All at Sea - Cape St. Vincent Spanish Additions, Part Two

The 'Captain' capturing the 'San Nicholas' and the 'San Jose' at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 14th February 1797 - Nicholas Pocock, Royal Museums Greenwich

Picking up where I left off last month, work progresses to make additions to the Spanish contingent that I completed for the Trafalgar collection to enable a refight using the forces that were present at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent  on the 14th February 1797.

All at Sea - Cape St Vincent Spanish Additions, Part One

This little project requires the addition of three Spanish first-rates and nine third-rates and alongside my model of L'Orient under full sail I also painted another three additional generic Spanish 74's again with a more Revolutionary War look to their colour schemes incorporating the single yellow-ochre gun port strakes for the two gun decks and my combination of various other common Spanish type schemes to the bulwarks, stern galleries and figureheads.

As with Trafalgar I am starting to work up the scenario using several references with a key decision to decide when to start the action, that is where to set the British fleet up on its approach.

Set up proposed by Nick Skinner in the KMH scenario plan

Also as with the Trafalgar set up the Spanish, like the Combined Fleet, are battling with a bow wind as will the British when they turn on to a parallel heading, so the movement rates will be relatively slow, which will impact on the required table space, but my first guess would be a minimum of three lengthways ten by five foot cloths.

Spanish Fleet:

The Spanish fleet are all classed as Landlubbers and are organised as follows:

 Zone 1 Spaniards: [Cordoba’s Squadron]

Teniente General Jose de Cordoba y Ramos aboard the Santìsima Trinidad

 

Santìsima Trinidad                    130 (poor)

Mexicano                                  112 (poor)

Purìsima Concepción                112 (poor)

Salvador del Mundo                 112 (poor)

San José                                    112 (poor)        Admiral F. J. Winthuysen

San Nicolas                               84 (poor)

Atlante                                      74 (poor)

Conquestada                             74 (poor)

Soberano                                   74 (poor)

Firme                                        74 (average)

San Genaro                               74 (average)

San Ildephonso                         74 (average)

San Francisco de Paula             74 (poor)

San Ysidro                                74 (average)

San Antonio                              74 (poor)

San Pablo                                  74 (poor)

Neptuna                                    74 (poor)

Bahama                                     74 (poor)

San Domingo                            74 (poor)

San Juan Nepomuceno            74 (average)

Terrible                                     74 (poor)

Zone Two Spaniards: [Moreno’s Squadron]

Commander Admiral J. Moreno aboard the Prìncipe de Asturias

Prìncipe de Asturias                 112 (average)

Conde de Regla                        112 (poor)

San Fermìn                               74 (poor)

Oriente                                      74 (poor)

Glorioso                                    74 (poor)

Infante de Pelayo                      74 (average)

This order of battle, illustrates the need for the extra Spanish ships and with the extra first-rates will complete my Spanish collection to allow any action requiring a sizable Spanish fleet to be put on the table.

Fourth - Third Rate

Fifth - Third Rate

Sixth - Third Rate

So the next batch of models will see the final three Spanish 74's added and my L'Orient model at anchor, leaving just the two extra Spanish first-rates to be added.

Next up I have another book review from the Naval War of 1812, more adventures on the Welsh borders and a look at something interesting going on in the world of 'Wars of the Roses' wargaming.