Throughout the history of world wars, naval battles have had a decisive impact on the future and destiny of many countries, such as Salamis in Persia and Greece, and Axel in Rome and Egypt. 1588, Spain, the maritime overlord, sent its own "Armada" to invade Britain, which ultimately failed, once again proving the influence of naval battles on historical development. Spain declined, while Britain became the most powerful country in the world.
Competition between two naval powers
/kloc-in the 6th century, the world's "superpower" was not the United States, nor was it the British Empire with colonies all over the world. The so-called "the sun never sets" was Spain in Europe. Since Columbus crossed the ocean and discovered the new continent of America, Spanish colonists flocked here to plunder gold and silver treasures, which soon made Spain the richest maritime empire in Europe.
According to statistics, during the period of 1545 ~ 1560, the Spanish navy shipped back 5,500 kilograms of gold and 246,000 kilograms of silver from overseas. By the end of 16, 83% of the precious metals in the world were mined by Spain. In order to protect its maritime communication lines and overseas interests, Spain has established a powerful maritime fleet with more than 65,438,000 warships, more than 3,000 cannons and tens of thousands of soldiers. At its peak, this fleet owned 1000 ships. This fleet spans the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and proudly calls itself the "Armada".
At that time, British capitalism was in its infancy. The development of light industry forced it to look for overseas commercial markets. The innovation of shipbuilding and navigation technology further expanded Britain's ambition to capture colonies.
For Spain, naturally, other countries are not allowed to share the benefits it gained from the colonies. British maritime robbery and plunder of America seriously threatened Spain's monopoly position in the colonies and aroused the hatred of King Philip II of Spain. At first, Philip II didn't want to resort to force. He colluded with the British Catholic forces in an attempt to help Mary, the Catholic Queen of Scotland, ascend to the British throne. To this end, he began to carry out subversive activities in Britain.
As early as 1568, Mary fled to England because of the Scottish coup and was imprisoned by Elizabeth. When British Catholics were encouraged by Spain to assassinate Elizabeth and set up another Mary, Elizabeth took the opportunity to kill Mary. When Philip II's murder failed, he was determined to conquer England by force.
At that time, Britain's maritime strength was not strong, and it was difficult to compete with Spain's maritime fleet. Pirate gangs organized by pirate leaders Drake, howkins and Raleigh attacked and hijacked Spanish ships carrying gold and silver at sea for piracy. On the other hand, Philip II has a huge fleet-"Armada".
Early stage of war
1588 At the end of May, Spain's "Armada" set sail from Lisbon under the command of Spanish Duke Medina. At this time, the "Armada" had 134 ships, more than 8,000 crew members and sailors, more than 2,000 paddle slaves, and the ship was full of 2 1000 infantry. Obviously, Medina wants to take advantage of Spanish infantry, adopt traditional tactics, collide with enemy ships, forcibly board the ship, engage in hand-to-hand combat, and then seize British ships.
Unfortunately, the "Armada" encountered a storm in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after its departure. The violent wind and waves made the sailboat out of control and the sailors dizzy. The "landlubber" who is about to land is dizzy like an untenable drunk. In this way, the fleet had to return to Hong Kong for shelter. Until July, the fleet stepped on the turbulent waves of the Atlantic Ocean and sailed all the way into the English Channel.
The British side is also ready to meet, with Lord Howard as commander and Drake as deputy commander. Britain * * * has 197 warships, carrying more than 9,000 fighters, all of whom are sailors and sailors, without infantry. Although the performance of British warships is not as good as that of Spanish warships, they have been improved by howkins, with small hull, high speed, strong maneuverability, large number of guns and long range. This warship can not only avoid the bombardment of heavy artillery shells not far from Spain, but also fire at enemy ships from a long distance and win with artillery superiority.
In the early morning of July 22nd, the war broke out. In the face of the strong southwest wind, the British array grabbed the upper position of the "invincible fleet" in the horizontal array. After letting go of the avant-garde of the "Armada", they gave full play to the firepower on both sides and slammed their guard ships with heavy guns. The "Armada" fell into chaos and lost its position. At dawn on the 23rd, the sea wind reversed, and the "Armada" was at the forefront of the northeast wind, so they dealt a heavy blow to the largest British warship "Triumph". In this way, the two sides tied in the first round.
On the 25th, the two sides met again. After several hours of fierce fighting, although the losses were not great, the ammunition was basically exhausted. Medina decided to change her plan and go to Calais. Howard also led the fleet to Deauville. At present, the main problem facing both sides is ammunition supply. Howard can also get some supplies from nearby ports, while the "Armada" is much more difficult. Before arriving in Calais, there was no support.
On the evening of 26th, the "Armada" arrived in the waters near Calais and anchored between Calais and the port of Grisnitz, followed by the British fleet. In view of the fact that the ammunition of the "Armada" is empty, the British fleet is safely anchored within the range of the enemy's long guns, and even some British ships have sailed to the edge of the range of the enemy's light weapons, wearing them and doing whatever they want. Medina can only look at the sea and sigh.
In the early morning of 28th, Howard called a battle meeting in the main cabin of the flagship Royal Ark. Because of the tight attack time, it was decided to select eight small boats weighing less than 200 tons from the fleet and refit them into large ships for surprise attack. Early in the morning, the sentinel of the "Armada" found several light-loaded ships approaching them. Suddenly, the ship caught fire. Then, the ships of the "Armada" were in chaos, and some of them had been ignited by the fire. Medina hastily ordered the ship to cut the anchor cable, hoping to reoccupy the anchorage after the fireboat passed. But in the chaos, many ships took the road to escape, and as a result, they collided with each other and even fought by themselves. The whole fleet has begun to disintegrate. After the fireboat, Medina ordered all subordinate fleets to concentrate on Calais, but only a few ships carried out the order. Most ships have just broken two anchors, so they can't tie the remaining anchors, so they drift northeast along the coast.
Howard can see clearly what happened at this moment. The "Armada" is heading for Dunkirk in a chaotic formation, so that it is impossible to return to Calais. Howard immediately ordered the fleet to pursue at full speed. During the high-speed voyage, the distance between the British fleet and the "invincible fleet" gradually shortened. Considering that he didn't have enough ammunition, Howard ordered the fleet to get as close as possible to the enemy and only started shelling in a short distance to ensure that all the bullets hit. At this time, the "Armada" has no ammunition reserves. The British fleet seized this weakness, grasped the wind direction, advanced and retreated flexibly, and had no scruples. Sometimes it's port, sometimes it's starboard, and it keeps firing shells at enemy ships, big and small. The "Armada" only has the power to retreat, but not to parry.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, the two fleets met at Gnanferinis. The British fleet is pressing hard, and the distance between the ships of the "invincible fleet" is getting bigger and bigger, and the order is more chaotic. The ships of the British fleet cooperated tacitly, and all kinds of artillery came one after another, playing in an orderly way. The naval battle lasted until 6 pm, when suddenly the wind changed. Howard ordered the fleet to get rid of the fighting in time, and the "Armada" took this opportunity to quit the English Channel.
In the whole week's battle, the "Armada" spent more than100000 rounds of large artillery shells, but none of the British fleet was hit hard, only one captain and more than 20 sailors were killed. In contrast, the "Armada" killed or injured 1400 people only in the first battle of Gnanferinis.
On the evening of July 29th, a battle meeting was held in Medina. After weighing the pros and cons, it is decided that if the wind is favorable, we will try to control the English Channel. Otherwise, there is no way out except to bypass the North Sea and return to Spain. As a result, the weather is not beautiful, and the wind is still the same. "Armada" had to take the second option and return to Spain.
The downfall of the "Armada"
In August, British and Western troops fought for the second time in the northeast waters of Calais. The Spanish warships towering above the water are spectacular in appearance, but the effect is not good. Although the number and tonnage are dominant, it has become an obvious target of concentrated artillery bombardment by British warships. British warships move briskly, fire from a long distance, and the fire is fierce and vicious. Many ships of the Armada were hit and caught fire. Spain fired at the British ship, but it couldn't hit it. British ships try to avoid entering the range of Spanish artillery, dodge flexibly in the distance and move freely. This long-range artillery battle prevented the infantry and heavy artillery of the Spanish fleet from giving full play. The fierce artillery battle lasted all day, until the ammunition of both sides ran out, and the shelling ended. The "Armada" was beaten to pieces, the flagships of two sub-fleets were shot and injured, and the commander of one sub-fleet was captured.
Spain retreated across the board, and on the way back, the British fleet followed. On August 8, on the Graveline Meridian, the British fleet overwhelmed more than 50 warships of the "Armada" and launched an attack with superior forces. At this time, the remaining 70 warships of the "Armada" were 6 nautical miles away and failed to intervene in the battle in time. British warships are light and flexible, with good maneuverability, and the range of artillery is far greater than that of the enemy. Therefore, British warships always keep a distance that is beneficial to them. Spanish artillery has a short range, so it can only be as close as possible to the British fleet in order to engage in war. British ships rely on powerful firepower to suppress each other and keep them away. The battle didn't end until 6 pm, and the Spanish fleet suffered heavy losses. In this battle, the "Armada" was sunk by 16 warships, while the British warships suffered some damage, but none of them were sunk.
The "Armada" assembled the remaining ships, bypassed the British Isles from the north and sailed for Spain. Although the British fleet won, some ships were damaged and ammunition consumption was too high. Howard ordered to stop chasing. The rest of the Spanish ships fled north with the wind, ready to bypass Scotland and Ireland and return home. When the damaged fleet arrived at Ras Point on the northwest coast of Scotland, it was hit by huge waves caused by fierce storms in the Atlantic Ocean. The warship was damaged by water leakage, and the crew was hungry and terminally ill. They drifted alone in the sea with the wind. Many warships hit the rocks; Other warships sank into the water and disappeared in the waves. The storm raged for a month. Other warships disappeared off the coast of Ireland, and thousands of people drowned. Many survivors who managed to land on the Irish coast were also killed or starved to death. By June 1588 and 10, only 43 broken ships of the "Armada" had returned to Spain, almost all of them were wiped out. There was no damage to the British ship, only about 100 sailors were killed.
The Spanish Armada was defeated by the British fleet in 1588. Although the loss is small, the mental damage is great. Prior to this, the Spanish created one miracle after another, from discovering the new continent to conquering America with only a few hundred people, sailing around the world, crushing the Turkish fleet, discovering and mining silver mines, and trading posts and colonies spread all over the world (/Kloc-Portugal was incorporated into Spain at the end of June). These great achievements made the Spaniards have an illusion that they are God's voters and invincible, but the destruction of the Armada shattered this confidence.