Battles Spanish Armada

It was 1588 when the mighty Spanish Armada first set sail under the command of Medina Sidonia a Duke. Previously, King Philip II of Spain was also the king consort of England due to his marriage to Queen Mary I of England. However, her 1558 death left Queen Elizabeth the monarch of England to which Philip took exception to. In an attempt to cut off the English’s navy and prevent them from getting in the way of Spain’s exploration of the New World as well as their other colonies, King Philip intended to invade England and take possession of it.

The Spanish Armada was considered to be the largest sea engagement of the Anglo-Spanish War which started in 1585 and lasted until 1604. It was with the help of the Pope and his granting of the expedition as a crusade which allowed Spain to collect crusade taxes that would eventually pay for the Spanish Armada’s fleet of ships. The full Armada in its prime consisted of 130 ships as well as 8,000 sailors and another 18,000soldiers. Furthermore, the Armada had 1,500 brass cannons as well as another 1,000 iron cannons to its arsenal.

However, after the English disrupted the plan of the Armada to meet up with the 30,000 strong Spanish Netherlands military to invade London, the Spanish Armada had to try a different strategy. It was on July 19^th that the fleet would first be sighted off the Cornwall coast and thanks to a system of lighthouses that were set up along the English coastline for just such an occasion. However, it just so happened that on this occasion, the entire English Fleet was trapped in Plymouth Harbour. At the Spanish Council of War that was convened, it was suggested to sail into Plymouth Harbour and take out the English Fleet. Medina Sidonia chose not to take the advice which was his biggest mistake.

That night while anchored off the English Coast, 55 of the English Fleet’s fastest and most manoeuvrable warships left Plymouth Harbour and caught up with the Spanish Armada under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham and Vice Admiral Sir Francis Drake. The following night, the English would once again attack the Spanish Armada under the cover of night, but this time they chose to attack from upwind which gave them the advantage in the attack. In response, several of the Spanish Armada’s ships were severely damaged so the Armada chose to abandon them. This proved to be another mistake as the English quickly captured the ships and took control of a large portion of the Spanish Armada’s gunpowder.

The Spanish Armada made the move to the coast just off the Isle of Wight and attempted to fortify the area while still awaiting the Parma’s Military. It was while here that the English chose to go with a full scale attack and broke off into four separate groups. This caused the Armada to be scrambled and as a result, Medina Sidonia sent only a few ships south as reinforcements, while the remainder went into the North Atlantic to keep from being grounded on a sand bar.

Reorganising off the coast of Calais in wait for the Parma’s army, the Spanish Armada took a defensive crescent formation. However, upon arrival, it was soon discovered that the military was not ready at all and that the Armada would have to remain there for at least six days before the army could board and head into London to attack.

While Medina Sidonia awaited the Parma’s army, The English took 8 of their Hellburner fireships, lit them ablaze and sent them sailing towards the Armada’s densely packed formation. These ships were filled to the brim with gunpowder and were not the thing that any of the Spanish ships wanted near them. As a result, the entire fleet cut their cables to get out of the line of the fireships. This scattered them and although none of the ships were burned, they were at the disadvantage of having no wind in the sails in order to reorganise. The English fleet took immediate advantage of this and moved in for the attack.

The English fleet stayed just far enough out of reach so as to provoke the Spanish Armada to fire its big cannons until their gunpowder reserves were empty allowing the English to close in on the Armada without much retaliation and allow for hand to hand combats between the two which was a weakness for Spain.

Thirsty and exhausted from the long time at sea and at battle, many of the sailors and soldiers were succumbing to disease and as a result, Medina Sidonia set a course back to Spain through the Atlantic Ocean. So the Spanish Armada set sail up the Scottish coastline and out into the North Atlantic Ocean with ships that had been cabled together due to wear and tear from the heavy fighting. Upon reaching the Atlantic, a storm rose up and seeing as though the vast majority of the ships were in dire need of repairs, only 50 of the initial 130 ships in the Spanish Armada were to ever make it back to Spain.