The action of 9 August 1780 was a naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War, in which a Spanish fleet, led by Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova, along with a squadron of French ships, encountered a large British convoy. The Spanish and French force captured almost all the merchant vessels in the convoy, which dealt a severe blow to the commerce of Great Britain.

Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, nicknamed La Real, sometimes confused with the merchant galleon Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin) was a Spanish first-rate ship of the line and was the largest warship in the world when launched. She originally had 112 guns; this was increased in 1795–96 to 130 guns by closing in the spar deck between the quarterdeck and forecastle, and to 136 guns around 1802, thus creating what was in effect a continuous fourth gundeck although the extra guns added were actually relatively small. She was the heaviest-armed ship in the world when rebuilt, and bore the most guns of any ship of the line outfitted in the Age of Sail.