23 Facts About Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada could have anchored in The Solent between the Isle of Wight and the English mainland and occupied the Isle of Wight, but Medina Sidonia was under orders from King Philip II to meet up with Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma's forces in the Netherlands so England could be invaded by Parma's soldiers and other soldiers carried in ships of the Spanish Armada.

English guns damaged the Armada, and a Spanish ship was captured by Sir Francis Drake in the English Channel.

The Spanish Armada, driven by southwest winds, withdrew north, with the English fleet harrying it up the east coast of England.

The following year, England organised a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, the English Spanish Armada, sometimes called the "counter-Spanish Armada of 1589", which was unsuccessful.

Spanish Armada's had negotiated an enduring trade and political alliance with Morocco.

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In retaliation, Philip planned an expedition to invade England in order to overthrow Elizabeth and, if the Spanish Armada was not entirely successful, at least negotiate freedom of worship for Catholics and financial compensation for war in the Low Countries.

Spanish Armada wrote to Philip expressing grave doubts about the planned campaign, but his message was prevented from reaching the King by courtiers on the grounds that God would ensure the Armada's success.

The Spanish Armada convened a council of war, where it was proposed to ride into the harbour on the tide and incapacitate the defending ships at anchor.

The Spanish Armada was in a crescent-shaped defensive formation, convex toward the east.

When night fell, Drake turned his ship back to loot the abandoned Spanish Armada ships, capturing supplies of much-needed gunpowder and gold.

Drake had been guiding the English fleet by means of a lantern, which he snuffed out to slip away from the Spanish Armada ships, causing the rest of his fleet to become scattered and disarrayed by dawn.

Parma expected the Spanish Armada to send its light pataches to drive away the Dutch, but Medina Sidonia would not send them because he feared he would need these ships for his own protection.

The Spanish Armada feared that these uncommonly large fireships were "hellburners", specialised fireships filled with large gunpowder charges that had been used to deadly effect at the Siege of Antwerp.

The English then closed, firing damaging broadsides into the enemy ships, which enabled them to maintain a windward position, so the heeling Spanish Armada hulls were exposed to damage below the water line when they changed course later.

Many of the Spanish Armada gunners were killed or wounded by the English broadsides, and the task of manning the cannon often fell to foot soldiers who did not know how to operate them.

Many other Spanish Armada ships were severely damaged, especially the Portuguese and some Spanish Armada Atlantic-class galleons, including some Neapolitan galleys, which bore the brunt of the fighting during the early hours of the battle.

Spanish Armada's gave to them her royal address, which survives in at least six slightly different versions.

The only option left to the Spanish Armada ships was to return to Spain by sailing round the north of Scotland and home via the Atlantic or the Irish Sea.

The Spanish Armada ships were beginning to show wear from the long voyage, and some were kept together by having their damaged hulls strengthened with cables.

The outdated design of the Spanish Armada cannon meant they were much slower in reloading in a close-range battle, allowing the English to take control.

The wind that scattered the Spanish Armada has been called the Protestant Wind, a phrase used for later navy attacks favourable to the Protestant cause that were helped by the wind.

Memory of the victory over the Spanish Armada was evoked during both the Napoleonic Wars and the Second World War, when Britain again faced a substantial danger of foreign invasion.

Spanish Armada emphasized that the Duke of Medina Sidonia was an incompetent seaman.