Battle of Guetaria

Naval battle on 22 August 1638 in the Basque port of Getaria, the first major Franco-Spanish Atlantic engagement of the Thirty Years' War. Sourdis's squadron (about 21 ships and 7 to 8 fireships) destroyed Lope de Hoces's squadron by gunfire and fireships, but the neighbouring land operation at Fuenterrabía failed.

In 1638, during the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War begun in 1635, the French Atlantic squadron commanded by Archbishop-Admiral Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis supported land operations along the Basque coast. On 17 August, a Spanish squadron under Don Lope de Hoces, coming from La Coruña, was blockaded in the bay of Getaria.

Sourdis blockaded the Spanish squadron moored near the shore, a defensive position preventing boarding but favouring fireships, which the admiral had disguised. On 22 August, six ships anchored within cannon range of the enemy line, shelled them and then released their fireships with a favourable wind: 17 of 18 Spanish ships burned in six hours of fighting.

It was the first major French naval victory of the war, shaking Spanish sea power. Between 4,000 and 5,000 Spaniards perished; Sourdis lost only about forty men. The victory did not extend ashore: Condé's siege of Fuenterrabía failed and was lifted on 8 September, to the dismay of Louis XIII and Richelieu.