Warmatrix

Attack of the fireships on the Armada, Flemish painting

The Spanish Armada in 1588 CE was the mightiest fleet of its time. Its defeat was a major boost for protestant powers in Europe and spurred the use of naval guns.
After queen Elizabeth I of England had executed her rival Mary and also supported the protestant cause of the Dutch Republic in the Eighty Years' War, king Philip II of Spain decided to invade England, starting the Anglo-Spanish War. He ordered the duke of Parma, who commanded his army in the Netherlands, to stand ready and prepared a massive fleet to protect the naval convoy that would carry Parma and his troops across the Canal: the armada. From 1584 CE, but especially during 1587 CE, preparations were made to assemble and prepare the fleet. The English privateer Francis Drake disrupted the proceedings by raiding the coast of Portugal. He captured and destroyed more than a hundred ships, though mostly small ones, and deprived the Spanish of a substantial amount of supplies.
In April 1588 CE the duke of Medina Sidonia, recently appointed commander of the expedition, had assembled one of the largest fleets that Europe had ever seen: 21 galleons; 5 galeasses; 40 large merchantmen; 39 light ships; 23 hulks; 4 galleys, 132 in total. It carried 8,800 sailors, 21,600 soldiers and 2,100 rowers; 2400 guns with 50 cannonballs each. The fleet set sail in the spring, but soon ran into trouble because it was not properly supplied. During a pause of one month in La Coruña the situation was amended. Storms delayed its advance even more, so that the Armada did not reach the southwest of England until mid July. Facing the Armada was the English fleet, commanded by Howard, assisted by Drake and Hawkins. They started with a smaller fleet: 18 large galleons; 7 light galleons; dozens of small ships. This number was increased during the fight with the Spanish, which took place near the English coast. The English galleons were 'race' galleons, designed by Hawkins, less sturdy but more maneuverable than the Spanish ships.
For 18 days the Armada sailed slowly eastward, while the English from time to time attacked. The Armada maintained a near-perfect crescent formation that protected its vulnerable hulks and kept the cautious English at bay. The Spanish wanted to use the strength of their marines in boarding, but the English kept their distance and stuck to firing their cannons. There were several skirmishes, though neither side managed to sink or capture a single ship. The only losses on the Spanish side were caused by an internal collision and the explosion of a gunpowder store. Eventually the Armada anchored near Calais.
In the meanwhile the duke of Parma was waiting for his escort. Winter conditions had reduced his army from 30,000 to only 16,000. This was still a strong, experienced force that may have been able to overcome the English army, which was assembling agonizingly slow. Parma had only a few transport barges, which were blocked by Dutch flyboats. If the Armada was victorious over the English, he would still have to cross shallow waters, which were unsuitable for large ships and where the Dutch probably would have wrecked his little fleet. He was ordered to meet the Armada, but was unable to do so and wanted to have the fleet come to him. The misunderstanding between Philip, Medina Sidonia and Parma proved disastrous for the Spanish.
At Calais, the English transformed 8 ships into fireships and let the tide and current carry these towards the Armada. 2 were deflected by Spanish pinnaces, but the other 6 got through and caused the fleet to cut its anchors and break formation in panic. The next morning only 5 ships were left to the duke of Medina Sidonia, though over several hours 20 others managed to rejoin. The English attacked the scattered Armada in earnest, for the first time engaging at close range. Their gun carriages could recover quickly from recoil and their crews were trained for rapid reloading. The Spanish did not have these advantages and their cannonballs proved badly cast and brittle. As a result both their ships and crews suffered heavily, while English received minimal damage. The latter's only problem was that soon they had hardly any ammunition left. So they tried to let the enemy ships run aground on the sandbanks near the coast, but a change of wind allowed the Spanish to escape north. Despite its losses, a large part of the Armada managed to regroup. Howard chased them to the Firth and Forth of Scotland, then turned back to London.
The Spanish fleet was almost out of food and water. Battered by storms and bereft of the anchors that had been lost at Calais, it sailed around Scotland and made its way back to Spain via Ireland. The storms, several shipwrecks, attacks by English and Irish on the shores, disease and starvation took many thousands of lives. 67 ships and 10,000 men made it back home, where even more died of disease and hunger, because the ports were not prepared to receive them. Ironically, disease also killed about 7,000 English sailors, which were required to remain on duty on their cramped ships for weeks after the battle.
A year after the defeat of the Armada, the English launched a counterattack on Portugal, which went equally wrong. The Spanish sent two more invasion fleets, which were wrecked by storms. They did reorganize their fleet and like the English, adopted guns as the main weapons for their large galleons.