At the outbreak of the uprising, the Republican government already had ships patrolling the Straits and vessels of doubtful loyalty under surveillance. Leftist sailors passed news from radio room to radio room, while radical petty officers and junior officers removed commanders they did not trust. Shipboard committees then created a loose but, in the cited account, surprisingly effective command network. That network gathered almost the entire operational fleet in the Straits and temporarily isolated the insurgent Army of Africa in Spanish Morocco. The sequence shows how communications and control inside ships could determine strategic access to the peninsula.
Notable Point · 26:33-28:03
Republican sailors created a fleet command network
Radio-room coordination, removal of suspect commanders, and shipboard committees allowed Republican sailors to concentrate the fleet and isolate the Army of Africa.