Antonio de Oquendo

Antonio de Oquendo (* October 1577 in San Sebastián, † June 7, 1639 in La Coruña) was a Spanish admiral.

Life

He was the second son of Admiral Miguel de Oquendo. The son also entered the Navy, serving from 1593 initially in the galley fleet of the Kingdom of Naples under Pedro de Toledo. He moved in 1600 to the Spanish fleet. He commanded two ships in 1604, defeated the English privateer in Cádiz. This earned him the favor of Philip III. one. Since 1607 he commanded the Biscay squadron. With this he tried to protect upcoming silver fleets before Dutch attacks from overseas. In 1611, he protected accompany the first time a fleet of 36 merchant ships in their voyage across the Atlantic. A second trip 1613/14 was also successful. In 1623 was followed by a third expedition across the Atlantic. He was again escorting ships across the Atlantic and quickly return to the silver because in Spain there was a financial crisis. But he had to hibernate in Havana and arrived before 1624, back to Spain. He was arrested. After his release he was forbidden to go back to command fleets of silver and he had to pay a heavy fine. The decision was reversed again. He was in 1626 appointed Admiral of the ocean. In 1628 he released on his own initiative, the city of La Mamora in Morocco. Together with Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Mendoza in 1629 he commanded a Spanish - Portuguese fleet, the Caribbean islands briefly wrested from the British possessions in the victorious battle of St. Kitts. In 1631 he commanded a troop transport to Brazil to recapture Recife, which had been briefly captured earlier by the Dutch. A naval victory at Albrolhos enabled the successful landing of the land forces. In 1636 he was temporarily arrested because of a duel. Because his fleet was not operational, he refused in 1637 to support the fleet of the Kingdom of Naples. As punishment, he was Governor of Mahon on the island of Menorca. In 1639 he was appointed commander of a large transport fleet in support of the Spanish troops in the Netherlands. From the Dutch fleet, he was defeated at the Battle of the Downs. Thus, the Spanish naval power was broken in the north permanently. Broken Wounds and morally, he returned to Spain, where he died a short time later.