The Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada

By 1588 Spain was the preeminent power. Its overseas colonies spread over three continents in the New World, North America, South America and Central America. These colonies sent vast quantities of gold back to Spain.

From the Book:

Colonial American History Stories - 1215 - 1664

The Spanish Armada

By 1588 Spain was the preeminent power. Its overseas colonies spread over three continents in the New World, North America, South America and Central America. These colonies sent vast quantities of gold back to Spain.

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By 1588 England was a small, weak power with no colonies. The first attempt to plant a settlement in Roanoke had failed and the status of the second attempt unknown. England had to satisfy itself by having privateers picking the occasional Spanish treasure ship.

The Spanish King, Phillip II, harbored designs on conquering England. During this time Spain controlled the Netherlands. The Dutch had revolted, beginning in 1568, sparking a war that would last until 1648. The English had supported the Dutch in their struggle, incensing King Phillip. Phillip had another beef against England. He had been co-monarch of England with his wife Mary I, in 1558.

Mary died, severing his ties with England. His sister-in-law was Elizabeth I, Queen of England. Spain was Catholic and England was Protestant. Phillip considered his sister-in-law, as well as most of England, heretics. Phillip was also growing tired of the English raids on his ships. He determined to invade the island, end the annoying raids on his ships, convert the English to Catholicism, and get revenge for English support for the Dutch rebels.

He attempted to assemble a huge fleet in secret. He planned to launch this invasion in 1587, however the English learned of it and sent Sir Francis Drake to attack this fleet, which was assembling at Cadiz. His raid set Spanish plans back by a year. In 1588 Phillip had assembled a 130-ship fleet. The ships had 1500 brass guns and 1000 iron guns. The fleet included 8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers. He staged an army of about 30,000 men in the Netherlands to use as an invasion force. He planned to ferry these soldiers across the English Channel on barges, join these soldiers with the ones on the fleet near London and capture it. The ships included many torture machines including Racks, pulleys, thumbscrews, iron virgins and iron gridirons manned by Jesuit priests ready to use the devices to convert the heretics. He needed naval supremacy to complete his plans. To achieve this, he sailed his fleet out of the harbor on May 8. It took 2 full days for the fleet to clear the harbor. The ships assembled off the coast of England.

The English, knowing the invasion was being planned, had also been busy. They had assembled a fleet of 200 ships, of which 30 were Royal Navy ships. The rest were and assortment of merchant ships, fishing ships and other type of boats converted for war time use. The English had more ships; however, the Spanish ships carried more fire power. The English ships were more maneuverable, and the cannon were longer range.

The Spanish ships also had grappling hooks. They planned to maneuver close to the English ships, use the grappling hooks to pull them close and then engage in hand-to-hand fighting. This would give the Spanish, with their bigger ships and larger crews a decided advantage.

The English ships, nimbler, managed to avoid this scenario. The English had also captured some Spanish ships and learned a key fact. The Spanish artillerymen took a long time to reload their cannons after firing a volley.

Since the Spanish and England were in peace negotiations, Phillip held his fleet in check. The discussions ended on July 16. Four days later the Spanish moved their ships into position, forming a crescent shaped formation almost 7 miles long. The English moved their fleet into a position that was up wind of the Spanish formation, giving the English superior maneuvering ability.

At dawn on July 20 the fleets advanced towards each other. The English also fired at the Spanish from longer range, however they inflicted little damage. By evening the Spanish had only lost 2 ships and they had collided with each other. The nimbler English ships avoided the grappling hooks.

During night the English sent 8 fire ships into the midst of the Spanish fleet. These were usually old ships that had reached the end of their service or ships quickly and cheaply built for the purpose. Favorable winds drove them into the fleet. The Spanish panicked and disbursed their fleet. Winds drove their ships into the shallower waters off the Dutch coast. Here the smaller, nimbler English ships had an advantage over the large, cumbersome Spanish ships. Knowing the Spanish gunners had difficulty reloading their guns, the English ships would approach close, but just out of range, drawing Spanish fire. They would creep in closer, fire a devastating volley and then hastily retreat.

The English and Spanish by now ran out of cannonballs. The English loaded their cannon with chains and whatever else they could find. They sank 5 Spanish ships and inflicted heavy damage on many more. The Spanish had had enough, broke formation and fled north. The English ships pursued them. The Spanish sailed into a storm where the fierce winds further battered them. Many of these ships wrecked on the Irish and Scotland. The Spanish lost over 2000 dead and almost a third of their fleet. The English had lost about 50 ships.

The English had inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Spanish and infused themselves with the confidence the nation needed to become a major world power over the next two centuries.

The episode is based upon my book, Colonial American History Stories - 1215 - 1664, available on the web site, www.mossyfeetbooks.com. The book is the first book in the 6 volume Timeline of United States History Series. Discover some of the famous and almost forgotten historic stories of America. The story begins with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and the beginnings of the concept of limited government and ends, for now, with the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775. The articles in the book have much more detail as well as articles not included in this podcast series.

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