The Spanish Armada and the Invasion of England
King Philip II”s Revenge on Queen Elizabeth I
Nov 5, 2009
Elizabeth had been a thorn in the side of the Spanish king ever since she became Queen of England in 1558. Elizabeth allowed her sea captains Francis Drake, Jack Hawkins and others to poach on Spanish colonies in America. Her agents had foiled three plots backed by Philip to replace Elizabeth with her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth and England Endangered by Spain
After Elizabeth sanctioned Mary’s execution in 1587, Philip finally lost patience. His answer was the Armada and its mission, called the Enterprise of England, which Philip intended would teach the Protestant renegade Elizabeth a truly punishing lesson. The Armada’s 108 galleons, galleases, merchantmen, carracks and pinnaces made a splendid show of superiority and strength. In the face of this formidable array, the English, initially, had ready 64 ships, only 24 of them fighting vessels
For Elizabeth and England, the danger in which they stood was immense. Philip had a handy springboard for invasion only a few miles from England, across the North Sea, in one of his European possessions, the Spanish Netherlands. It was there that an army under Philip’s regent, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, waited to board the ships of the Armada and sail for the invasion of England
Revolutionary Galleons of the English Navy
On the face of it, the proximity of the Netherlands and the disparity between the Spanish and English fleets suggested an easy victory for Philip. But the face of it was deceptive
The Spaniards planned to conduct a traditional sea battle, grappling and boarding the English ships and fighting it out hand to hand on the decks. The English, however, meant to fight with sleek, easily maneuvrable galleons that relied on long-range gunpower attacking from a distance. The English fleet included around 18 of these new, revolutionary galleons as it awaited the Armada, which reached the western end of the English Channel on July 29, 1588
As the Spanish fleet made stately progress in tight formation, along the Channel, , the English ships pounced at intervals to snipe away out of the Spaniards’ range. They continued to pepper the Armada’s thick hulls with round shot until its ships reached Calais on the northern coast of France on August 6. But there, a terrible shock awaited the Spaniards. They arrived to discover that Parma’s forces were trapped in port by a combined English and Dutch blockade
The Spanish Armada Confronts its Doom
There was no hope of breaking the blockade and so no alternative for the Armada but an ignominious return to Spain. Because of foul Channel weather, the only way lay through the treacherous North Sea and around the British Isles. But the Spaniards were not allowed to leave the scene of impending defeat unscarred
At midnight on 7-8 August, the sinister silhouettes of fireships were seen approaching. At this terrifying sight, the Spaniards’ nerve snapped. They panicked, slashed their mooring cables and swarmed away in a formless mass
The Battle of Gravelines and the Long Haul Home
At Gravelines next day, the English galleons that charged the Spanish fleet attacked a badly shaken enemy. The English positioned themselves just far enough away for Spanish grappling irons to fall short, but close enough for them to thunder murderous broadsides into the Armada’s hulls
Before long, the once-proud Armada was a tattered bunch of leaking, dismasted hulks. The survivors managed to stagger away, but only 66 of King Philip’s vessels survived the long haul home to Spanish waters. And of the 5,000 men on board, two thirds were dead within a month
Sources
Barrat, John, Armada 1588: The Spanish Assault on England (Campaign Chronicles)
(Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen and Sword Books, 2006) ISBN-10: 1844153231/ISBN-13: 9781844153237
Konstam, Angus, The Spanish Armada: The Great Enterprise against England 1588 (General Military). (London, Osprey Publishing, 2009) ISBN-10: 1846034965/ISBN-13:
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