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Naval battle of Gravelines

Spanish Armada
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the Eighty Years' War
Invincible Armada.jpg
The Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588, (unknown, 16th-century, English School)
Date 8 August 1587
Location North-west Europe
Result

Decisive Spanish defeat

  • Militarily indecisive
  • Spanish invasion failure
  • Protestant propaganda victory
Belligerents
 Kingdom of England
 Dutch Republic
Estandarte Real de Felipe II.svg Iberian Union (Habsburg Spain)
Commanders and leaders
England Lord Howard of Effingham
England Francis Drake
England John Hawkins
Dutch Republic Justinus van Nassau
Estandarte Real de Felipe II.svg Duke of Medina Sidonia
Estandarte Real de Felipe II.svg Juan Martínez de Recalde
Duchy of Parma Duke of Parma
Strength
34 warships
163 armed merchant vessels
(30 over 200 tons)
30 flyboats
22 galleons of Portugal and Castile,
108 armed merchant vessels (including 4 war galleasses of Naples)
Casualties and losses
Battle of Gravelines:
50–100 dead
400 wounded
8 fireships burnt
Disease:
6,000–8,000 dead
Battle of Gravelines:
Over 600 dead
800 wounded
397 captured
5 ships sunk or captured
Overall:
~35 ships lost (10 scuttled)
20,000 dead

Decisive Spanish defeat

The Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, literally "Great and Most Fortunate Navy") was a Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from La Coruña in August 1588, under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Tudor establishment of Protestantism in England, with the expectation that this would put a stop to English interference in the Spanish Netherlands and to the harm caused to Spanish interests by English and Dutch privateering.

The Armada chose not to attack the English fleet at Plymouth, then failed to establish a temporary anchorage in the Solent, after one Spanish ship had been captured by Francis Drake in the English Channel. The Armada finally dropped anchor off Calais. While awaiting communications from the Duke of Parma's army the Armada was scattered by an English fireship 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 flyboats. The Armada managed to regroup and, driven by southwest winds, withdrew north, with the English fleet harrying it up the east coast of England. The commander ordered a return to Spain, but the Armada was disrupted during severe storms in the North Atlantic and a large number of the vessels were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the initial 130 ships over a third failed to return. As Martin and Parker explain, "Philip II attempted to invade England, but his plans miscarried, partly because of his own mismanagement, unfortunate weather, and partly because the opportunistic defensive naval efforts of the English and their Dutch allies (the use of ships set afire and sailed into the anchored Armada to create panic) prevailed."


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Wikipedia

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