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Question: How did the British navy bring down the Spanish Armada!?
I have thought about this for some time now!. Years ago in my 8th grade history class, my teacher stated that the reason why the English beat the Spanish Armada (despite being outnumbered) was that the English ships were lighter and could move around easier while the Spanish ships were heavier (loaded with cannons) and couldn't move around as much!.
I doubt that this is the sole reason why the Royal Navy was able to defeat the Armada!. Didn't they also make use of fire ships as well!? Any ideas!? Were there other factors such as weather conditions, logistics, strategy, etc!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Dear Crstnwtr,
You doubts are correct!. There were a number of reasons that the British fleet was able to defeat the numerically superior Spanish!.
The Spanish ships were less maneuverable than the British!. This, in essence, was the fact that the English ships were able to sail "closer to the wind!." What that means is during the procedure known as tacking (sailing into the wind instead of before it) the British ships could tack more directly into a head wind than the Spanish!.
A second reason was a storm that wrecked some of the Spanish ships and scattered the Armada!.
Third, the English successfully introduced a fire ship (a ship that was loaded with combustible materials and set ablaze) into the Spanish fleet one night before the battle!. This destroyed yet more of the Armada and made other scatter so that they could not fact the British as a unit!.
I believe that the British seamanship was superior to that of the Spaniards; and that their discipline was better too!. I suspect that the English were able to load and fire their cannon more quickly than the Spaniards!.
If the battle had been decided by only weight of guns or weight of cannon balls each ship could fire, the Spanish would have won handily!.
Another suspicion of mine is that Spain concentrated on moving gold from the Americas while the English grabbed things like fiber for rope and cable!. Another reason their ships were more agile than those of the Spanish!.
Finally, the Armada was out maneuvered by Sir Francis Drake!. He managed to get them between his fleet and a shore that was downwind of them, limiting where they could go and how they could sail without running aground!.
Hope this helps,
Tiger ToyWww@QuestionHome@Com
yes they used a fire ship, they also cut off the spanish retreat, so they had to sail around the Islands of Britian, to get home, but the major factor was the weather most of the spanish losses was because of the bad weather around scotland and ireland!. there are many sites on the web that give you lots of information I've given you 3 of those to work from, the second one is sightly biased in the spanish favor, probably due to the fact it is from the Catholic EncyropediaWww@QuestionHome@Com
we set our ships on fire and when they were about to hit the spanish ships we got off and swam for the shore and the fires spread very fastWww@QuestionHome@Com
The Armada was more strong than British navy, but was defeat first for a hugh storm!.!.!.!. a fate!.
A hug!!Www@QuestionHome@Com
Because the Spanish fail at making any real difference in the world and always will!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Various factors have to be considered!. First, the English (or at least the best of them - there were a fair few ships crewed by hopeful amateurs) were better sailors than the Spanish!. Second, they were fighting in home waters (there are some tricky currents round Britain's shores which were used to advantage, particularly by Frobisher who commanded the inshore squadron)!.
Mainly, however, you have to look at the Spanish strategy!. Their aim was to force a landing somewhere on the southern coast of England, then to ferry Parma's army over from the Netherlands!. What happened in practice was that there was a series of engagements in which the English chased the Spanish up the Channel, never giving them time to stop and make a bridgehead!. An interesting statistic is that of the 130 Spanish ships only about five were lost during the Channel engagements - and none of those were sunk by English gunnery!. Crucially, however, the Spanish used up most of their powder!.
Having failed in its primary objective, the Armada gathered in Calais to take stock, but were chased out in confusion by the English fireships (the confusion did far more damage than the fireships, by the way)!. Then there was final battle at Gravelines!. In this the Spanish were low on ammunition, and the English (who had hitherto fired at long range, just to keep the Armada moving) closed in to short range and gave several Spanish ships a battering!.
Even so, it was the long and stormy way home that claimed many times more Spanish ships that the English ever managed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com