Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada (la felicissima armada or "most fortunate fleet") is the term conventionally applied in English historiography to the fleet which King Philip II of Spain used as part of an attempt to invade England in 1588.

This was the first of several invasion attempts over the next decade, but it is by far the most famous and one of the most famous episodes in English history. While Philip's motives were both religious and political, the reasons given for this attack were principally religious, since the Protestant Elizabeth I of England had antagonised the Catholics by making attendance at Church of England services compulsory and instituting imprisonment for the saying or attending Catholic Mass. Moreover, the activities of English privateers on the Spanish Main over the previous years had severely dented the Spanish treasury. But in particular, England had joined the Eighty Years' War on the side of the United Provinces and against Spain.

The Plan

Philip's invasion plan was a simple fourchette: the Duke of Parma, who was commanding Spain's army in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands, was to assemble an invading force on the North Sea coast. Parma's only means of transporting troops across the English Channel was a fleet of vulnerable barges. Therefore, the Armada was to travel North from Spanish-controlled Lisbon and meet Parma's army in order to protect its passage . Command of the Armada was given to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a soldier with no naval experience.

On May 28, 1588 the Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, began to set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel (it took until May 30 for all ships to leave port).

During the Battle of Gravelines, on July 29, the Armada was defeated by an English naval force under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake off the coast of Gravelines, France. An engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth on July 31 also resulted in an English victory. On August 4 off Dorset the English fleet under Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake met the Spanish fleet again and again the English have the better of it. Finally on August 7 the English and Spanish fleets engaged off the coast of Flanders with yet another English victory.

Now unable to reach the coast of Flanders to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma, Medina Sidonia decided to return to Spain. The surviving parts of the Spanish Armada began to sail home on August 8 and on August 12 the Spanish fleet sailed past the Firth of Forth, and the English fleet ceased their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet was destroyed as it sailed around Scotland and Ireland. Only 67 of the original 130 ships reached Spain and most of those were in poor condition.

[..to be continued sjc]

In 2002 Dr Colin Martin of St Andrews University claimed that many Spanish ships carried cannon shot that was the wrong size for their cannons.

Also See

Armada Española (in Spanish)