Battle of Barcelona

Part of the Franco-Spanish War (1635) and the
Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)

Date	29 June – 3 July 1642
Location	Off Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Result	French victory

Belligerents

France

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé

Juan Alonso Idiáquez

Strength

44 sailing vessels,
25 galleys,
14 fireships

36 sailing vessels,
10 galleys,
6 fireships,
35 barcos longos

Casualties and losses

1 galleon and 1 fireship

2 galleons and 4 fireships

The Naval battle of Barcelona was a naval engagement of the Franco-Habsburg War fought off Barcelona from 29 June to 3 July 1642 between a Spanish fleet commanded by Juan Alonso Idiáquez, Duke of Ciudad Real, and a French fleet under Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, Duc de Fronsac.
In a three-day battle, Brézé defeated the Spanish fleet, which was attempting to relieve some Spanish garrisons isolated along the Catalan coast, and forced the Duke of Ciudad Real to retreat to Majorca for repairs. As usual in most of the battles involving Maillé-Brézé, the French fleet made an extensive use of her fireships. This time, however, a large French vice-flagship, the Galion-de-Guise, fell victim to one of his own fireships and went down enveloped in flames. The victory, in any case, was for the French fleet, and its main long-term effect was the fall of Perpignan in hands of the Franco-Catalan army.

The outbreak in 1640 of the Reapers' War, or the Catalan Uprising against the Spanish Monarchy, left most of the Principality in hands of the rebels and their French allies by mid-1641. The Spanish forces were restricted to the area around Tarragona and Tortosa in the south and the County of Roussillon in the north, besides a series of isolated ports along the coast. The French viceroy of Catalonia, Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt, attempted to conquer Tarragona between May and August, but failed, as a French blockading fleet under Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis was not big enough to prevent the entrance into Tarragona of a large Spanish relief convoy. Sourdis had been never very enthusiastic of blockading Tarragona and preferred to focus all the efforts in capturing Collioure to starve the Spanish army in Perpignan. Cardinal Richelieu replaced him with his nephew Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, but for the 1642 campaign he followed his plans and committed most of his forces to conquer Rousillon.

Marshall Charles de La Porte gained Collioure on 13 April and, together with Frederick Schomberg, laid siege to Perpignan. The French fleet would blockade the coast between Tarragona and Collioure, and battle with the Spanish fleet if necessary. The fleets of Ponant and Levant were concentrated at Barcelona. The squadron of Brest, composed of 21 sailing vessels, 2 fluyts and 6 fireships, doubled the Cabo de Gata on 10 June. The Toulon squadron, of 19 sailing vessels, 4 fluyts and 6 fireships under the Chevalier de Cangé, arrived to Barcelona on 8 May. The flotte des galères led by the bailli de Forbin, composed of 25 units, arrived on 21 June. The fleet was completed with a small squadron under Abraham Duquesne which had been left to cruise off the Catalan coast, and ten English and Dutch chartered vessels, thus increasing its strength to nearly 60 ships. After a war council was held aboard the fleet on 22 June, Maillé-Brézé put his ships on sail in order to intercept a Spanish fleet reportedly seen at the height of Tarragona.

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Wikipedia