Battle of Carteia (naval)

The Río Palmones is a river of the Province of Cádiz in Southeastern coastal Spain. Its source is in Lomas del Castaño, Sierra Blanquilla, and it flows for some 37 kilometres (23 mi) into the Bay of Gibraltar, North of the city of Algeciras, in the neighborhood of Palmones. The Battle of Río Palmones took place here in 1342.

The Torres de Hércules (English: Towers of Hercules) are office buildings in Polígono Industrial Las Marismas, Los Barrios in Province of Cádiz. The building is 100.6 m (330 ft) tall and was completed in October 2009. The telecommunications antenna on top is 26 m (85 ft) tall. Each of the towers is 20 m (66 ft) in diameter. These towers were the tallest in Andalusia until Cajasol Tower was completed in Seville in 2015.

Torre del Rocadillo is a historic ruined tower, located about a mile to the west of Puente Mayorga in the municipality of San Roque in the Province of Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain. It was constructed in the 16th century.

The Los Barrios Power Plant coal-fired power station is based on the Rankine Cycle. It is located in the municipality of Los Barrios in southern Spain, next to the Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery. The plant is kept in reserve for Spain's electricity grid. It provides direct employment to over 200 employees and it has a capacity of 567.5 MW.

Carteia (Ancient Greek: Καρτηίᾳ) was a Phoenician and Roman town at the head of the Bay of Gibraltar in Spain. It was established at the most northerly point of the bay, next to the town of San Roque, about halfway between the modern cities of Algeciras and Gibraltar, overlooking the sea on elevated ground at the confluence of two rivers, nowadays called Guadarranque and Cachon.According to Strabo, it was founded around 940 BC as the trading settlement of Kʿrt (meaning "city" in the Phoenician language; compare Carthage and Cartagena). The area had much to offer a trader; the hinterland behind Carteia, in the modern south of Andalusia, was rich in wood, cereals, oranges, lemons, lead, iron, copper and silver. Dyes were another much sought-after commodity, especially those from the murex shellfish, used to make the prized Tyrian purple. Strabo and Pomponius Mela, mention that some believe that Carteia used to be the Tartessos. Pliny the Elder writes that Carteia was called by the Greeks Tartessos.The town's strategic location meant that it played a significant role in the wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. It may have been the site of Hamilcar's landing with his army and elephants in 237 BC, and in 206 BC the Carthaginian admiral Adherbal retreated there with the remnants of his fleet after being defeated by Gaius Laelius in the Battle of Carteia. Around 190 BC, the town was captured by the Romans.

Playa de El Rinconcillo is a beach in the Province of Cadiz, Andalusia, Spain, located to the north of the city of Algeciras, near the neighborhood of El Rinconcillo. It looks across to the rock of Gibraltar and La Línea de la Concepción. It extends from the Puente de Acceso Norte access to the mouth of the Rio Palmones, a total length of 2550 metres and an average width of 40 metres including Rinconcillo beach itself and a small cove called La Concha. The beach has two distinct areas, the first is southern part of the beach, surrounded by the suburb of El Rinconcillo and several bars and restaurants, and is characterized by shallow water, making it ideal for swimming. The second area, which is completely undeveloped, is nearest to the river mouth. It is surrounded by the river marshes and the Palmones dunes. This area is steeper and has deeper water than in the first section of the beach. The estuary here attracts numerous birds.

The naval Battle of Gibraltar took place on 25 April 1607, during the Eighty Years' War, when a Dutch fleet surprised and engaged a Spanish fleet anchored at the Bay of Gibraltar. During the four hours of action, most of the Spanish ships were destroyed.

The Battle of Gibraltar took place on 10 August 1621, during the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic. A Dutch East India Company fleet, escorted by a squadron under Willem Haultain de Zoete, was intercepted and defeated by nine ships of Spain's Atlantic fleet under Fadrique de Toledo while passing the Strait of Gibraltar.When the Twelve Years' Truce between Spain and the Dutch Republic ended, the Spanish wished to deal a decisive blow against the Dutch trading ships in the Mediterranean. The Spanish attempted to concentrate a fleet in the Bay of Gibraltar, but admirals Martín de Vallecilla, Juan Fajardo, and Don Francisco de Acevedo, with their respective squadrons, failed to join Toledo's squadron, which left Cádiz on 6 August 1621. Toledo thus faced the Dutch with only nine ships. Four days later, the Dutch trading fleet of more than 50 ships was sighted; 20 were warships and the rest were merchantmen.While Toledo engaged a succession of Dutch ships with his powerful flagship, setting two on fire, the smaller Spanish galleons captured two ships and torched another. The Spanish flagship Santa Teresa was eventually dismasted and had to be taken in tow. The Dutch retreated with most of their valuable merchantmen, having lost seven ships. The Spanish returned to Cádiz having suffered damage, but lost no ships.

The auxiliary ship Olterra was a 5,000 ton Italian tanker scuttled by her own crew at Algeciras in the Bay of Gibraltar on 10 June 1940, after the entry of Italy in World War II. She was recovered in 1942 by a special unit of the Decima Flottiglia MAS to be used as an undercover base for manned torpedoes in order to attack Allied shipping at Gibraltar.

Palmones is a village on the Bay of Gibraltar between Algeciras and La Linea de la Concepcion in the Province of Cádiz in Spain. The San Roque Refinery and Los Barrios commercial centre lie on either side of the town. The village has a sea promenade and beach. The harbor is prone to oil spillage and is a catchment area for waste and garbage of yachts and other boats moored at Algeciras or Gibraltar. The beach is busy in summer and there is a beach bar that serves tapas and drinks. There is a picturesque island in the river mouth, and many tourists wish to swim there. The current is strong and can only be mastered by strong swimmers in low tide conditions. Any tourist who attempts to swim over should seek advice from locals. Palomes has an abundance of fish restaurants.

The Gibraltar-San Roque Refinery (Spanish: Refinería de Gibraltar-San Roque) is an oil refinery owned by CEPSA located on the north shore of the Bay of Gibraltar, in Guadarranque Industrial Estate, between Puente Mayorga and the Guadarranque river, in the municipality of San Roque, Cadiz, Spain. It is located next to the Los Barrios Power Plant, which is a coal fueled power station. It is the largest refinery in the Iberian Peninsula, with a crude oil daily processing capacity of 240,000 barrels per day. The refinery occupies 150 acres and has a refining capacity of 12 million tons per year, making it the largest Spanish refinery. The Spanish Government has been accused of having built the refinery deliberately in an effort to negatively affect the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, although pollution is indiscriminate and it also affects a large Spanish population in southern Spain. The results of local air samples by both the Gibraltar and Spanish NGOs and environmental groups are regularly reported to the relevant European Union institutions. Apart from imposing fines on the wealthy CEPSA conglomerate, no other real action is taken. As of 2018 work began on using Detal technology which will produce linear alkylbenzene, work will take around two years to complete.

The First Battle of Algeciras was a naval battle fought on 6 July 1801 (17 messidor an IX of the French Republican Calendar) between a squadron of British Royal Navy ships of the line and a smaller French Navy squadron at anchor in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras in the Strait of Gibraltar. The British outnumbered their opponents, but the French position was protected by Spanish gun batteries and the complicated shoals that obscured the entrance to Algeciras Bay. The French squadron, under Contre-Amiral Charles Linois, had stopped at Algeciras en route to the major Spanish naval base at Cadiz, where they were to form a combined French and Spanish fleet for operations against Britain and its allies in the French Revolutionary Wars. The British, under Rear-Admiral Sir James Saumarez, sought to eliminate the French squadron before it could reach Cadiz and form a force powerful enough to overwhelm Saumarez and launch attacks against British forces in the Mediterranean Sea. Sailing directly from his blockade station off Cadiz, Saumarez's squadron consisted of six ships of the line, twice the number under Linois's command. Discovering the French at anchor in Algeciras on the morning of 6 July, Saumarez launched an immediate attack on the anchorage through the complicated shoals of Algeciras Bay. Although the initial attack caused severe damage to the French ships, light winds and shallow water led to the British ship HMS Hannibal grounding under heavy fire while the French vessels were driven on shore to prevent their capture. With his intentions frustrated, Saumarez ordered his squadron to withdraw, five of his ships limping out of the bay while the battered Hannibal remained trapped. Isolated and unable to manoeuvre, Captain Solomon Ferris on Hannibal endured the enemy fire for another half an hour before surrendering his ship. Both sides had suffered severe damage and casualties, but both were also aware that the battle would inevitably be rejoined and so the aftermath of the British defeat was one of frenzied activity at Gibraltar, Algeciras and Cadiz. While the British and French squadrons conducted hasty repairs, the French and Spanish fleet at Cadiz was prepared for a rescue mission, a heavy squadron arriving at Algeciras on 12 July. As the Spanish squadron departed with Linois's ships, they were attacked again by Saumarez's squadron at the Second Battle of Algeciras and caught at night by faster and more manoeuvrable ships, which resulted in the British inflicting heavy losses on the Spanish rearguard but failing for a second time to destroy the French squadron.