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Chapter 56: 1761 part 5
Battle of La Coruna
After the Spanish ambassador in London delivered a formal declaration of war to the British on March 9th, British send out orders immediately to their fleets, including elements of the channel fleet to blockade Spain and reinforce Gibraltar (in addition to what had been sent before as a cautionary move)
On Match 17th, the British fleet send out with orders to begin hostilities encountered a Spanish fleet off the coast of northwest Spain near La Coruna. The British pursued the smaller Spanish fleet and engaged them in a short naval battle.
British Fleet:
HMS Prince George (80), Torbay (74), Wessex* (64), Isis (50), Anglesea (44), Sapphire (32), Aeolus (32), Mermaid (24), Lively (20), and three smaller sloops.
(*OTL Essex (64), but TTL prior Essex hasn’t been lost yet)
Spanish Fleet: Galicia (70), Aquilon (68), Bizzaro (50), Santa Teresa (28), Galera Victoria (26), Constanza (24)[, and seven smaller merchant ships
After a short battle the British were victorious, successfully sinking the Bizzaro (50), and capturing the Santa Teresa (28), Constanza (24), and 3 merchant ships. The British suffered only minor damage to their own vessels. The remaining, damaged, Spanish ships were able to flee back into the La Coruna harbor where they were soon blockaded. On inspection, the British would consider the Santa Teresa and Constanza as not up to the Navy’s standard and they would later be sold.
Battle of Gibraltar Bay
Alarmed at the Spanish build up and troop movements over the prior year, as well as the contention in the Portuguese court, the British had been preparing for Spain’s possible entry into the war. Part of the preparation was significantly increasing the fleet size based in Gibraltar to be ready for a Spanish coastal blockade and a renewed attempt to blockade the French Mediterranean coast.
On March 18th, less than a week after the last precautionary supply and reinforcement transport ships had returned to England, Admiral Hawke was informed of sails upon the horizon. These turned out to be several of his returning scout ships moving as fast as they could. When the scouts ships began reporting in; (not all of which had made it back it seems) they told of a ‘sea of sails’ coming from the northeast from around the other side of the rock. As he was receiving this word, his lookout reported signal smoke from the top of Gibraltar, followed by signal canon fire. This only meant one thing, the French were coming. As Hawke was preparing his fleet to meet the La Clue and his French fleet he also got word from the Gibraltar Governor-General, William, the Earl of Home that a large Franco-Spanish army had arrived at the Spanish border, and were preparing for a siege.
At first Hawke felt confidant, and thought that the wildly varying numbers the scout ships had reported were improbable, impossible even. He would meet the French and the Spanish, since they had seemed to have thrown in with the French and destroy them. On the one hand it seemed the Spanish fleet out of Barcelona and the east Spanish coast had moved too quickly to become trapped in their harbors by any blockade. On the other it meant that with his larger fleet he could destroy the Spanish and the French on the sea. Then he would finally be able to properly blockade the French Mediterranean coast, and maybe this damnable war would finally be at an end.
Hawke’s confidence however began to waver ever so slightly as he began to see the number of masts appearing on the Horizon. It had to have been the entire French and Spanish Mediterranean fleets combined, it was going to be a tough fight. But by the time they were engaged Hawke would begin realize that it was even larger than that. He resolved though stand and fight to his utmost. He would not end up like John Byng.
British Fleet:
HMS Ramillies (90), Prince (90), Sandwich (90), Resolution (74), Dragon (74), Fame (74), Thunderer (74), Mars (74), Essex (70), Monmouth (70), Swiftsure (70), Temple (70), Hampton Court (66), Jersey (60), Plymouth (60), Montagu (60), Edgar (60), Firme (60), Panther (60), Guernsey (50), Chatham (50), Portland (50), Southsea Castle (44), Phoenix (44), Enterprise (44), Torrington (44), Lynn (40), Thames (32), Surprize (24), Actaeon (28), Hussar (28), Wager (24), Siren (24), Rose (24), Flamborough (22), Mercury (20), and 40 smaller support ships of less than 20 guns.
Total:
22 Ships of the line, 14 Frigates, 40 support ships.
Spanish Fleet: Rayo (80), Aquiles (74), Arrogante (74), Triunfante (74), Princesa (70), Monarcha (70), Atlante (68), San Fernando (60), Santisima Trinidad (54), Nuestra Senora del Rosario (50), Neustra Senora de la Soledad (30), Santa Barbara (30), Juno (26), Santa Rosa (24), Flecha (22), Aventorero (20), and a couple dozen smaller ships
Austrian Fleet: Laharpe (74), Santa Barbara (70), Lipsia (44), San Leopoldo (40), Austria (40), Vienna (30), Pegaso (30), Delphino (30), and a dozen smaller ships
Sicilian and Neapolitan Fleet: Santa Barbera (68), San Leopoldo (62), San Filippo (60), San Carlos (50), Ferdinand (40), Roma (30), Palmero (28), Siracusa (28), Calabria (24), Apulia (24), and half a dozen smaller ships
Moroccan and Barbary Fleet:
Collected British and French reports indicate at least 18 small ships hanging around the peripheries of the battle.
Total of the ‘Grand Fleet’:
42 Ships of the line, 39 Frigates, 96 support ships.
Although further into the battle it became clear how much the British were outnumbered, they also had the critical support of the guns of Gibraltar. Throughout the battle British ships that needed a reprieve would retreat to their safety. The Grand Fleet arrayed against them was careful not to approach too close. A few times though, some ships did venture too close and paid a heavy price.
The battle of Gibraltar Bay raged from late-morning to well past sunset. Throughout the ordeal the skies remained calm; at no time did the weather ever give any particular advantage to either side. At first it became a clash of cannon, and maneuvers, but then devolved into a slug-fest and became a battle of attrition.
Several ships on both sides had fought so much as to have run out of shot or powder. The Grand fleet however had the ability to resupply far more quickly than the British could, and although he could have, Hawke did not want to take too much shell and shot away from the Gibraltar provisions because he knew they would need.
Hawke knew he could not win a battle of attrition with the Franco-Spanish-Austrian alliance; nor could he allow him own fleet to become trapped in the bay. Before nightfall, he had managed to send out orders for a general retreat under the cover of darkness. When a roll of cloud cover and light rain obscured the moonlight, Hawke ordered the launch of fireworks into the night sky to commence the order for the general retreat, and they fought their way past the past the Grand Fleet and into the Atlantic.
When Hawke returned in summer to London he would report that the Moroccan and Barbary ships, did not get into any direct engagements, but would swarm crippled, unprotected British ships when the opportunity arose, or contented themselves with fishing men from either side out of the waters. It is presumed that the French and her allies sailors were returned, while British captives were brought back to North Africa as prisoner-slaves.
He also reported the presence of the Austrian, Spanish, Sicilian and Neapolitan flags in the battle as well.
Battle Results:
All ship losses due to sinking in action, floundering on return to port or being condemned for damage upon assessment.
British Losses: All surviving ships suffered moderate to heavy damage.
HMS Ramillies (90), Essex (70), Temple (70) (captured by French), Hampton Court (66), Jersey (60), Plymouth (60) (captured by French but later sold), Guernsey (50) (captured by Spanish), Portland (50), Southsea Castle (44), Enterprise (44), Lynn (40) (captured by French), Hussar (28) (captured by French), Surpize (24), Flamborough (22) (captured by Morocco), and 11 support ships of less than 20 guns lost or captured.
Grand Fleet: All surviving ships of the line damaged in moderate to heavy capacity. 2/3rds of the Frigates damaged.
French Losses: Orient (80), Conquerant (74), Couronne (74), Culloden (74), Hector (74), Duc-de-Borgogne (64), Orphee (64), St. Alban (60), Princess Louisa (58), Balaine (32), Unicorn (28), Blandford (20), and 9 support ships.
Spanish Losses: Aquillon (68),Atlante (68), San Fernando (60), Nuestra Senora del Rosario (50), Nuestra Senora de la Soledad (30), Santa Barbara (30),Santa Rosa (24), and 5 support ships
Austrian Losses: San Leopoldo (40)
Sicilian & Neapolitan Losses: Santa Barbera (68)
Moroccan and Barbary losses: 2 ships believed to have been sunk.
French-Spanish-Austrian allied victory.
The Grand Fleet led by Admiral La Clue was victorious and dealt the British Navy a serious blow, but they had fought back with great tenacity which would leave the Grand fleet very battered.
The Battle of Gibraltar Bay, involving a known 253 sailing vessels was the largest naval battle in the world since the battle of Lepanto in 1571 between over 484 rowing galleys. It was the first of its scale in the age of sail.
The Grand Fleet did not pursue the British once they were chased out of Gibraltar bay. For one, the Austrian, Sicilian, and Neapolitan fleet were not required or expected to venture beyond the straits. Also the fleet was in sore need of repairs after such a battle, and needed to be in place to begin the siege of Gibraltar.
France and Spain however did take this opportunity to send ships out toward the Caribbean unmolested by the retreating British. France as well separated off a few small ships directed for Quebec with some supplies, and to obtain news about the current fate of Quebec.
The Siege of Gibraltar of Gibraltar began three days later, once La clue worked out how best to align his forces for a seaward blockade. He had taken a cue from the British and much improved his ability to resupplying his ships at sea via the numerous support ships. (while staying out of reach of Gibraltar’s guns)
On land, it would still be several weeks before the land forces had finished preparations enough to attempt any artillery duels with the rock.
Siege of Gibraltar
On March 21st, 1761, La Clue completed his arrangements to begin a proper sea and land blockade of Gibraltar. Their goal was to starve out the garrison by preventing British resupply at sea, while the land forces hammered the guns before an eventual assault. However the French and Spanish were not fully aware of Britain very recent resupply of the fortress which was well prepared to endure a long siege.
Failures in the Portugal invasion also created problems when Aranda took over for Serria for the invasion and left Serria in charge of the Siege. Fortunately Serria did not have to do much, as French Artillery officer Philippe Joseph, Comte de Rostaing, had things well in hand. By summer the Franco Spanish forces under the French Artillery officer started trying to reach and shell the British gun emplacements on the rock. After three months of sporadic of artillery duels, which only resulted in deaths on the Franco-Spanish side, and little to no effect on the British garrison, Rostaing suspended the exchanges to consider alternate plans.
Over the course of the rest of the year, the French seaward blockade was a mix of success and failures. Hawke’s fleet was in need of long term repairs. This plus others issues in other theaters, combined with the need to continue to maintain blockades against both the French and the Spanish Atlantic coasts, the British did not try to lift the blockade directly with another fleet battle. Instead they sent fast ship blockade runners typically a night under the new moon in an attempt to keep the rock supplied. Seven out of Ten blockade running supply ships were successfully stopped, about half of which were captured, while the others escaped once they turned around. The 30 percent that made it through was more than enough to keep the garrison supplied, but half of those that made it through got captured on the return trip back out.
One other significant event occurred during the Siege of Gibraltar. The Governor-General of Gibraltar William home, died in April, leaving command of the rock to acting Governor John Toovey. An attempt to replace Toovey later in the year with Edward Cornwallis failed, and Cornwallis ship was nearly captured by the Franco-Spanish blockade.
It would not be until next year that Parliament would decide whether or not to send a fleet back in force to remove the blockading forces.