The first lap of his career was marked by successful cruises and actions at sea that won the approval of his superiors and even the praise of the King.

In 1730 Córdova had the distinction of commanding the naval escort for the Duke of Parma, Infante Carlos de Borbón (later Charles III of Spain), who journeyed across the Mediterranean en route to the campaigns in Italy.

Carlos and his generals went on to reconquer the Kingdom of Naples for the Bourbons at the Battle of Bitonto, with naval assistance from a squadron commanded by Córdova.

The New Castle withdrew at the first volleys, but the Danzik continued fighting for about 30 hours in the space of four days, until it lost half its crew.2 After a sieve, it lowered its flag and had to be burned as it could not be used.

For this action, King Ferdinand VI granted Córdoba a commission from the Order of Calatrava.3 The city of Cordova, Alaska was named after him.

The combined Franco-Spanish fleet, in which there were 68 ships - of which the Spanish Santísima Trinidad carried the Cordova insignia - entered the English Channel to attempt the invasion of the British Isles in August 1779.

At that time, Luis de Córdova was already 73 years old, and many French people believed that, although in the past he had been a good officer, he was already very old and his head was failing.

But Floridablanca, in a letter to Aranda dated November 27, 1779, said that it seemed to him that "the old man is more encouraged and suffered than the young men of Brest", and added that none of his detractors had been able to advance, improve or rectify none of your action plans.

This logistical blow has remained the greatest ever suffered by the Royal Navy: he captured one of the largest and richest convoys ever to leave Portsmouth.

Córdoba took 3,000 prisoners from the endowments that day, plus 1,800 soldiers from the royal companies of the East and West Indies, valuing the captured loot, merchandise and ammunition, at 1 million dollars.

Despite the persecution that he was subjected to by the enemy naval forces, which constituted the most distant protection of the convoy, he managed to lead his captured ships safely to Cádiz, which had great echo in the press of the time and made him the hero of the moment.

Before they were published, the effects of what was to later become the Ordinances of the Navy, the product of the laborious work and experience of these two eminent sailors, were beginning to be felt.

Back in Spain, in 1782 he commanded the combined naval forces that had gathered in the bay of Algeciras to blockade Gibraltar and attempt to take it.

In the fires and blasts of these heavy batteries, theoretically unsinkable and incombustible, with water circulating "like blood through the human body", there were 338 dead, 638 wounded, 80 drowned and 335 prisoners.

The situation in the square became very tight, so the English decided to send a large convoy, escorted by a force of 30 ships under the command of Admiral Richard Howe.

Text adapted with permission of the author, which allowed its reproduction in Wikipedia under license GFDL: Naval History Forum of Spain and Spanish-speaking countries (registration required).