The English Armada: The History of the Counter Armada Sent by Queen Elizabeth to Spain in 1589

On July 12, 1588, the legendary Spanish Armada headed for the English Channel. The Spanish plan was to take this invasion, led by the Duke of Parma, to the coast of southeast England, where they would be unleashed to conquer Elizabethan England for Spain’s King Philip II and Catholic Christendom. The Armada included over 150 ships, 8,000 sailors, and 18,000 soldiers, and it boasted a firepower of 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. Just leaving port itself took the entire Armada two days.

As everyone who has been taught history now knows, the Armada was one of the most famous military debacles in history. Regardless of the debate over whether it was simple mathematical miscalculation or plain bad luck, coupled with English fire ships assailing the Spanish ships, the Armada was decisively defeated. The Armada ultimately found its reluctant way home in awful conditions, having permanently lost over a third of the ships, and on the Irish coast, the Armada suffered further losses. 

For the Counter Armada, Elizabeth turned to the most notorious English sailor of the era. The life of Sir Francis Drake, or, more precisely the tale of it, is a prime example that history is written by the winners. Drake’s successes against the Spanish as a captain and a privateer were legendary, and Drake was celebrated for fighting the queen’s enemies, sinking their ships and capturing the treasure that would otherwise be used to finance attacks on England. Drake vigorously pursued every mission given to him by Elizabeth I, and he brought all his skill, experience, and training to bear against her enemies. He was recognized at court for his valor, praised in story and song, and remembered for the kind of personality and esprit de corps that the English have long desired and celebrated in their military heroes. They were to patrol the shores of England and Spain and destroy any remaining Spanish ships.