Battle of Cape Cherchell

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Date	September 7, 1937
Location	Mediterranean Sea, near Cherchell, present-day Algeria
Result	Republican victory

Combatants

Spanish Republic

Nationalist Spain

Commanders

Unknown

Strength

2 light cruisers
4 destroyers

1 heavy cruiser

Casualties

Unknown

1 ship heavily damaged

Spanish Civil War
Alcázar – Gijón – Oviedo – Mérida – Mallorca – Badajoz – Sierra Guadalupe – Monte Pelato – Talavera – Cape Espartel – Madrid – Corunna Road – Málaga – Jarama – Guadalajara – Guernica – Bilbao – Brunete – Santander – Belchite – El Mazuco – Cape Cherchell – Teruel – Cape Palos – Ebro Chronology: 1936 1937 1938-39

The Battle of Cape Cherchell was a sea battle between the Nationalist heavy cruiser Baleares and the Republican light cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez in the Spanish Civil War. In the early morning hours of September 7, 1937, Baleares unexpectedly met a Republican convoy consisting of several merchant ships escorted by Republican cruisers and destroyers. Baleares was beaten off and badly damaged in the engagement.

The biggest danger for the convoy was not the Baleares itself, but Nationalist shore-based aircraft that might have appeared once the Nationalists had radioed the convoy's location. Because of this, the four destroyers quickly broke off the engagement and continued as escorts for the merchant convoy.

While these ships steamed ahead, Republican cruisers Libertad and Méndez Núñez engaged Baleares. A crashing volley from the Libertad smashed Baleares' electronics, temporarily disabling the cruiser's guns. But the Nationalists repaired the damage and the wounded Baleares renewed its pursuit.

The ships met again in the afternoon, Libertad scoring two more hits on critical areas of the Baleares. Baleares then limped off to wait for her sister-ship Canarias. The retreating Republican ships were later attacked, ineffectively, by several Nationalist airplanes, including Italian planes from the Non-Intervention-Committee blockade on Spain.