The Moonlight Battle at Sea (16 Jan 1780)

Dr Adam Norten's Travel Channel
Luny, Thomas; The Moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, 16 January 1780; National Maritime Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-moonlight-battle-off-cape-st-vincent-16-january-1780-175009

British demonstrate naval supremacy in The Moonlight Battle

British Admiral Sir George Rodney, with 18 ships-of-the-line, engages an inferior Spanish squadron of 11 battleships commanded by Don Juan de Langara off the southwestern coast of Portugal at Cape St. Vincent, in what comes to be known as The Moonlight Battle. (Ships-of-the-line is the 18th century term for ships substantial enough to be used in a battle line, a tactic of war in which two lines of ships faced off against each other.)

Read the complete article on History.com.