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
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands Despite the failure of the Japanese ground offensive and the loss of "Yura", the rest of the Combined Fleet continued to maneuver near the southern Solomon Islands on 25 October with the hope of encountering Allied naval forces in battle. The Japanese naval forces now comprised four carriers, because had suffered an accidental, damaging fire in her engine room on 22 October that forced her to return to Truk for repairs. The Japanese naval forces were divided into three groups: The "Advanced" force consisted of the carrier , plus two battleships, four heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and 10 destroyers,