Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780) Annibal Cassoni, while Duro's listing describes her as "Santa Cecilia", 34, captain Don Domingo Grandallana. Both frigates, whatever their identity, escaped the battle. Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780) The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a naval battle took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the Anglo-Spanish War. A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara. The battle is sometimes referred to as the Moonlight Battle because it was unusual for naval battles in the Age of Sail to take place at night. It
Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) to try to intercept the Spanish fleet. On 6 February, Jervis was joined off Cape St. Vincent by a reinforcement of five ships of the line from the Channel Fleet under Rear-Admiral William Parker. On 11 February, the British frigate HMS "Minerve", under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson, passed through the Spanish fleet unseen thanks to heavy fog. Nelson reached the British fleet of fifteen ships off Spain on 13 February, and passed the location of the Spanish fleet to Jervis, commanding the fleet from his flagship "Victory". Unaware of the size of his opponent's fleet—in the fog, Nelson