Naval battle of Tarragona

Battle of Tarragona
Part of the Franco-Spanish War (1635) and the Reaper's War.
Date 4 to 6 July 1641 Location Off Tarragona, then the Principality of Catalonia Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis	García Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Fernandina
Strength
19 sailing ships, 5 fireships, 11 galleys[1]	41 galleys, 7 brigantines[2]
Casualties and losses
50 killed[3]	12 galleys and 2,000 men[4]

The battle of Tarragona fought between 4 and 6 July 1641, was a naval engagement of the Reapers' War in which a Spanish galley fleet led by the Duke of Fernandina attempted to break the French naval blockade of Tarragona, at that time besieged by land by the French and Catalan armies under the French Viceroy of Catalonia. The French blockading fleet was under command of Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux, and consisted both of sailing and rowing vessels. On 4 July it was engaged by the Spanish galleys, of which some managed to enter the port of the town during a fierce action. In the end, a large number of Spanish galleys were abandoned when their crews panicked and fled to the beaches. On the night of 6 July Abraham Duquesne escorted 5 fireships to the mole of the harbor, where the Spanish galleys were abandoned, and set fire to them.

The worsening of the situation inside Tarragona after the battle, caused largely because the vessels that had entered the port remained blocked, adding hundreds of mouths to feed, compelled Philip IV of Spain to order the assembling of a second relief fleet. This time, the number of vessels gathered was much larger, after the joining of Fernandina's squadron with another one commanded by the Duke of Maqueda. Sourdis offered battle to them on 20 August, but was defeated and the blockade was lifted. Viceroy Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt had to face simultaneously a land relief, and was forced to abandon the siege, retreating to Valls. Even if the siege and the 2nd Battle were two clear setbacks for the French, some Spanish authors also claim that Fernandina won the first battle.