Real Carlos was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Havana for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa.

[1] One of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos, Real Carlos served in the Spanish Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars and was destroyed with heavy loss of life during the Second Battle of Algeciras.

On 8 April 1799, Real Carlos was flagship of the Ferrol squadron under Francisco Melgarejo, alongside Argonauta, Monarca, San Agustín, Castilla and three smaller ships.

This squadron sailed in an effort to unite with the French Atlantic Fleet operating in the Croisière de Bruix, but missed the rendezvous and spent much of the rest of the year at anchor in Rochefort, returning on 11 September.

During the night of 12 July the combined force was returning through the Straits of Gibraltar when a British squadron attacked them at the Second Battle of Algeciras.