The Spanish Armada ("Great and Most Merry Navy" or Armada Invencible, "Invincible Navy") was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing England's Elizabeth I.
Philip II of Spain considered the Protestant Elizabeth a heretic and illegitimate ruler of England. He had supported plots to have her overthrown in favor of her Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots.
Elizabeth supported the Dutch Revolt against Spain. In retaliation, Philip planned an expedition to invade and conquer England, thereby suppressing support for the United Provinces— that part of the Low Countries not under Spanish domination — and cutting off attacks by the English against Spanish possessions in the New World and against the Atlantic treasure fleets.
The fleet set out with 22 warships of the Spanish Royal Navy and 108 converted merchant vessels, with the intention of sailing through the English Channel to anchor off the coast of Flanders, where the Duke of Parma's army of tercios would stand ready for an invasion of the south-east of England.
The Armada achieved its first goal. But while awaiting communications from Parma's army, it was driven from its anchorage by an English fire ship attack, and in the ensuing battle at Gravelines the Spanish were forced to abandon their rendezvous with Parma's army.
The Armada managed to regroup. A return voyage to Spain was plotted, and the fleet sailed into the Atlantic, past Ireland. But severe storms disrupted the fleet's course.
Of the fleet's initial complement, about 50 vessels failed to make it back to Spain. The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo–Spanish War (1585–1604).
The defeat of the Spanish Armada led to the Drake–Norris Expedition of 1589, also known as the English Armada against Spanish possessions in the New World and against the Atlantic treasure fleets.
