Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada ( , literally " Great and Most Fortunate Navy " or " Invincible Fleet " ) was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England in 1588 . The Armada suffered a decisive defeat and accomplished nothing . As Martin and Parker explain , " Philip II attempted to invade England , but his plans miscarried , partly because of his own mismanagement , and partly because the defensive efforts of the English and their Dutch allies prevailed . " Much of the blame has been borne by its commander the Duke of Medina Sidonia . The goal had been to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and end her involvement in the Spanish Netherlands and her privateering in the Atlantic and Pacific . Despite detailed planning , matters went awry from the first . After choosing not to attack the English fleet at Plymouth and failing to establish a temporary anchorage in the Solent , where one Spanish ship was captured by Francis Drake , the Armada anchored off Calais . While awaiting communications from the Duke of Parma ' s army the Armada was scattered by an English fire ship attack . In the ensuing Battle of Gravelines the Spanish fleet was damaged and forced to abandon its rendezvous with Parma ' s army , who were blockaded in harbour by Dutch flyboat s . The Armada managed to regroup and , driven by southwest winds , withdrew north , with the English fleet harrying it for some distance up the east coast of England . The commander decided that the fleet should return to Spain ; it sailed around Scotland and Ireland , but severe storms disrupted it . Of the fleet ' s initial 130 ships , more than a third never returned . The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo – Spanish War ( 1585 – 1604 ) . The following year England organised a similar large - scale campaign against Spain , the Drake - Norris Expedition , also known as the Counter Armada of 1589 , which was unsuccessful . History . Background . Philip II of Spain had been co - monarch of England until the death of his wife , Mary I , in 1558 . A devout Roman Catholic , he deemed his Protestant sister - in - law and successor , Elizabeth I , a heretic and illegitimate ruler of England . He is alleged to have supported previous plots to have her overthrown in favour of her Catholic cousin and heir presumptive , Mary , Queen of Scots , however these were thwarted when Elizabeth had the Queen of Scots imprisoned and finally executed in 1587 . In addition , Elizabeth , who sought to advance the cause of Protestantism where possible , had supported the Dutch Revolt against Spain . In retaliation , Philip planned an expedition to invade England and overthrow the Protestant regime of Elizabeth , thereby ending the English material support for the United Provinces - the part of the Low Countries that had successfully seceded from Spanish rule – and cutting off English attacks on Spanish trade and settlements in the New World . The king was supported by Pope Sixtus V , who treated the invasion as a crusade , with the promise of a subsidy should the Armada make land . A raid on Cadiz led by Francis Drake in April 1587 had captured or destroyed some thirty ships and great quantities of supplies , setting preparations back by a year . Philip initially favoured a triple attack starting with a diversionary raid on Scotland while the main Armada would capture the Isle of Wight or Southampton to establish a safe anchorage in the Solent . The Duke of Parma would then follow with a large army from the Low Countries crossing the English Channel . Parma was uneasy about mounting such an invasion without any possibility of surprise . He was also alarmed by the costs that would be incurred and advised Philip to postpone or abandon it . The Armada ' s appointed commander was the highly experienced Álvaro de Bazán , Marquis of Santa Cruz , but he died in February 1588 and The Duke of Medina Sidonia , a high - born courtier , took his place . While a competent soldier and distinguished administrator , Medina Sidonia had no naval experience . He wrote to Philip expressing grave doubts about the planned campaign but this was prevented from reaching the king by courtiers on the grounds that God would ensure the Armada ' s success . Planned invasion of England . Prior to the undertaking , Pope Sixtus V allowed Philip II of Spain to collect crusade taxes and granted his men indulgences . The blessing of the Armada ' s banner on 25 April 1588 was similar to the ceremony used prior to the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 . On 28 May 1588 the Armada set sail from Lisbon and headed for the English Channel . The fleet was composed of 151 ships , 8 , 000 sailors and 18 , 000 soldiers , and bore 1 , 500 brass guns and 1 , 000 iron guns . The full body of the fleet took two days to leave port . It included twenty eight purpose - built warships of which twenty were galleon s , four galley s and four ( Neapolitan ) galleass es . The remainder of the heavy vessels were mostly armed carrack s and hulk s together with thirty four light ships . In the Spanish Netherlands 30 , 000 soldiers awaited the arrival of the armada , the plan being to use the cover of the warships to convey the army on barges to a place near London . All told , 55 , 000 men were to have been mustered , a huge army for that time . On the day the Armada set sail , Elizabeth ' s ambassador in the Netherlands , Valentine Dale , met Parma ' s representatives in peace negotiations . The English made a vain effort to intercept the Armada in the Bay of Biscay . On 16 July negotiations were abandoned , and the English fleet stood prepared , if ill - supplied , at Plymouth , awaiting news of Spanish movements . The English fleet outnumbered the Spanish , with 200 ships to 130 , while the Spanish fleet outgunned the English — its available firepower was 50 % more than that of the English . The English fleet consisted of the 34 ships of the royal fleet ( 21 of which were galleons of 200 to 400 tons ) , and 163 other ships , 30 of which were of 200 to 400 tons and carried up to 42 guns each ; 12 of these were privateers owned by Lord Howard of Effingham , Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake . The Armada was delayed by bad weather , forcing the four galleys and one of the galleons to leave the fleet , and was not sighted in England until 19 July , when it appeared off The Lizard in Cornwall . The news was conveyed to London by a system of beacon s that had been constructed all the way along the south coast . On that evening the English fleet was trapped in Plymouth Harbour by the incoming tide . The Spanish convened a council of war , where it was proposed to ride into the harbour on the tide and incapacitate the defending ships at anchor and from there to attack England ; but Medina Sidonia declined to act because this had been explicitly forbidden by Philip , and decided to sail on to the east and towards the Isle of Wight . As the tide turned , 55 English ships set out to confront them from Plymouth under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham , with Sir Francis Drake as Vice Admiral . Howard ceded some control to Drake , given his experience in battle . The Rear Admiral was Sir John Hawkins . First actions ( 1588 ) . On 20 July the English fleet was off Eddystone Rocks , with the Armada upwind to the west . That night , in order to execute their attack , the English tacked upwind of the Armada , thus gaining the weather gage , a significant advantage . At daybreak on 21 July the English fleet engaged the Armada off Plymouth near the Eddystone rocks . The Armada was in a crescent - shaped defensive formation , convex towards the east . The galleons and great ships were concentrated in the centre and at the tips of the crescent ' s horns , giving cover to the transports and supply ships in between . Opposing them the English were in two sections , Drake to the north in " Revenge " with 11 ships , and Howard to the south in " Ark Royal " with the bulk of the fleet . Given the Spanish advantage in close - quarter fighting , the English ships used their superior speed and manoeuvrability to keep beyond grappling range and bombarded the Spanish ships from a distance with cannon fire . However the distance was too great for this to be effective , and at the end of the first day ' s fighting neither fleet had lost a ship in action , although the Spanish carrack " Rosario " and galleon " San Salvador " were abandoned after they collided . When night fell , Francis Drake turned his ship back to loot the Spanish ships , capturing supplies of much - needed gunpowder , and gold . However , Drake had been guiding the English fleet by means of a lantern . Because he snuffed out the lantern and slipped away for the abandoned Spanish ships , the rest of his fleet became scattered and was in complete disarray by dawn . It took an entire day for the English fleet to regroup and the Armada gained a day ' s grace . The English ships then used their superior speed and manoeuvrability to catch up with the Spanish fleet after a day of sailing . On 23 July the English fleet and the Armada engaged once more , off Portland . This time a change of wind gave the Spanish the weather - gage , and they sought to close with the English , but were foiled by the smaller ships ' greater manoeuvrability . At one point Howard formed his ships into a line of battle , to attack at close range bringing all his guns to bear , but this was not followed through and little was achieved . If the Armada could create a temporary base in the protected waters of the Solent ( a strait separating the Isle of Wight from the English mainland ) , they could wait there for word from Parma ' s army . However , in a full - scale attack , the English fleet broke into four groups – Martin Frobisher of the " Aid " now also being given command over a squadron – with Drake coming in with a large force from the south . At the critical moment Medina Sidonia sent reinforcements south and ordered the Armada back to open sea to avoid the Owers sandbank s . There were no other secure harbours further east along England ' s south coast , so the Armada was compelled to make for Calais , without being able to wait for word of Parma ' s army . On 27 July the Armada anchored off Calais in a tightly - packed defensive crescent formation , not far from Dunkirk , where Parma ' s army , reduced by disease to 16 , 000 , was expected to be waiting , ready to join the fleet in barges sent from ports along the Flemish coast . Communication had proven to be far more difficult than anticipated , and it only now became known that this army had yet to be equipped with sufficient transport or assembled in the port , a process which would take at least six days , while Medina Sidonia waited at anchor ; and that Dunkirk was blockade d by a Dutch fleet of thirty flyboat s under Lieutenant - Admiral Justin of Nassau . Parma wanted the Armada to send its light " petaches " to drive away the Dutch , but Medina Sidonia could not do this because he feared that he might need these ships for his own protection . 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 on 28 July , the English set alight eight fireships , sacrificing regular warships by filling them with pitch , brimstone , some gunpowder and tar , and cast them downwind among the closely anchored vessels of the Armada . The Spanish feared that these uncommonly large fireships were " hellburners " , specialised fireships filled with large gunpowder charges , which had been used to deadly effect at the Siege of Antwerp . Two were intercepted and towed away , but the remainder bore down on the fleet . Medina Sidonia ' s flagship and the principal warships held their positions , but the rest of the fleet cut their anchor cables and scattered in confusion . No Spanish ships were burnt , but the crescent formation had been broken , and the fleet now found itself too far to leeward of Calais in the rising southwesterly wind to recover its position . The English closed in for battle . Battle of Gravelines . The small port of 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 knowing the danger from the shoals off Flanders , from which his Dutch enemies had removed the sea mark s . The English had learned more of the Armada ' s strengths and weaknesses during the skirmishes in the English Channel and had concluded it was necessary to close within 100 yards to penetrate the oak hulls of the Spanish ships . They had spent most of their gunpowder in the first engagements , and had after the Isle of Wight been forced to conserve their heavy shot and powder for a final attack near Gravelines . During all the engagements , the Spanish heavy guns could not easily be run in for reloading because of their close spacing and the quantities of supplies stowed between decks , as Francis Drake had discovered on capturing the damaged " Rosario " in the Channel . Instead the gunners fired once and then jumped to the rigging to attend to their main task as marines ready to board enemy ships , as had been the practice in naval warfare at the time . In fact , evidence from Armada wrecks in Ireland shows that much of the fleet ' s ammunition was never spent . Their determination to fight by boarding , rather than cannon fire at a distance , proved a weakness for the Spanish ; it had been effective on occasions such as the battles of Lepanto and Ponta Delgada ( 1582 ) , but the English were aware of this strength and sought to avoid it by keeping their distance . With its superior manoeuvrability , the English fleet provoked Spanish fire while staying out of range . The English then closed , firing repeated and damaging broadsides into the enemy ships . This also enabled them to maintain a position to windward so that the heeling Armada hulls were exposed to damage below the water line . Many of the gunners were killed or wounded , and the task of manning the cannon often fell to the regular foot soldiers on board , who did not know how to operate the guns . The ships were close enough for sailors on the upper decks of the English and Spanish ships to exchange musket fire . After eight hours , the English ships began to run out of ammunition , and some gunners began loading objects such as chains into cannons . Around 4 : 00 pm , the English fired their last shots and were forced to pull back . Five Spanish ships were lost . The galleass " San Lorenzo " ran aground at Calais and was taken by Howard after murderous fighting between the crew , the galley slaves , the English , and the French , who ultimately took possession of the wreck . The galleons " San Mateo " and " San Felipe " drifted away in a sinking condition , ran aground on the island of Walcheren the next day , and were taken by the Dutch . One carrack ran aground near Blankenberge ; another foundered . Many other Spanish ships were severely damaged , especially the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic - class galleons which had to bear the brunt of the fighting during the early hours of the battle in desperate individual actions against groups of English ships . The Spanish plan to join with Parma ' s army had been defeated and the English had gained some breathing space , but the Armada ' s presence in northern waters still posed a great threat to England . Tilbury speech . 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 2 August Old Style ( 12 August New Style ) 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 , by a very hazardous route . The threat of invasion from the Netherlands had not yet been discounted by the English , and Robert Dudley , Earl of Leicester maintained a force of 4 , 000 soldiers at West Tilbury , Essex , to defend the Thames Estuary against any incursion up - river towards London . On 8 August ( 18 August New Style ) 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 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 chiefest 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 and 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 dishonour should grow by me , I myself will take up arms – I myself will be your general , judge , and rewarder 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 . In the mean time , my lieutenant general 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 valour in the field , we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God , of my kingdom , and of my people . Return to Spain . In September 1588 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 . The intention would have been to keep well to the west of the coast of Scotland and Ireland , in the relative safety of the open sea . However , there being at that time no way of accurately measuring longitude , the Spanish were not aware that the Gulf Stream was carrying them north and east as they tried to move west , and they eventually turned south much further to the east than planned , a devastating navigational error . Off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland the fleet ran into a series of powerful westerly winds , which drove many of the damaged ships further towards the lee shore . 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 onto the rocks . The late 16th century , and especially 1588 , was marked by unusually strong North Atlantic storms , perhaps associated with a high accumulation of polar ice off the coast of Greenland , a characteristic phenomenon of the " Little Ice Age . " As a result , more ships and sailors were lost to cold and stormy weather than in direct combat . Following the gales it is reckoned that 5 , 000 men died , by drowning , starvation and slaughter at the hands of English forces after they were driven ashore in Ireland ; only half of the Spanish Armada fleet returned home to Spain . Reports of the passage around Ireland abound with strange accounts of brutality and survival . Some survivors were concealed by Irish people , but few shipwrecked Spaniards survived to be taken into Irish service , fewer still to return home . In the end , 67 ships and less than 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 the Armada against men , not God ' s winds and waves " . Aftermath . English losses stood at 50 – 100 dead and 400 wounded , and none of their ships had been sunk . But after the victory , typhus , dysentery and hunger killed a number of sailors and troops as they were discharged without pay : 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 few surviving men . The English fleet was still cautious of the remaining Armada after the Battle of Gravelines , requiring it to remain on duty even as some of its sailors died . The following year Elizabeth I launched the Counter Armada , under Sir Francis Drake , but it was unsuccessful in its goals , resulting in Phillip II retaining some naval superiority . Technological revolution . The outcome seemed to vindicate the English strategy and resulted in a revolution in naval battle tactics with the promotion of gunnery , which until then had played a supporting role to the tasks of ramming and boarding . Most military historians hold that the battle of Gravelines reflected a lasting shift in the balance of naval power 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 . ' The English navy yards were leaders in technical innovation , and the captains devised new tactics . Geoffrey Parker argues that the full - rigged ship was one of the greatest technological advances of the century and permanently transformed naval warfare . In 1573 English shipwrights introduced designs , first demonstrated in the " Dreadnaught , " that allowed the ships to sail faster and maneuver better and permitted heavier guns . Whereas before warships had tried to grapple with each other so that soldiers could board the enemy ship , now they more often stood off and fired broadsides that could sink the enemy vessel . Superior English ships and seamanship had foiled the invasion . The English also took advantage of Spain ' s over - complex strategy which required coordination between the invasion fleet and the Spanish army on shore . But the poor design of the Spanish cannon meant they were much slower in reloading in a close - range battle , allowing the English to take control . Spain still had numerically larger fleets , but England was catching up . Legacy . In England , the boost to national pride lasted for years , and Elizabeth ' s legend persisted and grew long after her death . The repulsing of the Spanish naval force may have given heart to the Protestant cause across Europe and the belief that God was behind the Protestant cause . This was shown by the striking of commemorative medals that bore variations on the inscription , " " 1588 . Flavit Jehovah et Dissipati Sunt " " - with " Jehovah " in Hebrew letters ( " God blew , and they were scattered " ) , or " He blew with His winds , and they were scattered " . There were also more lighthearted medals struck , such as the one with the play on the words of Julius Caesar : " Venit , Vidit , Fugit " ( " he came , he saw , he fled " ) . The victory was acclaimed by the English as their greatest since Agincourt . However , an attempt to press home the English advantage failed the following year , when the Drake – Norris Expedition of 1589 , with a comparable fleet of English privateers , sailed to establish a base in the Azores , attack Spain , and raise a revolt in Portugal . The English Armada raided Corunna , but withdrew from Lisbon after failing to co - ordinate its strategy effectively with the Portuguese . In 1596 and 1597 , two more armadas were sent by Spain but were scattered by storms . The Spanish Navy underwent a major organisational reform that helped it to maintain control over its trans - Atlantic routes . High - seas buccaneering and the supply of troops to Philip II ' s enemies in the Netherlands and France continued , but brought few tangible rewards for England . The memory of the victory over the Armada was evoked during both the Napoleonic Wars and the Second World War , when Britain again faced a concrete danger of invasion . Historiography . Knerr ( 1989 ) has reviewed the main trends in historiography over five centuries . For 150 years writers relied heavily on Petruccio Ubaldini ' s " A Discourse Concernye the Spanish Fleete Invadinye Englande " ( 1590 ) , which argued that God decisively favoured the Protestant cause . William Camden ( 1551 - 1623 ) pointed in addition to elements of English nationalism and the private enterprise of the sea dogs . He also emphasized that the Duke of Medina Sidonia was an incompetent seaman . David Hume ( 1711 – 76 ) praised the leadership of Queen Elizabeth . However the Whig historians , led by James A . Froude ( 1818 – 94 ) , rejected Hume ' s interpretation and argued that Elizabeth was vacillating and almost lost the conflict by her unwillingness to spend enough to maintain the fleet . Scientific modern historiography came of age with the publication of two volumes of primary documents by John K . Laughton in 1894 . This enabled the leading naval scholar of the day Julian Corbett ( 1854 - 1922 ) , to reject the Whig views and turn attention to the professionalization of the Royal Navy as a critical factor . Twentieth - century historians have focused on technical issues , such as the relative power of English and Spanish guns and the degree of credit due Francis Drake and Charles Howard . In popular culture . The preparations of the Armada and the Battle of Gravelines form the backdrop of two graphic novels in Bob de Moor s " Cori le Moussaillon " ( " Les Espions de la Reine " and " Le Dragon des Mers " ' ) . In them , Cori the cabin boy works as a spy in the Armada for the English . The Armada and intrigues surrounding its threat to England form the backdrop of the films " Fire Over England " ( 1937 ) , with Laurence Olivier and Flora Robson , and " The Sea Hawk " with Errol Flynn . The Battle of Gravelines and the subsequent chase around the northern coast of Scotland form the climax of Charles Kingsley ' s 1855 novel " Westward Ho ! " , which in 1925 became the first novel to be adapted into a radio drama by BBC . In golf , Seve Ballesteros and José María Olazábal , who had a Ryder Cup record of 11 – 2 – 2 as a team — the best record for a pairing in the history of the competition — came to be called the " Spanish Armada " . The Battle of Gravelines is the climax of the 2007 film , " " starring Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen . Australian band " Paper Boat Armada " take their name from the stories of " The invincible Spanish Armada " In the twentieth season of " The Simpsons " , an episode depicts the reason for the Armada ' s attack as Queen Elizabeth ' s rebuff of the King of Spain . Homer Simpson ( as Walter Raleigh ) accidentally sets the only English ship on fire ; then collides with the Armada , setting all their ships on fire , creating victory for England . The " Final Jeopardy ! " response on 20 May 2009 on " Jeopardy ! " was " The Spanish Armada " . The clue was " " It was the ' they ' in the medal issued by Elizabeth I reading , ' God breathed and they were scattered . ' " " Winston Graham wrote a history of " The Spanish Armadas " and a historical novel , " The Grove of Eagles " , based on it - the plural " Armadas " referring to a lesser - known second attempt by Philip II of Spain to conquer England during 1598 , which Graham argued was better planned and organized than the famous one of 1588 but was foiled by a fierce storm scattering the Spanish ships and sinking many of them . Several science fiction writers have published variant descriptions of how history might have proceeded had the Spanish Armada won , including John Brunner ( " Times Without Number " , 1962 ) , Keith Roberts ( " Pavane " , 1969 ) and Harry Turtledove ( " Ruled Britannia " 2002 ) .