The earliest recorded naval battle honour is ARMADA 1588, the defeat of the Spanish Armada at Gravelines by a combined British-Dutch fleet. Because of the significant number of ships sunk during World War I and World War II, only three battle honours have been awarded for single-ship actions since the start of the 20th century: to the cruiser for sinking the German light cruiser during the Battle of Cocos in November 1914 ('Emden' 1914), to the Commonwealth warships involved in the pursuit and last battle of the in May 1941 ('Bismarck' 1941), and to the cruiser for the mutually destructive engagement with the in November 1941 ('Kormoran' 1941).