What was the Spanish Armada

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A.� A vast fleet of ships that set out to invade England in 1588.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� I need a bit more than that.

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Q.� And those enemies included England

A.� Yes. Philip intended to sail with his navy and army, a total of 30,000 men, up the English Channel to link with the forces led by the Duke of Parma in the Spanish Netherlands. From there they would invade England and bring the country under the Catholic rule of Spain.

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Q.� Why

A.� Religious differences (England was now Protestant under Elizabeth) and trade differences (England was fiercely competitive against Spain, especially in the New World). And there were personal problems, too ...

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Q.� How

A.� Philip had been married to Queen Mary of England - Elizabeth's half-sister and a zealous Catholic. When Mary died, Philip offered to marry the new queen, but she turned him down. Later, Elizabeth had Mary Queen of Scots executed, to the outrage of Catholic Europe and Philip vowed revenge.

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Q.� So Philip was being wound up by the English

A.� Continually. The exploits of Sir Francis Drake - who attacked Spanish treasure ships on the way back from America - were another major irritant. Philip was determined to establish naval superiority and bring England back to Catholicism. So the Armada set off on 28 May.

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Q. Who was the commander

A.� The Duke of Medina Sidonia. He was accompanied by a large army and cannon from Germany and Italy. But he knew the English ships were superior and hoped to join with the Duke of Parma's forced in the Netherlands and have safe deep anchorage for his fleet before the invasion of England.

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Q.� Did that happen

A.� No. The Spanish fleet kept a strict crescent formation that Drake - in command of the English - realised would be very difficult to break. The only chance was to get the wind behind them and try and attack any stragglers. England's new ships, designed by John Hawkins, controller of the Navy and Drake's cousin, were longer, lower and faster than before. They had better stability, which meant more guns could be carried. The ships were also more manoeuvrable than the heavy Spanish vessels. The Spaniards kept their crescent formation up the Channel but two great ships were accidentally put out of action. Off Plymouth, the Rosario collided with another ship, was disabled and captured by Drake, while the San Salvador blew up with tremendous loss of life.

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Q.� So how did Drake gain superiority

A.� He sent in the fireships. After more skirmishes off the south coast, the Armada anchored off Calais. On 7 August Drake filled eight old vessels with wood and tar and waited for the wind to send them towards the enemy. At midnight, when the fireships approached, the Spanish cut their anchor cables and fled�- but in the darkness, many ships collided with each other and the Armada scattered, but none was set on fire.

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Q.� But the Spaniard still fought

A.� Yes. The next morning saw the Battle of Gravelines, the fiercest in the campaign.� By evening the wind was strong and the Spanish expected a further attack at dawn, but none came. Then the wind changed and the Spanish ships were blown off the sandbanks and towards the North Sea. With no support from the Duke of Parma, Medina Sidonia realised he had to salvage what he could of the Armada and retreat to Spain.

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Q.� Did he succeed

A.� No. They met terrible storms as they fled across the north of Scotland. Many ships were wrecked off the rocky coasts and only 65 of the 150 ships got back to Lisbon. The next year, Philip sent a smaller armada of about 100 ships. This ran into stormy weather off Cornwall and was blown back to Spain.

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Q.� Peace

A.� Peace was made between England and Spain in 1604 when James I was on the throne.

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By Steve Cunningham

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