In the morning of 7 September 1937,
Baleares unexpectedly met a
convoy of
Spanish Republican Navy ships while patrolling in the
Mediterranean Sea along the coast of
French Algeria, about north of the city of
Cherchell. Republican Navy commander
Miguel Buiza Fernández-Palacios had sent nine ships (two
light cruisers and seven
destroyers) from
Cartagena to protect two
merchant ships returning with supplies from the
Soviet Union.
Baleares was vulnerable as she was caught between the convoy and the coast. Captain Manuel Vierna Belando ordered a change of course to the northeast towards the rear of the convoy. The Republican merchant ships reacted by heading south to Algeria. The four destroyers quickly broke off the engagement and continued to escort the merchant ships, probably due to a lack of training and confidence in their ability to launch a
torpedo attack against
Baleares. While these ships steamed ahead, the light cruisers
Libertad and
Méndez Núñez positioned themselves to engage
Baleares, which opened fire on them but did only minor damage; technical failures made the shooting of the Nationalist cruiser less accurate. Though handicapped in the first encounter,
Baleares renewed their pursuit. The
warships met again in the afternoon off the Algerian coast. After a brief engagement,
Baleares, which received once again accurate fire from
Libertad and whose main artillery and director were running at reduced capacity due to the previous combat damage, limped off to wait for her
sister ship Canarias to arrive. ==Aftermath==