The
Spanish
Armada
or
Great
Armada
(Old
Spanish:
Grande
y Felicísima
Armada,
meaning
"Great
and
Most
Fortunate
Navy",
also
known
as
the
Armada
Invencible
("Invincible
Navy"),[3]
was
the
Spanish
fleet
that
sailed
against
England
under
the
command
of
the
Duke
of
Medina
Sidonia
in
1588.
The
Armada
was
sent
by
King
Philip
II
of
Spain,
who
had
been
king
consort
of
England
until
the
death
of
his
wife,
the
Catholic
Tudor
queen
Mary
I of
England
in
1558
and
the
ascension
of
her
half-sister
Elizabeth
I.
The
aim
was
to
suppress
English
support
for
the
United
Provinces
—
part
of
the
Spanish
Netherlands
—
and
to
cut
off
attacks
against
Spanish
possessions
in
the
New
World
and
the
Atlantic
treasure
fleets.
The
expedition
was
supported
by
Pope
Sixtus
V,
with
the
promise
of a
subsidy
should
it
make
land.[4]
The
fleet
was
to
be
commanded
by
the
highly
experienced
Álvaro
de
Bazán,
but
he
died
in
February
1588,
a
few
months
before
the
sailing
date,
and
Medina
Sidonia
was
appointed
in
his
place.
At
the
outset,
he
had
22
warships
of
the
Spanish
Royal
Navy
and
108
converted
merchant
vessels
under
his
command.
The
plan
was
to
sail
through
the
English
Channel
and
anchor
off
the
coast
of
Flanders,
where
the
Duke
of
Parma's
army
of
tercios
was
waiting
to
be
escorted
from
the
Spanish
Netherlands
across
the
North
Sea
for
a
landing
in
south-east
England.
The
Armada
was
attacked
by
English
ships,
but
forced
its
way
through
the
English
Channel,
coming
to a
halt
in
the
open
water
of
the
North
Sea
off
Gravelines,
the
coastal
border
area
between
France
and
the
Spanish
Netherlands.
While
awaiting
communications
from
Parma's
army,
a
fire
ship
attack
drove
the
Armada
ships
from
their
anchorage,
forcing
them
to
break
ranks
and
scatter,
whereupon
it
was
attacked
by
197
ships
of
the
English
fleet.
In
the
ensuing
Battle
of
Gravelines
a
small
number
of
the
Armada's
ships
were
lost,
and
the
Spanish
abandoned
their
rendezvous
with
Parma's
army.
Although
scattered
and
outnumbered
the
Armada
managed
to
regroup
and
withdrew
north,
with
the
English
fleet
harrying
it
for
some
distance
up
the
east
coast
of
England.
It
attempted
a
return
to
Spain
by
sailing
around
Scotland
and
out
into
the
Atlantic,
past
Ireland.
But
severe
storms
destroyed
a
portion
of
the
fleet,
and
more
than
24
vessels
were
wrecked
on
the
north
and
western
coasts
of
Ireland,
with
the
survivors
having
to
seek
refuge
in
Scotland.
Of
the
Armada's
initial
complement
of
vessels,
about
50
did
not
return
to
Spain.
Philip's
royal
fleet
of
22
took
the
brunt
of
the
enemy
attacks.
Seven
were
lost
of
which
just
three
were
accounted
for
by
enemy
actions.
The
expedition
was
the
the
largest
engagement
of
the
undeclared
Anglo–Spanish
War
(1585–1604).
The
Planned
Invasion
of
England
On
May
28,
1588,
the
Armada
set
sail
from
Lisbon
in
Portugal,
headed
for
the
English
Channel.
It
was
composed
of
around
130
ships,
8,000
sailors
and
18,000
soldiers,
and
bore
1,500
brass
guns
and
1,000
iron
guns;
it
took
two
days
for
the
last
vessel
to
leave
port.
In
the
Spanish
Netherlands
an
army
of
30,000
men
awaited
its
arrival,
the
plan
being
to
land
the
original
force
in
Plymouth
and
then
use
the
fleet
to
transfer
the
land
army
to
someplace
near
London.
All
told,
it
was
intended
to
muster
55,000
men,
a
huge
army
for
that
time.
On
the
same
day,
Elizabeth's
ambassador
in
the
Netherlands,
Dr
Valentine
Dale,
met
Parma's
representatives
to
begin
peace
negotiations.
On
July
17
negotiations
were
abandoned.
The
English
fleet
stood
ready
at
Plymouth,
awaiting
news
of
Spanish
movements.
Delayed
by
bad
weather,
the
Armada
was
not
sighted
in
England
until
July
19,
when
it
appeared
off
St
Michael's
Mount
in
Cornwall.
The
news
was
conveyed
to
London
by a
sequence
of
beacons
that
had
been
constructed
along
the
length
of
the
south
coast
of
England.
During
the
evening
the
English
were
trapped
in
the
Plymouth
harbour
by
the
incoming
tide.
Medina
Sidonia
called
a
counsel
of
war,
and
his
commanders
pushed
a
plan
to
ride
into
the
harbour
on
the
tide
and
incapacitate
the
English
ships
at
anchor
and
from
there
to
attack
England.
Medina
Sidonia
declined
this
advice,
and
that
same
night
55
ships
of
the
English
fleet
set
out
in
pursuit
from
Plymouth
under
the
command
of
Lord
Howard
of
Effingham
(later
Earl
of
Nottingham)
and
Sir
John
Hawkins.
However,
Hawkins
acknowledged
his
subordinate,
Sir
Francis
Drake,
as
the
more
experienced
naval
commander
and
gave
him
some
control
during
the
campaign.
In
order
to
execute
their
"line
ahead"
attack,
the
English
tacked
upwind
of
the
Armada,
thus
gaining
a
significant
manoeuvring
advantage.
Over
the
next
week
there
followed
two
inconclusive
engagements,
at
Eddystone
and
the
Isle
of
Portland.
At
the
Isle
of
Wight
the
Armada
had
the
opportunity
to
create
a
temporary
base
in
protected
waters
and
wait
for
word
from
Parma's
army.
In a
full-scale
attack,
the
English
fleet
broke
into
four
groups
with
Drake
coming
in
with
a
large
force
from
the
south.
At
that
critical
moment,
Medina
Sidonia
sent
reinforcements
south
and
ordered
the
Armada
back
into
the
open
sea
in
order
to
avoid
sandbanks.
This
left
two
Spanish
wrecks,
and
with
no
secure
harbours
nearby
the
Armada
sailed
on
to
Calais,
without
regard
to
the
readiness
of
Parma's
army.
On
July
27,
the
Spanish
anchored
off
Calais
in a
crescent-shaped,
tightly-packed
defensive
formation,
not
far
from
Parma's
army
of
16,000,
which
was
waiting
at
Dunkirk.
There
was
no
deep-water
port
where
the
fleet
might
shelter
—
always
acknowledged
as a
major
difficulty
for
the
expedition
—
and
the
Spanish
found
themselves
vulnerable
as
night
drew
on.
At
midnight
of
July
28,
the
English
set
alight
eight
fireships
(filled
with
pitch,
gunpowder,
and
tar)
and
sent
them
downwind
among
the
closely-anchored
Spanish
vessels.
The
Spanish
feared
these
might
prove
as
deadly
as
the
'hellburners'[5]
used
against
them
to
deadly
effect
at
the
Siege
of
Antwerp.[6]
Two
were
intercepted
and
towed
away,
while
the
remainder
bore
down
on
the
fleet.
Medina
Sidonia's
flagship,
and
a
few
of
the
other
principal
warships,
held
their
positions,
but
the
rest
of
the
fleet
cut
their
cables
and
scattered
in
confusion,
with
the
result
that
only
one
Spanish
ship
was
burned.
But
the
fireships
had
managed
to
break
the
crescent
formation,
and
the
fleet
now
found
itself
too
far
to
leeward
of
Calais
in
the
rising
south-westerly
wind
to
recover
its
position.
The
lighter
English
ships
closed
in
for
battle
at
Gravelines.
Battle
of
Gravelines
Gravelines was then
part of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands, close
to the border with France and the closest Spanish
territory to England. Medina Sidonia tried to
re-form his fleet there, and was reluctant to sail
further east owing to the danger from the shoals off
Flanders, from which his Dutch enemies had removed
the sea-marks. The Spanish army had been expected to
join the fleet in barges sent from ports along the
Flemish coast, but communications were far more
difficult than anticipated, and without notice of
the Armada's arrival Parma needed another six days
to bring his troops up, while Medina Sidonia waited
at anchor.
The English had learned more
of the Armada's strengths and weaknesses during the
skirmishes in the English Channel, and accordingly conserved
their heavy shot and powder prior to their attack at
Gravelines on August 8. During the battle, the Spanish heavy
guns proved unwieldy, and their gunners had not been trained
to reload — in contrast to their English counterparts, they
fired once and then jumped to the rigging to attend to their
main task as marines ready to board enemy ships. In fact,
evidence from Armada wrecks in Ireland shows that much of
the fleet's ammunition was never spent. Their determination
to thrash out a victory in hand-to-hand fighting proved a
weakness for the Spanish; it had been effective on occasions
such as the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and at the Battle of
Punta Delgada (1582), but the English were aware of this
strength and sought to avoid it.
With its superior maneuverability, the English fleet
provoked Spanish fire while staying out of range. Once the
Spanish had loosed their heavy shot, the English then
closed, firing repeated and damaging broadsides into the
enemy ships. This superiority also enabled them to maintain
a position to windward so that the heeling Armada hulls were
exposed to damage below the water-line.
Eleven Spanish ships were lost or damaged (though most of
the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic-class galleons escaped
largely unscathed, some were lost or badly damaged in
desperate individual rearguard actions against groups of
English ships). The Armada suffered nearly 2,000 battle
casualties before the English fleet ran out of ammunition.
English casualties in the battle were far fewer, in the low
hundreds. The Spanish plan to join with Parma's army had
been defeated, and the English had afforded themselves some
breathing space. But the Armada's presence in northern
waters still posed a great threat to England.
Tilbury speech
Main article: Speech to
the Troops at Tilbury
The threat of invasion from the Netherlands had not yet been
discounted, and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester maintained
a force of 4,000 soldiers at West Tilbury, Essex, to defend
the estuary of the River Thames against any incursion
up-river towards London.
On August 8, Queen Elizabeth went to Tilbury to encourage
her forces, and the next day gave to them what is probably
her most famous speech: "My loving people, we have been
persuaded by some that we are careful of our safety, to take
heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of
treachery; but, I do assure you, I do not desire to live to
distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I
have always so behaved myself, that under God I have placed
my chiefs strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and
goodwill of my subjects; and, therefore, I am come amongst
you as you see at this time, not for my recreation and
disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of
battle, to live or die amongst you all - to lay down for my
God, and for my kingdoms, and for my people, my honour and
my blood even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak,
feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king -
and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that
Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to
invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any
dishonor should grow by me, I myself will take up arms - I
myself will be your general, judge, and rewarded of every
one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your
forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns, and, we
do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be duly
paid you. For the meantime, my Lieutenant-General Leicester
shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a
more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your
obedience to my General, by your concord in the camp, and
your valor in the field, we shall shortly have a famous
victory over these enemies of my God, of my kingdom and of
my people."
Pursuit and the return to Spain
Main article: Spanish
Armada in Ireland
On the day after the battle of Gravelines, the wind had
backed southerly, enabling Medina Sidonia to move his fleet
northward (away from the French coast). Although their shot
lockers were almost empty, the English pursued in an attempt
to prevent the enemy from returning to escort Parma. On 12
August, Howard called a halt to the pursuit in the latitude
of the Firth of Forth off Scotland. By that point, the
Spanish were suffering from thirst and exhaustion, and the
only option left to Medina Sidonia was to chart a course
home to Spain, along the most hazardous parts of the
Atlantic seaboard.
The Armada sailed around Scotland and Ireland into the North
Atlantic. The ships were beginning to show wear from the
long voyage, and some were kept together by having their
hulls bundled up with cables. Supplies of food and water ran
short, and the cavalry horses were cast overboard into the
sea. Off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland the fleet ran
into a series of powerful westerly gales, which drove many
of the damaged ships off course and away from the safety of
the open sea. Because so many anchors had been abandoned
during the escape from the English fireships off Calais,
many of the ships were incapable of securing shelter as they
reached the coast of Ireland and were driven on to the
rocks. (See Protestant Wind)
Following the gales it is reckoned that 5,000 men died,
whether by drowning and starvation or by execution at the
hands of English forces in Ireland. The reports from Ireland
abound with strange accounts of brutality and survival, and
attest on occasion to the brilliance of Spanish seamanship.
Survivors did receive help from the Gaelic Irish, with many
escaping to Scotland and beyond.
In the end, 67 ships and around 10,000 men survived. Many of
the men were near death from disease, as the conditions were
very cramped and most of the ships ran out of food and
water. Many more died in Spain, or on hospital ships in
Spanish harbours, from diseases contracted during the
voyage. It was reported that, when Philip II learned of the
result of the expedition, he declared, "I sent my ships to
fight against the English, not against the elements".
Greatly disappointed, he still forgave the Duke of Medina
Sidonia.
Consequences
English losses were
comparatively few, and none of their ships were sunk. But
after the victory, typhus and dysentery killed many sailors
and troops (estimated at 6,000–8,000) as they languished for
weeks in readiness for the Armada's return out of the North
Sea. Then a demoralising dispute occasioned by the
government's fiscal shortfalls left many of the English
defenders unpaid for months, which was in contrast to the
assistance given by the Spanish government to its surviving
men.
Although the English fleet was unable to prevent the
regrouping of the Armada at the Battle of the Gravelines,
requiring it to remain on duty even as thousands of its
sailors died, the outcome vindicated the strategy adopted,
resulting in a revolution in naval warfare with the
promotion of gunnery, which until then had played a
supporting role to the tasks of ramming and boarding. The
battle of Gravelines is regarded by specialists in military
history as reflecting a lasting shift in the naval balance
in favour of the English, in part because of the gap in
naval technology and armament it confirmed between the two
nations, which continued into the next century. In the words
of Geoffrey Parker, by 1588 'the capital ships of the
Elizabethan navy constituted the most powerful battlefleet
afloat anywhere in the world.'[7]
The victory was acclaimed by the English as their greatest
since Agincourt. An attempt in the following year to press
home their advantage failed, when an English Armada returned
to port with little to show for its efforts, but the boost
to national pride lasted for years, and Elizabeth's legend
persisted and grew well after her death. The repulse of
Spanish naval might gave heart to the Protestant cause
across Europe, and the belief that God was behind the
Protestant cause was shown by the striking of commemorative
medals that bore the inscription, He blew with His winds,
and they were scattered.There were also more lighthearted
medals struck, such as the one with the play on Caesar's
words: Venit, Vidit, Fugit (he came, he saw, he fled). The
supply of troops and munitions from England to Philip II's
enemies in the Netherlands and France continued and high
seas buccaneering against the Spanish persisted but with
dwindling success. The Anglo-Spanish War thereafter
generally favoured Spain.
It was half a century later when the Dutch broke Spanish
dominance at sea in the Battle of the Downs in (1639). The
strength of Spain's tercios — the dominant fighting unit in
European land campaigns for over a century — was broken by
the French at the Battle of Rocroi (1643). |
