During this tour of duty, she defended neutral shipping along the eastern Spanish coast in the last days of the Spanish civil war, supported by the destroyers HMS Intrepid and HMS Impulsive. She obtained the release of at least four British cargo ships arrested by Spanish nationalist forces in open seas, but the cruiser was unable to prevent the capture of the London-registered freighter Stangate by the nationalist merchant raider Mar Negro off Valencia on 16 March 1939.[2][3][4]