Why spanish armada

And so, after the Spanish fleet had reassembled, it could only head in one direction, northwards to Scotland. From here, sailing past the west coast of Ireland they could perhaps make it home to Spain. Attempting to sail northwards and away from trouble, the more agile English ships caused considerable damage to the retreating Armada.

With insufficient supplies, together with the onset of the harsh autumnal British weather, the omens were not good for the Spanish. Fresh water and food quickly disappeared and as the Armada rounded the north of Scotland in mid-September, it sailed into one of the worst storms to hit that coast in years.

Without anchor cables the Spanish ships were unable to take shelter from the storms and as a consequence many were dashed on to the rocks with great loss of life.

The ships that survived the storm headed for what should have been a friendly Catholic Ireland in order to re-supply for their journey home to Spain.

Taking shelter in what is now called Armada Bay, just south of Galway, the starving Spanish sailors went ashore to experience that famous Irish hospitality. Immigration control was apparently short and swift, with all who went ashore attacked and killed. When the tattered Armada eventually returned to Spain, it had lost half its ships and three-quarters of its men, over 20, Spanish sailors and soldiers had been killed.

On the other side the English lost no ships and only men in battle. A grim statistic of the time however, records that over 7, English sailors died from diseases such as dysentery and typhus. They had hardly left the comfort of English waters. And for those English sailors who did survive, they were poorly treated by the government of the day. Delayed by storms that temporarily forced it back to Spain, the Armada did not reach the southern coast of England until July By that time, the British were ready.

On July 21, the English navy began bombarding the seven-mile-long line of Spanish ships from a safe distance, taking full advantage of their long-range heavy guns.

The Spanish Armada continued to advance during the next few days, but its ranks were thinned by the English assault. On July 27, the Armada anchored in exposed position off Calais, France, and the Spanish army prepared to embark from Flanders.

Without control of the Channel, however, their passage to England would be impossible. Just after midnight on July 29, the English sent eight burning ships into the crowded harbor at Calais. The panicked Spanish ships were forced to cut their anchors and sail out to sea to avoid catching fire.

The disorganized fleet, completely out of formation, was attacked by the English off Gravelines at dawn. In a decisive battle, the superior English guns won the day, and the devastated Armada was forced to retreat north to Scotland.

The English navy pursued the Spanish as far as Scotland and then turned back for want of supplies. Battered by storms and suffering from a dire lack of supplies, the Armada sailed on a hard journey back to Spain around Scotland and Ireland. Some of the damaged ships foundered in the sea while others were driven onto the coast of Ireland and wrecked. The Spaniards maintained a strict crescent formation up the Channel, which the English realised would be very difficult to break.

Despite this, two great Spanish ships were accidentally put out of action during the initial battles. The Rosario collided with another ship, was disabled and captured by Drake, while the San Salvador blew up with tremendous loss of life. On 27 July , after the Armada had anchored off Calais, the English decided to send in eight 'fireships'. These were vessels packed with flammable material, deliberately set alight and left to drift towards enemy ships.

At midnight, the fireships approached the Spanish Armada. The Spanish cut their anchor cables ready for flight, but in the darkness many ships collided with each other. While none of the Spanish ships were set on fire, the Armada was left scattered and disorganised.

Next morning, there was the fiercest fighting of the whole Armada campaign during the Battle of Gravelines. By evening, the wind was strong and the Spanish expected a further attack at dawn, but as both sides were out of ammunition none came. That afternoon the wind changed and the Spanish ships were blown off the sandbanks towards the North Sea. With no support from the Duke of Parma and their anchorage lost, Medina Sidonia's main aim was to bring the remains of the Armada back to Spain.

Many ships were wrecked off the rocky coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Of the ships that set out, only 65 returned to Lisbon. The following year, Philip sent another smaller fleet of about ships. This too ran into stormy weather off Cornwall and was blown back to Spain. The once-mighty flotilla was ravaged by sea storms as it rounded Scotland and the western coast of Ireland. Several ships sank in the squalls, while others ran aground or broke apart after being thrown against the shore.

The clash also established the superiority of heavy cannons in naval combat, signaling the dawn of a new era in warfare at sea. King Philip II, meanwhile, later rebuilt his fleet and dispatched two more Spanish Armadas in the s, both of which were scattered by storms. The Spanish Armada.

By Robert Hutchinson. Sir Francis Drake. By John Sugden. History Extra. Elizabeth's Tilbury speech: July British Library. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. The flu was first observed Causes: Remember the Maine!