Cartagena Uprising The Cartagena Uprising took place March 4 – 7 , 1939 during the Spanish Civil War . SS Castillo de Olite sunk during the event . Background . After the fall of Catalonia in February 1939 , the military situation of the Republic was hopeless . The republic still had the capital city and the 30 per cent of the Spanish territory , but the Spanish Republican Army had lost 220 , 000 soldiers , the second city of the country and the Catalan war industry . Furthermore , in 27 February Manuel Azaña the president of the Republic resigned and Great Britain and France recognized the francoist government . The high commanders of the Republican army believed that a further military resistance was impossible , but the prime minister backed by the Communist Party of Spain ( PCE ) wanted to continue the resistance . Then the colonel Segismundo Casado , supported by the generals Matallana and Miaja , the CNT ( Cipriano Mera ) , the secret service of the republic ( the SIM ) , a section of the Spanish Socialist Workers ' Party ( PSOE ) ( Julian Besteiro ) and a section of the UGT ( Wenceslao Carrillo ) , planned a " coup " against Negrin . The uprising . On 3 March , Juan Negrin appointed Francisco Galan , a member of the PCE , to command the naval base of Cartagena . On 4 March , Franciso Galan arrived in Cartagena to take over command and the supporters of Casado , led by the colonel Gerardo Armentia , revolted and arrested Galan . Then , the Fifth Column in the city , led by the Colonel Arturo Espa , joined the rebellion , seized the coastal batteries of " Los Dolores " and the radio station , from where they broadcast appeals for help from the nationalists . Rafael Barrionuevo , a retired general living in the city , proclaimed himself military governor . The flight of the Republican Fleet and the suppression of the uprising . On 5 March , the Nationalist air force bombed the harbour of Cartagena , sinking Spanish Republican Navy destroyer " Sanchez Barcaiztegui " , As a result Commander Miguel Buiza ordered the bulk of the fleet , which included cruisers " Miguel de Cervantes " , " Libertad " and " Mendez Nuñez " , as well as eight destroyers , to flee from Cartagena and head to Bizerte . Galan , who had been liberated by the rebels , fled on board the " Libertad " . Then the IV division of the Spanish Republican Army , led by communist officer Joaquin Rodriguez , was dispatched to Cartagena in order to crush the revolt , by Jesus Hernandez . On 7 March , the 206th brigade arrived to Cartagena , crushed the rising and seized the radio station and the coastal batteries . There were 61 deaths . The sinking of the " Castillo de Olite " . Franco had ordered to send troops to Cartagena in order to support the uprising , and the same day , two Nationalist transport ship arrived to support the rebellion , without knowing that the rebellion had been crushed . The shore batteries of Cartagena fired at close rank and sunk one of them , the " Castillo de Olite " . 1 , 225 soldiers died and 700 were taken prisoners . Aftermath . The rebellion was crushed , but the Republican fleet didn ’ t return to Cartagena and fled to Bizerte . The French authorities seized the ships and later handed over to the Nationalists . Without the fleet the evacuation of the Republican refugees was impossible .