The Battle of Cape Palos

History has not been kind to the Republic’s fleet. Its crews have been, rightfully, criticized for their lack of fighting spirit, and the Navy proved unable to capitalize on its superior numbers of destroyers and submarines. On the other hand, it has too often been forgotten that many of its officers were fifth columnists, that the rebels had the two best Spanish ships, the cruisers Canarias and Baleares, and that the only one major naval base the Republic controlled, Cartagena, and lacked a dry dock where large vessels could be prepared. In contrast, the rebels held El Ferrol, with its major dry dock, and Cádiz. The rebels also benefitted from the direct and indirect support of the German and Italian navies, which far outweighed any foreign support to the Republican navy. While the Republic had to protect its own convoys and were subject to submarine attacks from German and, especially, Italian submarines, rebel convoys had escorts from the powerful fleets of the fascist powers. 

Despite all this, the Francoists lost two major vessels. The battleship España sank after colliding with a mine in the Cantabrian Sea in April 1937 and the Republicans sank the cruiser Baleares in 1938. In contrast, the Republic lost only the battleship Jaime I, which exploded in June 1937 when it was docked in Cartagena. This was probably the result of carelessness, but there have always been suspicions it was sabotage. Finally, an attack by an Italian submarine in November 1936 put the cruiser Miguel de Cervantes out of action for eighteen months. 

The sinking of the Baleares took place on March 6, 1938 during the Battle of Cape Palos, not far from Cartagena. In what was the largest naval battle of the war, the Republican navy took the initiative.  The fleets engaged twice over the course of a few hours. Around midnight, two torpedoes, probably from the Republican destroyer Lepanto, hit the Baleares, which exploded and quickly sank. 786 men died. It was a disaster for the Francoist fleet. 

A film El Crucero Baleares, was made in 1941, but the Navy hated it and succeeded in having all the copies destroyed. A monument to the ship was erected in Palma de Mallorca in 1948: the ship had set sail from there on its final voyage and nine of the sailors who perished were from the island. The fascist inscriptions were removed in 2010. Eighteen of the sailors who died on the Baleares came from Ondárroa in the Basque Country, and a monument was erected there in in 1958. It was removed in 2019 so that it could be replaced by one without any fascist connotations.  

Mira este artículo: https://www.europapress.es/sociedad/sucesos-00649/noticia-desconocidos-derriban-fuerza-ondarroa-vizcaya-monumento-franquista-20190114155541.html