Military history of Spain Portugal and engage French forces on the frontiers while Spanish "guerrilleros" wore down the occupiers. Acting in concert, regular and irregular allied forces prevented Napoleon's marshals from subduing the rebellious Spanish provinces. The Spanish navy, put to sea in support of France during the War of the Third Coalition in 1805, suffered terrible losses at the Battle of Trafalgar, having been weakened by yellow fever in the preceding years; in many ways this marked the nadir of Spanish naval history. The events in mainland Spain had extensive consequences for her empire. Spain's colonies in the Americas had shown an increasing
Free French Naval Forces sailed for New Caledonia and spent the rest of the war based there and in Australia. The ship saw action in both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. To distinguish the FNFL from the Vichist forces, Vice-Admiral Émile Muselier created the bow flag displaying the French colours with a red Cross of Lorraine, and a cocarde also featuring the Cross of Lorraine for aircraft of the Free French Naval Air Service ("Aéronavale Française Libre") and the Free French Air Force ("Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres"). A number of ships were leased from the British to compensate for the lack of warships in