Spanish Armada
Philip's failed invasion
The Spanish Armada was the fleet of warships sent by Spain to invade England in 1588.
The invasion failed spectacularly—storms and English naval tactics scattered and destroyed much of the fleet.
The term now evokes doomed military ambition or overconfidence meeting disaster: Their product launch was a Spanish Armada.
Multi-decked sailing warships
- warshipsMilitary combat vessels
- vesselsCarriers or containers
- flotillaSmall naval fleet
- squadronMilitary aviation unit
convoy · supply ships · troop transports · provisioning · embarkation · Lisbon · Calais · anchorage
Of late 1500s England
- TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
- Philip IIAncient Macedonian ruler
- Elizabeth IFinal Tudor sovereign
- invasionForcible entry into territory
Habsburg · English Channel · fire ships · Francis Drake · Howard · Netherlands · succession crisis
Commitment to wed or attend
- broadsideFierce written assault
- cannonadeSustained artillery fire
- gunneryScience of heavy weaponry
- seamanshipSkill in operating vessels
tactics · maneuver · firepower · fire ships · privateers · sea dogs · boarding · range
Sudden ruinous event
- failureLack of success
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
- debacleSudden, complete failure
- routOverwhelming one-sided victory
destruction · humiliation · scattering · shipwrecks · storms · losses · retreat · decimation
Body of traditional tales
- nationalismDevotion to one's country
- patriotismDevotion to one's homeland
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- commemorationsActs honoring past events
historical turning point · national identity · naval supremacy
galleons
Multi-decked sailing warships
squadron · convoy · supply ships · troop transports · provisioning · embarkation · Lisbon · Calais · anchorage · scattered
Elizabethan
Of late 1500s England
- TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
- Philip IIAncient Macedonian ruler
- Elizabeth IFinal Tudor sovereign
invasion · Habsburg · English Channel · fire ships · Francis Drake · Howard · Netherlands · succession crisis
engagement
Commitment to wed or attend
seamanship · tactics · maneuver · firepower · fire ships · privateers · sea dogs · boarding · range · windward
disaster
Sudden ruinous event
- failureLack of success
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
- debacleSudden, complete failure
rout · destruction · humiliation · scattering · shipwrecks · storms · losses · retreat · decimation · collapse
mythology
Body of traditional tales
- nationalismDevotion to one's country
- patriotismDevotion to one's homeland
- propagandaBiased information for influence
commemorations · historical turning point · national identity · naval supremacy
- Elizabethan NavyFrancis Drake, Walter Raleigh, sea dogs, privateers, galleons
- European WarsNapoleonic Wars, Hundred Years War, Thirty Years War, Franco-Prussian War, Crimean War
- Philip IIPhilip II, Battle of Lepanto, Alba, Inquisition, Counter-Reformation
- European HistoryFrench Revolution, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Industrial Revolution
- Navyadmiral, battleship, destroyer, aircraft carrier, cruiser
- shipwrecksshipwreck, shipwrecks, sunken ships, capsized, derelict