 The Nationalist cruiser "Almirante Cervera" could have supported the rebel troops with her 6in main guns from the sea, but this offered no real hope of relief.The battle for Gijón was marked by Pinilla's unwavering resistance and by the almost total lack of weapons - excepting dynamite - of the attackers.Until they secured Gijón's fall the Republicans could not concentrate their full numbers in their siege against the Nationalists in Oviedo; accordingly, their attacks were unrelenting.