Editing Bay of Biscay (section)

==History==
The southern end of the gulf is also called ''"Mar Cantábrico" in Spanish'' ([[Cantabrian Sea]]), from the [[Estaca de Bares]], as far as the mouth of [[Adour]] river, but this name is not generally used in English. It was named by Romans in the 1st century BC as ''Sinus Cantabrorum'' (Bay of the [[Cantabri]]) and also, ''Mare Gallaecum'' (the Sea of the [[Galicians]]). On some medieval maps, the Bay of Biscay is marked as ''El Mar del los Vascos'' (the Basque Sea).<ref>{{cite web |title=El mar de los vascos, II: del Golfo de Vizcaya al Mediterráneo |url=http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/jgl/07001110.pdf |publisher=Euskomedia.org |access-date=2015-07-17 |archive-date=2018-07-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729062320/http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/jgl/07001110.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Bay of Biscay has been the site of many famous naval engagements over the centuries. In 1592 the Spanish defeated an English fleet during the [[Battle of the Bay of Biscay (1592)|Battle of the Bay of Biscay]]. The [[Order of Battle in the Biscay campaign of June 1795|Biscay campaign of June 1795]] consisted of a series of manoeuvres and two battles fought between the British [[Channel Fleet]] and the French Atlantic Fleet off the southern coast of [[Brittany]] during the second year of the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. The {{USS|Californian|1900|6}} sank here after striking a [[naval mine]] on 22 June 1918.<ref>{{cite web |title=USS Californian (1918–1918) |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/califrnn.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041224191412/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/califrnn.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-12-24 |publisher=History.navy.mil |access-date=2015-07-17}}</ref> In 1920 the {{SS|Afrique|1907|6}} sank after losing power and drifting into a reef in a storm with the loss of 575 lives. On 28 December 1943, the [[Battle of the Bay of Biscay]] was fought between {{HMS|Glasgow|C21|6}} and {{HMS|Enterprise|D52|6}}, and a group of German destroyers as part of [[Operation Stonewall]] during [[World War II]]. The area became known as the "Valley of Death" by [[U-boat]] crews following a series of repeated losses from [[RAF]] attacks on U-boats from 1943 until the end of the war.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bay of Biscay |url=https://uboat.net/maps/biscay.htm |website=uboat.net |access-date=2024-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706171100/https://uboat.net/maps/biscay.htm |archive-date=2024-07-06 |url-status=live}}</ref> The {{GS|U-667||2}} sank on 25 August 1944 in position {{coord|46|00|N|01|30|W}}, when she struck a mine. All hands were lost.

On 12 April 1970, {{ship|Soviet submarine|K-8}} sank in the Bay of Biscay due to a fire that crippled the submarine's nuclear reactors. An attempt to save the sub failed, resulting in the death of forty sailors and the loss of four nuclear torpedoes. Due to the great depth ({{cvt|15,000|ft|m|disp=or}}), no salvage operation was attempted.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}