Battle of Sesimbra Bay

Battle of Sesimbra Bay
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585)
Sesimbra Bay as seen today.
Date June 3, 1602 Location Vicinity of Sesimbra Bay, Portugal Result English victory
Belligerents
Spain Portugal under Philip of Spain	England
Commanders and leaders
Álvaro de Bazán Federico Spinola	Richard Leveson William Monson
Strength
11 Galleys, 1 Carrack, Fort and Various shore defenses	5 Galleons, 2 prizes
Casualties and losses
1 Carrack captured, 2 galleys sunk, 1 Fort immobilized, 800 killed or wounded	12 killed, 30 wounded

 Spain

The Battle of Sesimbra Bay was a naval engagement that took place on June 3, 1602, during the Anglo-Spanish War. It was fought off the coast of Portugal (then within the Iberian Union) between an English naval expeditionary force sent out from orders by Queen Elizabeth I to prevent any further Spanish incursions against Ireland or England itself. The English force under Richard Leveson and William Monson met a fleet of Spanish galleys and a large carrack at Sesimbra Bay commanded by Alvaro De Bazan and Frederico Spinola. The English were victorious in battle, sinking two galleys, forced the rest to retreat, immobilized the fort and captured the carrack in what was the last expedition to be sent to Spain by orders of the Queen before her death the following year.

In order to prevent another Spanish invasion of Ireland, Queen Elizabeth I decided to fit out another fleet. Sir Richard Leveson was chosen for this command as he had defeated the Spanish under Pedro de Zubiaur at Castlehaven & successfully blockaded Kinsale from any further reinforcement later leading to the victory there early in 1602. He was to command a fleet of nine English and twelve Dutch ships, which were 'to infest the Spanish coast.' The Dutch ships were, however, late in joining, and Leveson left his vice-admiral Sir William Monson to wait for the Dutch while he put to sea with only five ships on 19 March. Within two or three days the queen sent orders to Monson to sail at once to join his admiral, for she had word that 'the silver ships had arrived at Terceira' but they had in fact arrived and left again.

Frederico Spinola, younger brother of Ambrogio Spinola, had distinguished himself greatly as a soldier in the Army of Flanders and, in 1599, had successfully voyaged through the English Channel passing the straits of Dover unmolested. Buoyed by this achievement he had indulged Philip III of Spain, the Duke of Lerma and Martín de Padilla in a vision of a massive galley-borne invasion of England from Flanders. However the council brought him down to a mere eight galleys, provided at Spinola's expense. He was on his way from San Lucar to Lisbon but was diverted by the Viceroy of Portugal to see to the protection of a richly-laden Portuguese carrack anchored in the bay at Sesimbra.

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Wikipedia