Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780) 1780
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 16 January 1780 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1780 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Europe) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Anglo-Spanish War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Great Britain, Kingdom of Spain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 36.8181, -8.5636 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent (Spanish: Batalla del Cabo de San Vicente) was a fleet action fought off Cape St. Vincent on 16–17 January 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. A Royal Navy fleet under Admiral of the White Sir George Rodney defeated a smaller Spanish Navy fleet under Squadron Commander Juan de Lángara in what became known as the Moonlight Battle (batalla a la luz de la luna), unusual since the Age of Sail saw almost exclusively daytime battles. It was the first major British naval victory of the war, and proved the maneuvering value of copper sheathed hulls.
On 21 June 1779 Spain had joined its ally France, which was allied with the United States, in their war with Britain. Rodney was escorting a supply convoy with a powerful fleet of 18 ships of the line to relieve the Spanish siege of Gibraltar, when he encountered Lángara's fleet south of Cape St. Vincent on 16 January 1780. When Lángara saw the size of the British fleet, he rushed toward the safety of Cádiz, but the copper-sheathed British ships chased him down. In a running battle that lasted from mid-afternoon until after midnight, the British captured four ships of the line, including Lángara's flagship Fénix.
Two other Spanish ships of the line were also captured but then retaken by their crews.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780) (revision 1370623398), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1606) 1606 · 0 km
- Battle of Lagos (1693) 1693 · 22 km
- Almohad campaign against Portugal (1190–1191) 1190 · 42 km
- Action of 30 September 1681 1681 · 44 km
- Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1641) 1641 · 45 km
- Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797) 1797 · 45 km
Other battles of the Anglo-Spanish War
- Battle for Río San Juan de Nicaragua 1762
- Battle of Manila (1762) 1762
- Siege of Havana 1762
- Action of 11 November 1779 1779
- Capture of Río Hondo 1779
- Battle of Roatán 1782
- Battle of the Black River 1782
- Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797) 1797
- Action of 16 October 1799 1799
All 33 battles of the Anglo-Spanish War →
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