368 Spanish Armada Parma was crossing the channel with his own vessels, carrying 30,000 soldiers from Flanders The joint forces would then invade England by disembarking near the mouth of the Thames The strategic plan was no longer a secret at the end of the year, and Queen Elizabeth decided to take the challenge English Naval Forces By common estimation, the Spanish Armada comprised 138 ships from Spain and different Habsburg dominions, weighing a total of 58,000 tons, carrying 30,000 men and 2,400 cannons The number of soldiers would be doubled once the forces of the duke of Parma joined in The English naval forces comprised 34 royal warships and 170 privately owned ships carefully chosen from East Anglia and Kent Spain had dominated the high seas for about a century, but its navy was not superior to its English counterparts The Armada had 21 galleons, which were massive in size, but slow in speed The commander of the Armada, the duke of MedinaSidonia, was an expert of fleet logistics, but not a professional military leader The soldiers of the Armada were pious Catholics, but inexperienced in sea battles, especially in navigating the Channel, where winds and waves were often unpredictable In comparison, the major English warships were also huge, but faster, more maneuverable, and equipped with better guns The commanders of the English Royal Navy, Lord Howard of Effington, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins, were career seamen, each having unique experiences in sailing and battling on the sea The English soldiers, including many veterans from the Dutch War, knew the Channel better and were well prepared for sea battles there Of course, both sides were determined to win, but neither side calculated correctly how the war would eventually proceed On July 29, 1588, after three months of voyage from Lisbon, the Armada reached the Lizard Point, the southern tip of England It spread into a crescent formation and sailed along the English coast northeastward up to Calais The duke of Medina-Sidonia led the main battleships in the center with the vanguard on the left and the rearguard on the right of about 20 capital ships each On July 31, the English naval ships sailed out from Plymouth with an equally impressive force and kept chasing the Spanish fleet For next few days, the two fleets faced off tensely in the Channel, but neither side attempted a major military engagement The Armada was approaching Calais on August 6, hoping to join the forces with the duke of Parma as planned by Philip II himself However, the duke had been outmaneuvered by the Dutch forces on land and sea in Flanders, did not dare risk being lacerated while convoying his army in his own small barges from Flanders across the Channel to England While the Spanish were considering how to get Parma’s soldiers embarked, eight English blazing fireships, on the night of August 7, penetrated the colossus of the Armada, breaking the crescent formation, setting fires on Spanish ships, and causing the whole fleet to flee in panic On the following day, the Spanish fleet suffered from an all-day gale blowing from the south-southwest to the north-northwest, and lost many lives in the battles off Gravelines Afterward, the continuously deteriorating weather dispersed the Armada into the North Sea, and thus buried any hope for the duke of Parma to join the Armada for invading England On its way back to Spain, the Armada was forced to sail around the Scottish and Irish coasts and continued to lose ships and lives under the fierce chase of the English naval force In mid-October, the surviving Spanish ships miraculously navigated back home The final tally of the Armada’s loss was appalling Only 60 of 130 ships could be accounted for, and 11,000 lives might have been lost In 1588, Spain undoubtedly lost the battle, Philip II was certainly humiliated, and the English victory saved England from a very probable disaster anticipated by its enemy However, the defeat of the Spanish Armada did not alter the policies and behavior of the Spanish, English, or other major European monarchs The religious wars continued to spiral all over Europe Neither did it immediately change the geopolitical balance in Europe Spain recovered quickly and continued its interventionist role in transnational affairs of Europe, and England did not transform itself into a superpower overnight However, Queen Elizabeth emerged from her victory a heroine to her subjects in England and Protestants all over Europe See also Calvin, John; Luther, Martin; slave trade, Africa and the Further reading: Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe The Spanish Armada: The Experience of War in 1588 New York: Oxford University Press, 1988; Martin, Colin, and Geoffrey Parker The Spanish Armada London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988; Mattingly, Garrett The Armada Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959; Parker, Geoffrey Philip II New York: Little, Brown, 1978; Rasor, Eugene L The Spanish Armada: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993; Wernham, Richard B Before the Armada: The Growth of English Foreign Policy, 1485–1588 London: Cape, 1966; ——— The Return of the