Federico Gravina y Nápoli

**Federico Carlos Gravina y Nápoli**
 **Born** | August 12, 1756
 **Died** | August 8, 1834

**Federico Carlos Gravina y Nápoli** (August 12, 1756 - August 8, 1834) was a Spanish admiral of the Napoleonic Wars and the Spanish American Wars of Independence.

## Biography

### Early years

Gravina was born in Sicily, to a family part of the island's traditional aristocracy, descending directly from the Normans who conquered the island . Federico's uncle, Ambassador of Naples-Sicily in Madrid, successfully applied for him to enter the Royal Spanish Navy, where he was admitted in 1775. In 1777 he survived a boat accident in the River Plate in which most of the crew drowned. In 1778, on returning to Spain, he served as a lieutenant aboard a ship suppressing Algerian pirates. He then obtained his first command in which he participated in the Siege of Gibraltar between 1779 and 1782.

In the late years of the reign of Charles III he commanded various squadrons against Algerian corsairs. In 1788 he travelled to Constantinople returning the Ambassador Jussuf Efendi. While there he made and published various astronomical observations. After the death of King Charles III, Gravina took the news to the colonies, where his frigate *Paz* recorded one of the fastest-ever times for passages from Cadiz to the Spanish possessions in Central America.

In 1790 he was given command of a ship-of-the line, in which he took part in the evacuation of Oran. The same year saw him demonstrate his administrative talents for the first time. During the Nootka Sound Crisis, Gravina organised the formation of a Spanish fleet, the largest in 200 years. However, the crisis was eventually solved by diplomatic means.

### Service during the Franco-Spanish Alliance

In 1793, during the French Revolutionary Wars, Gravina, now second in command of the Spanish Navy, served alongside Admiral Hood and the Royal Navy in the Siege of Toulon, during which time he visited Portsmouth and studied British methods and tactics.

When in 1796 Spain and France signed the treaty of San Ildefonso, both countries made peace and Spain later re-entered the war as a French ally, with Gravina being dispatched to a squadron under Don Jose de Mazarredo. In 1801 he was sent to French India in command of the Spanish fleet which participated in the Battle of Tranquebar, where Gravina, although a former francophile, would develop a deep resentment against the French; After returning to Spain, he refused to exit Cartagena and aid the French under their new commander Villeneuve in their Caribbean campaign until he received a direct order from the king Charles IV, a naval theatre where again Gravina was forced to abide by the inexperienced French commanders' orders in a series of naval campaigns with mediocre results.

The Franco-Spanish fleet reached the Caribbean, with their only relevant action being the Battle of Diamond Rock, and when they received news of Nelson’s fleet in the vicinity, Villeneuve opted to sail back to France, having pretty much wasted three months of campaigns without taking any island. Villeneuve encountered Robert Calder’s fleet at Finisterre and was defeated, with the frigate Didon captured, which was tasked with delivering orders to Allemand’s “Escadre Invisible”. Villeneuve continued to Brest but on August 15 he mistook three British ships with the vanguard of the Royal Navy and sailed south. By this point, Gravina was fed up with the French Admiral’s incompetency after Calder captured two of his ships that Villeneuve had exposed, and having had enough of the French after Tranquebar, the Spanish Navy mutinied, entering Ferrol and refusing to come out.

For the rest of the year, Gravina would take shelter in Ferrol and avoided the British fleet.