This Month in Navy History: The British and Spanish met at the battle of Cape St Vincent on February 14, 1797. The British fleet which was slightly outnumbered was commanded by Sir John Jervis. The Spanish force which was on its way to the port of Cadiz to join the French and Dutch fleets, was commanded by Admiral Don Jose de Cordova. As the battle opened the Spanish fleet was divided into two groups. Jervis attacked the windward group first, and soon had the upper hand. The head of the Spanish line then tried to escape. Commodore Nelson commanding the Captain a 74 ton ship, disobeyed orders and attempted to cut off the nine Spanish ships trying to escape. Nelson saw the 80 ton San Nicholas and the 112 ton San Josef becoming a foul of each other. He then brought his ship alongside the San Nicholas and boarded her . His men then boarded the San Josef taking control of both. By the end of the day the British had captured two more Spanish ships, and damaged much of the rest of the Spanish fleet. A series of battles make up what is called the Battle of Java Sea. In the first engagement, on February the US cruiser Marblehead was attacked from the air repeatedly. Though damaged the Marblehead managed to limp back to the United States. The cruiser Houston was also hit and had its aft 8 inch guns knocked out. On February 27th, an allied task force led by Dutch Rear Admiral KWF Doorman sailed to attack the enemy east of Baewen. The force included the Dutch flagship the De Ruyter, the British cruiser the Exeter, the USS Houston, the Australian Cruiser the Perth and the Dutch cruiser Java. The battle began at 1616 with Japanese heavy cruiser under the command of Admiral Takagi Takeo , Nachi and Haguro,, when they opened fire on the Houston and the Exeter. Following this the light cruiser Jintsu, led a group of destroyers in an attack on British destroyers. Three British destroyers went down. A general engagement then ensued between the Allied and Japanese cruisers. When it was over the Dutch cruisers De Rutyer and Java were sunk as the Perth and Houston were forced to withdraw. Click Here for a detailed chronological event listing