Juan de Lángara

Don Juan de Lángara y Huarte
Portrait by unknown artist, c. 1779. Museo Naval de Madrid.
Born	1736 Coruña
Died	1806 Madrid
Allegiance	Spain
Rank	Admiral (Capitán Generál)
Battles/wars	Capture of Santa Catalina Island Armada of 1779 Moonlight Battle (POW) of 1780 Siege of Toulon (1793) Action of 14 February 1795

Juan Francisco de Lángara y Huarte (Juan Francisco Langara Uharte in Basque) (1736 in Coruña, Galicia – 1806 in Madrid) was a Spanish naval officer and Minister of Marine.

He was born at Coruña, Galicia, the son of a renowned Basque family. His father was admiral Juan de Langara Arizmendi, who fought as lieutenant (Teniente de Navío) at the victorious Battle of Minorca in 1756, against the British under Admiral Sir John Byng. Having entered the Spanish Navy at a young age, in 1750, as a Guardiamarina, Lángara quickly distinguished himself in various wars. From 1766 until 1771 he made several scientific expeditions, among others, three voyages to the Philippines and the Chinese seas, and made several important contributions in cartography. In 1774 he commanded the frigate La Rosalia on a scientific expedition, which led to several important discoveries with regards to pilotage and navigation.

By 1778, he was a Brigadier or Commodore and participated with distinction in the 1779 naval campaign in the Narrows against Britain, capturing the British letters of marque 26-gun sixth-rate Winchcomb. When the combined fleet wintered at Brest and Cádiz respectively, during the winter 1779–80, Lángara was left in command of a small squadron of 11, mostly smaller ships of the line. With this he faced the entire naval strength of 18 battleships and 6 frigates under Sir George Rodney off the stormy, dark cliffs of Cape St. Vincent, in the afternoon of 16 January 1780.