Battle of Cape St . Vincent ( 1780 ) The Battle of Cape St Vincent , took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the American War of Independence . A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara . The battle is sometimes referred to as the Moonlight Battle , because it was unusual for naval battles in the Age of Sail to take place at night . It was also the first major naval victory for the British over their European enemies in the war , and proved the value of copper sheathing the hulls of warships . Admiral Rodney was escorting a fleet of supply ships to relieve the Spanish siege of Gibraltar with a fleet of about twenty ships of the line when he encountered Lángara ' s squadron south of Cape St . Vincent . When Lángara saw the size of the British fleet , he attempted to make for the safety of Cadiz , but the copper - sheathed British ships chased his fleet down . In a running battle that lasted from mid - afternoon until after midnight , the British captured four Spanish ships , including Lángara ' s flagship . Two other ships were also captured , but their final disposition is unclear : some Spanish sources indicate they were retaken by their Spanish crews , while Rodney ' s report indicates the ships were grounded and destroyed . After the battle Rodney successfully resupplied Gibraltar and Minorca before continuing on to the West Indies station . Lángara was released on parole , and was promoted to lieutenant general by King Carlos III . Background . One of Spain ' s principal goals upon its entry into the American War of Independence in 1779 was the recovery of Gibraltar , which had been lost to England in 1704 . The Spanish planned to retake Gibraltar by blockading and starving out its garrison , which included troops from Britain and the Electorate of Hanover . The siege formally began in June 1779 , with the Spanish establishing a land blockade around the Rock of Gibraltar . The matching naval blockade was comparatively weak , however , and the British discovered that small fast ships could evade the blockaders , while slower and larger supply ships generally could not . By late 1779 , however , supplies in Gibraltar had become seriously depleted , and its commander , General George Eliott , appealed to London for relief . A supply convoy was organized , and in late December 1779 a large fleet sailed from England under the command of Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney . Although Rodney ' s ultimate orders were to command the West Indies fleet , he had secret instructions to first resupply Gibraltar and Minorca . On 4 January 1780 the fleet divided , with ships headed for the West Indies sailing westward . This left Rodney in command of 19 ships of the line , which were to accompany the supply ships to Gibraltar . On 8 January 1780 ships from Rodney ' s fleet spotted a group of sails . Giving chase with their faster copper clad ships , the British determined these to be a Spanish supply convoy that was protected by a single ship of the line and several frigates . The entire convoy was captured , with the lone ship of the line , the " Guipuzcoana " , striking her colours after a perfunctory exchange of fire . The " Guipuzcoana " was renamed , in honour of Prince William , the third son of the King , who was serving as midshipman in the fleet , and staffed with a small prize crew . Rodney then detached and the frigate to escort most of the captured ships back to England ; the " Prince William " was added to his fleet , as were some of the supply ships that carried items likely to be of use to the Gibraltar garrison . On 12 January , which had lost part of her topmast on 3 January , suffered additional damage and raised a distress flag . Assisted by , she limped into Lisbon on 16 January . The Spanish had learnt of the British relief effort . From the blockading squadron a fleet comprising 11 ships of the line under Admiral Juan de Lángara was despatched to intercept Rodney ' s convoy , and the Atlantic fleet of Admiral Luis de Córdova at Cadiz was also alerted to try to catch him . Córdova learnt of the strength of Rodney ' s fleet , and returned to Cadiz rather than giving chase . On 16 January the fleets of Lángara and Rodney spotted each other around 1 : 00 pm south of Cape St . Vincent , the southwestern point of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula . The weather was hazy , with heavy swells and occasional squalls . Battle . Rodney was ill , and spent the entire action in his bunk . His flag captain , Walter Young , urged Rodney to give orders to engage when the Spanish fleet was first spotted , but Rodney only gave orders to form a line abreast . Lángara started to establish a line of battle , but when he realised the size of Rodney ' s fleet , he gave orders make all sail for Cadiz . Around 2 : 00 pm , when Rodney felt certain that the ships seen were not the vanguard of a larger fleet , he issued commands for a general chase . Rodney ' s instructions to his fleet were to chase at their best speed , and engage the Spanish ships from the rear as they came upon them . They were also instructed to sail to the lee side to interfere with Spanish attempts to gain the safety of a harbour , a tactic that also prevented the Spanish ships from opening their lowest gun ports . Because of their copper - sheathed hulls ( which reduced marine growths and drag ) , the ships of the Royal Navy were faster and soon gained on the Spanish . The chase lasted for about two hours , and the battle finally began around 4 : 00 pm . The " Santo Domingo " , trailing in the Spanish fleet , received broadsides from , , and before blowing up around 4 : 40 , with the loss of all but one of her crew . " Marlborough " and " Ajax " then passed " Princessa " to engage other Spanish ships . " Princessa " was eventually engaged in an hour - long battle with before striking her colours at about 5 : 30 . By 6 : 00 pm it was getting dark , and there was a discussion aboard , Rodney ' s flagship , about whether to continue the pursuit . Although Captain Young is credited in some accounts with pushing Rodney to do so , Dr . Gilbert Blane , the fleet physician , reported it as a decision of the council . The chase continued into the dark and squally night , leading it to later become known as the " Moonlight Battle " , since it was uncommon at the time for naval battles to continue after sunset . At 7 : 30 pm , came upon Lángara ' s flagship , engaging her in a battle lasting over an hour . She was broadsided in passing by and , and Lángara was wounded in the battle . " Fenix " finally surrendered to , which arrived late in the battle and shot away her mainmast . " Fenix " takeover was complicated by an outbreak of smallpox aboard " Bienfaisant " . Captain John MacBride , rather than sending over a possibly infected prize crew , apprised Lángara of the situation and put him and his crew on parole . At 9 : 15 the " Montagu " engaged the " Diligente " , which struck after her maintopmast was shot away . Around 11 : 00 pm " San Eugenio " surrendered after having all of her masts shot away by , but the difficult seas made it impossible to board a prize crew until morning . That duel was passed by and " Prince George " , which engaged " San Julián " and compelled her to surrender around 1 : 00 am . The last ship to surrender was " Monarca " . She nearly escaped , shooting away ' s topmast , but was engaged in a running battle with the frigate HMS " Apollo " . " Apollo " managed to keep up the unequal engagement until about the time that Rodney ' s flagship " Sandwich " came upon the scene around 2 : 00 am . " Sandwich " fired a broadside , unaware that " Monarca " had already hauled down her flag . The British took six ships . Four Spanish ships of the line and the fleet ' s two frigates escaped , although sources are unclear if two of the Spanish ships were even present with the fleet at the time of the battle . Lángara ' s report states that " San Justo " and " San Genaro " were not in his line of battle ( although they are listed in Spanish records as part of his fleet ) . Rodney ' s report states that " San Justo " escaped but was damaged in battle , and that " San Genaro " escaped without damage . According to one account two of Lángara ' s ships ( unspecified which two ) were despatched to investigate other unidentified sails sometime before the action . Aftermath . With the arrival of daylight , it was clear that the British fleet and their prize ships were dangerously close to a lee shore with an onshore breeze . One of the prizes , " San Julián " , was recorded by Rodney as too badly damaged to save , and was driven ashore . The fate of another prize , " San Eugenio " , is unclear . Some sources report that she too was grounded , but others report that she was retaken by her crew and managed to reach Cadiz . A Spanish history claims that the prize crews of both ships appealed to their Spanish captives for help escaping the lee shore . The Spanish captains retook control of their ships , imprisoned the British crews , and sailed to Cadiz . The British reported their casualties in the battle as 32 killed and 102 wounded . The supply convoy sailed into Gibraltar on 19 January , driving the smaller blockading fleet to retreat to the safety of Algeciras . Rodney arrived several days later , after first stopping in Tangier . The wounded Spanish prisoners , who included Admiral Lángara , were offloaded there , and the British garrison was heartened by the arrival of the supplies and the presence of Prince William Henry . After also resupplying Minorca , Rodney sailed for the West Indies in February , detaching part of the fleet for service in the Channel . This homebound fleet intercepted a French fleet destined for the East Indies , capturing one warship and three supply ships . Gibraltar was resupplied twice more before the siege was lifted at the end of the war in 1783 . Admiral Lángara and other Spanish officers were eventually released on parole , the admiral receiving a promotion to lieutenant general . He continued his distinguished career , becoming Spanish marine minister in the French Revolutionary Wars . Admiral Rodney was lauded for his victory , the first major victory of the war by the Royal Navy over its European opponents . He distinguished himself for the remainder of the war , notably winning the 1782 Battle of the Saintes in which he captured the French Admiral Comte de Grasse . He was , however , criticised by Captain Young , who portrayed him as weak and indecisive in the battle with Lángara . ( He was also rebuked by the admiralty for leaving a ship of the line at Gibraltar , against his express orders . ) Rodney ' s observations on the benefits of copper sheathing in the victory were influential in British Admiralty decisions to deploy the technology more widely . Order of battle . None of the listed sources give an accurate accounting of the ships in Rodney ' s fleet at the time of the action . Robert Beatson lists the composition of the fleet at its departure from England , and notes which ships separated to go to the West Indies , as well as those detached to return the prizes captured on 8 January to England . He does not list two ships ( " Dublin " and " Shrewsbury " , identified in despatches reprinted by Syrett ) that were separated from the fleet on 13 January . Furthermore , HMS " Prince William " is sometimes misunderstood to have been part of the prize escort back to England , but she was present at Gibraltar after the action . Beatson also fails to list a number of frigates , including , which played a key role in the capture of the " Monarca " . There are some discrepancies between the English and Spanish sources listing the Spanish fleet , principally in the number of guns most of the vessels are claimed to mount . The table below lists the Spanish records describing Lángara ' s fleet . Beatson lists all of the Spanish ships of the line at 70 guns , except " Fenix " , which he lists at 80 guns . One frigate , the " Santa Rosalia " , is listed by Beatson at 28 guns . The identify of the second Spanish frigate is different in the two listings . Beatson records her as the " Santa Gertrudie " , 26 guns , with captain Don Annibal Cassoni , while Duro ' s listing describes her as " Santa Cecilia " , 34 , captain Don Domingo Grandallana . Both frigates , whatever their identity , escaped the battle .