Editing Spanish Navy (section)

===The Bourbon era===
The War of the Spanish Succession arose after the establishment on the Spanish throne of a [[House of Bourbon]] king, following the extinction of the Spanish Habsburg line. The internal division between supporters of a Habsburg and those of a Bourbon king led to a civil war and ultimately to the loss of Sicily, Sardinia, [[Menorca]] and [[Gibraltar]]. Gibraltar and Menorca were captured by Anglo-Dutch forces fighting under the Spanish flag of Habsburg contender [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI]]. Menorca was ultimately surrendered to Spain years later. At the end of the War of Spanish Succession, Spain's possessions in the Low Countries and [[Italian peninsula|mainland Italy]] were ceded to [[Austrian monarchy|Austria]].
[[File:FedericoGravinaYNápoliAnónimoHacia1810.jpg|thumb|[[Federico Gravina]], one of the Spanish heroes of the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]]]
[[File:The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718 RMG BHC0351.tiff|thumb|right|200px|A painting of the [[Battle of Cape Passaro]] by [[Richard Paton]]]]
Attempting to reverse the losses of the previous war, in the [[War of the Quadruple Alliance]] (1718–20) the Spanish Navy successfully convoyed armies to invade Sicily and [[Sardinia]], but the poorly maintained escort fleet was destroyed by the British in the [[Battle of Cape Passaro]] and the Spanish invasion army was defeated in Italy by the Austrians. A major program to renovate and reorganise the run-down navy was begun. A ''secretaría'' (ministry) of the army and navy had been established by the Bourbon regime as early as 1714; which centralized the command and administration of the different fleets. Following the war of Quadruple Alliance, a program of rigorous standardization was introduced in ships, operations, and administration. Given the needs of its empire, Spanish warship designs tended to be more orientated towards long-range escort and patrol duties than for battle. A major reform of the Spanish Navy was initiated, updating its ships and administration, which was helped by French and Italian experts, although Spaniards, most notably [[Antonio de Gaztañeta]] and [[Jorge Juan y Santacilia|Jorge Juan]], soon rose to prominence in this work, which made Spain a leader in warship design and quality again, as was demonstrated by ships like ''[[HMS Princess (1740)|Princesa]]''. A major naval yard was established at [[Havana]], enabling the navy to maintain a permanent force in the Americas for the defence of the colonies and the suppression of piracy and smuggling, complemented by ''guarda costa'' privateers. In metropolitan Spain, significant forest reconnaissance operations were regularly undertaken by Spanish naval officers to seek out sources of [[timber]] suitable for shipbuilding.<ref name="Wing2014">{{cite journal |last1=Wing |first1=John T. |date=4 June 2014 |title=Spanish Forest Reconnaissance and the Search for Shipbuilding Timber in an Era of Naval Resurgence, 1737-1739 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/18/4/article-p357_2.xml |journal=Journal of Early Modern History |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=357–382 |doi=10.1163/15700658-12342417 |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=5 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105023619/https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/18/4/article-p357_2.xml |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Navío santa ana de 112 cañones.jpg|thumb|''Navío'' or ship-of-the-line, {{ship|Spanish ship|Santa Ana|1784|2}}, 1784–1814]]
During the [[War of the Polish Succession]] (1733–38), a renewed attempt to regain the lost Italian territories for the Bourbon dynasty was successful; with the French as allies and the British and Dutch neutral, Spain launched a campaign by sea and retook Sicily and southern Italy from Austria. In the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]], the navy showed it was able to maintain communications with the American colonies and resupply Spanish forces in Italy in the face of British naval opposition. The navy played an important part in the decisive [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias]] in modern-day [[Colombia]], where a massive British invasion fleet and army were defeated by a smaller Spanish force commanded by able strategist [[Admiral Blas de Lezo|Blas de Lezo]]. This Spanish victory prolonged Spain's supremacy in the Americas until the early 19th century. The program of naval renovation was continued and by the 1750s the Spanish navy had outstripped the Dutch to become the third most powerful in the world, behind only those of Britain and France.

Joining France against Britain near the end of the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–63), the navy failed to prevent the British [[Battle of Havana (1762)|capturing Havana]], during which the Spanish squadron present was also captured. In the [[American War of Independence]] (1775–83), the Spanish Navy was essential to the establishment, in combination with the French and Dutch navies, of a numerical advantage that stretched British naval resources. They played a vital role, along with the French and Dutch, in maintaining military supplies to the American rebels. The navy also played a key role in the Spanish Army-led operations that defeated the British in Florida. The bulk of the purely naval combat on the allied side fell to the [[French Navy]], although Spain achieved lucrative successes with the capture of two great British convoys meant for the resupply of British forces and loyalists in North America. Joint operations with France resulted in the [[Invasion of Menorca, 1781|capture of Menorca]] but failed in the [[Great Siege of Gibraltar|siege of Gibraltar]]. This time also marked the creation of ''[[fuerzas sutiles]]'', a long-lasting and successful policy based on [[gunboat]]s and small vessels armed with heavy artillery.

Having initially opposed France in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] (1792–1802), Spain changed sides in 1796, but defeat by the British a few months later in the [[Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797)]] and [[Invasion of Trinidad (1797)|Trinidad]] (1798) was followed by the blockade of the main Spanish fleet in Cádiz. The run down of naval operations had as much to do with the confused political situation in Spain as it had to do with the blockade. The British blockade of Spain's ports was of limited success and an attempt to [[Assault on Cádiz (1797)|attack Cádiz]] was defeated; ships on special missions and convoys successfully evaded the Cádiz blockade and other ports continued to operate with little difficulty, but the main battle fleets were largely inactive. The blockade was lifted with the [[Peace of Amiens]] 1802. [[Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808)|The war]] recommenced in 1804 and ended in 1808 when the Spain and the United Kingdom became allied against [[Napoleon]]. As in the first part, Cádiz was blockaded and Spanish naval activity was minimal. The most notable event was Spanish involvement in the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] under French leadership. This resulted in the Spanish Navy losing eleven [[ships-of-the-line]] or over a quarter of its line-of-battle ships. After Spain became allied with the United Kingdom in 1808 in its [[Peninsular war|war of independence]], the Spanish Navy [[Capture of the Rosily Squadron|joined the war effort]] against Napoleon.