line
losses
73 dead, 227 wounded	250 dead 550 wounded 4 ships of the line

The sea ​​battle at Cape St. Vincent took place on February 14, 1797 off the Portuguese coast at Cabo de São Vicente . The clash between the British and Spanish fleets was an important battle during the French coalition wars .

background

The obligation of Spain to declare war on England and to attack her with her navy resulted from the alliance treaty of San Ildefonso with France of August 18, 1796. Spain declared war on England in October 1796 and made the British position in the Mediterranean region untenable. The combined French-Spanish fleet with 38 ships of the line outnumbered the British Mediterranean fleet with 15 ships of the line and forced them to give up their positions on Corsica and Elba . In the spring of 1797 the Spanish fleet with 27 liners was in Cartagena with the intention of continuing to Cádiz and then joining the French fleet at Brest . The Spanish fleet under Don José de Córdoba left Cartagena on February 1st and would have reached Cádiz safely if the Levant , an easterly wind, had not driven the fleet further out into the Atlantic than planned. When the wind subsided, the fleet resumed its route to Cádiz.

Meanwhile, the British Mediterranean fleet under Admiral John Jervis left the port of Lisbon with 10 liners to intercept the Spanish fleet. On February 6, 1797, five more ships of the line from the Canal Fleet under Rear Admiral William Parker strengthened the English squadron .

On February 11, the British frigate Minerve sailed under captain George Cockburn with Commodore Horatio Nelson on board on its way from Gibraltar to the Atlantic, thanks to thick fog, through the Spanish fleet and reached the British fleet on February 13. Nelson informed Jervis of the position of the Spanish fleet, but had not seen how big it was in the fog.

On February 14th, Jervis learned that the Spanish fleet was windward .

The battle

Relief for the sea battle at Cape St. Vincent on the Nelson's Column in London

At dawn on February 14, 1797, the British fleet was in attack position. Admiral Jervis realized that his fleet was outnumbered by the Spanish. But it would have been difficult to withdraw at this point. Jervis also knew that merging the Spanish and French fleets would be even more dangerous. To the advantage of the British, the Spaniards were not yet ready to attack. Their fleet was still divided into two groups, while the British ships were already in line up . Jervis decided to drive between the two groups to minimize enemy fire and to be able to fire on both sides himself. As he passed between the two groups, the larger group was able to turn and move away in almost the opposite direction, while the smaller group was in a similar position. Jervis ordered his ships to turn around to intercept the larger group before they could reach Cadiz.

Nelson was at the bottom of the British fleet on his ship, the Captain , and was closest to the large group of Spanish ships. He concluded that the maneuver ordered would not allow British ships to overtake the Spaniards. He ignored the order, left the formation and turned earlier so that he could reach the group more quickly. This brought him right in front of the Spanish ships. When Jervis saw the captain's maneuver , he ordered his last ship, the Excellent , to do the same. At the same time, the first ships in the formation had finished their maneuvers and were within the range of the Spanish ships.

The Captain was now exposed to fire from six Spanish ships, three of which were three- deckers with 122 guns and Cordoba's flagship, the Santissima Trinidad , with 130 guns. Soon so much of the rigging was destroyed on the Captain that it was almost impossible to maneuver. Nelson then steered close to the San Nicolás in order to be able to board the enemy ship .
Meanwhile, on the Excellent , Captain Collingwood attacked the 112-cannon equipped San José , which was already so close to the San Nicolás that Nelson ordered his crew to board the second via the first Spanish ship. Both ships were boarded. This maneuver was so unusual and so admired in the Royal Navy that it was soon referred to as "Nelson's patented bridge for boarding an enemy ship".

The Spaniards were finally able to pull away, which ended the battle. Jervis crossed over to the Irresistible - which Nelson was now on now that the Captain was no longer maneuverable - and paid tribute to Nelson's insubordination . He pointed out that the maneuver would have been suicidal if the Spaniards had been better trained.

consequences

The next day the Spaniards were spotted again. They withdrew as the British set course for them. A few days later the damaged Santissima Trinidad was sighted en route to Spain and attacked by the frigate Terpsichore . But she was able to escape.

On the British side there were 73 dead, 227 seriously wounded and 100 slightly wounded. The Spaniards had about 1,000 wounded or dead. The Spanish ships of the line Salvador del Mundo , San José , San Nicolás and San Ysidro were arrested.

Jervis was made Earl of St. Vincent and First Lord of the Admiralty . Nelson was knighted as Knight Companion of the Bath and promoted to Rear Admiral. Cordoba was released from the Spanish Navy and was no longer allowed to appear at the royal court.

After proving that the capabilities of his fleet were superior to the Spanish fleet, Jervis ordered a blockade off the Bay of Cadiz to keep the Spanish there. The blockade was maintained for three years and successfully restricted the ability of the Spanish fleet to act until the peace of Amiens in 1802. The containment of the Spanish threat and the increase in his fleet strength enabled Jervis to send a squadron under Nelson to the Mediterranean in the following year. This squadron, with u. a. Saumarez ' Orion , Troubridges Culloden , Balls Alexander and the Goliath under Thomas Foley, restored the supremacy of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean in the sea ​​battle at Abukir .

Web links

• Battle of Cape St. Vincent - February 14th 1797
• A German side to the battle

Endnotes