Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604) (Continuation) March of the Invincible Armada

[Anatol]

The appointed commander of the naval forces of the Armada was the highly experienced Marquis of Santa Cruz while Alexander Farnese would be in command of the invasion forces. Unfortunately, Santa Cruz died in February 1588 and the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a high-born courtier, took his place. While a competent soldier and distinguished administrator, Medina Sidonia had no naval experience.
Before going on the offensive, de Guzman, in a letter to the king, expressed concern about the upcoming operation: according to him, the Spanish forces “were by no means superior to the enemy.” In addition, the Armada began to be plagued by setbacks: strong headwinds, mass poisoning of crews, and a storm that damaged some of the ships. However, Philip was sure that in this way the Lord was testing the strength of his faith. He forced the admiral to continue sailing.
On 21 July 1588, the Armada set sail from Lisbon and headed for the English Channel.
The Armada was delayed by bad weather. Storms in the Bay of Biscay along the Galician coast forced four galleys and one galleon to turn back, and other ships had to put in to A Coruña for repairs, leaving 137 ships that sailed for the English Channel.
But the main misfortunes awaited the Spaniards ahead. Instead of quickly attacking the enemy ships while they were at anchor, the Armada missed the attack from Francis Drake's flotilla, which captured two Spanish galleons on the move. De Guzman did not have time to regroup - the English ships repeated their attacking maneuver, forcing the Spaniards to retreat to the French shores.
In the middle of the night of 7–8 August, the English set alight eight fireships, sacrificing warships by filling them with pitch, brimstone, gunpowder and tar, and cast them downwind among the closely anchored vessels of the Armada. The Spanish feared that these uncommonly large fireships were "hellburners", specialised fireships filled with large gunpowder charges that had been used to deadly effect at the Siege of Antwerp. Three were intercepted by pataches and towed away, but the remainder bore down on the fleet. Medina Sidonia's flagship and the principal warships held their positions, but the rest of the fleet cut their anchor cables and scattered in confusion. No Spanish ships were burnt, but the crescent formation had been broken, and the fleet found itself too far leeward of Calais in the rising southwesterly wind to recover its position. The English closed in for battle.
The first stamp depicts a portrait of Alonso de Guzman against the background of a fragment of a painting by an unknown artist: “The Invincible Armada on the March”
The second stamp depicts a painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg: “The Defeat of the Spanish Armada,” (the attack of the fireships on the night of August 8, 1588.
See also: viewtopic.php? F = 2 & t = 10049.
Kuban 2020;25.0r; 25.0r.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada.
https://dzen.ru/a/XRYT7-DL8gCt0W_a.

[Anatol]

Тhe small port of Gravelines was part of Flanders in the Spanish Netherlands close to the border with France, and was the closest Spanish territory to England.
Before dawn on August 8, Medina Sidonia struggled to regather his fleet after the fireships scattered it, and was reluctant to sail further east than Gravelines, knowing the danger of running aground on the shoals off Flanders, from which his Dutch enemies had removed the sea marks. The English learned of the Armada's weaknesses during the skirmishes in the English Channel, and concluded it was possible to close in to within 100 yards (90 m) to be able to penetrate the oak hulls of the Spanish warships. They had spent most of their gunpowder in the first engagements and had, after the Isle of Wight, been forced to conserve their heavy shot and powder for an anticipated attack near Gravelines. During all the engagements, the Spanish heavy guns could not easily be reloaded because of their close spacing and the quantities of supplies stowed between decks, as Drake had discovered on capturing the Nuestra Señora del Rosario in the Channel.
While Medina Sidonia was gathering the Armada ships together into their traditional crescent formation the English fleet moved in, and at dawn the flagship with four other ships found themselves facing the entire English fleet. The English provoked Spanish fire while staying out of range. The English then closed, firing damaging broadsides into the enemy ships, all the while maintaining a windward position, so the heeling Armada hulls were exposed to damage below the water line when they changed course later. Many of the Spanish gunners were killed or wounded by the English broadsides, and the task of manning the cannon often fell to foot soldiers who did not know how to operate them. The ships were close enough for sailors on the upper decks of the English and Spanish ships to exchange musket fire. A couple of hours int the battle, a few more Armada warships closed in to form wings on either side of the five ships already under attack. After eight hours, the English ships began to run out of ammunition, and some gunners began loading objects such as chains into their cannons. Around 4 pm, the English fired their last shots and pulled back.
Five Spanish and Portuguese ships were lost: one carrack the 605 ton Maria Juan which had been part of Don Diego Flores de Valdes' Castile Squadron which had attempted to surrender to Captain Robert Crosse of the Hope, sank off Blankenberge with the loss of 275 men – the Spanish only managing to rescue a boatload of survivors. The galleass San Lorenzo, the flagship of Don Hugo de Moncada which had been holed below the waterline, was forced to run aground at Calais to avoid sinking. Howard on sight of this ordered a flotilla of ship's boats to carry her by boarding. Moncada was killed during an exchange of small arms fire: an arquebus shot to his head. The ship was then taken after murderous fighting between the crew, galley slaves and the English. The French meanwhile could do little except to watch as the ship was plundered but they opened fire to ward off the English who quickly left to join the rest of the fight. The next day the severely crippled galleon San Mateo ran aground in between Sluis and Ostend – and was taken by a combination of Dutch ships and English troops led by Francis Vere The captain Don Diego Pimmental surrendered along with the survivors of his crew. Later that day, the equally crippled San Felipe, , drifted away sinking and ran aground on the island of Walcheren, from which English troops sortied from Flushing, attacked the stricken vessel, and took the crew prisoners. A Dutch force of flyboats led by Justinus van Nassau then took possession of the ship. A pinnace also ran aground by her crew to prevent her from sinking.
Many other Spanish ships were severely damaged, especially the Portuguese and some Spanish Atlantic-class galleons, including some Neapolitan galleys, which bore the brunt of the fighting during the early hours of the battle. Тhe Spanish plan to join with Parma's army had been frustrated.
The stamp depicts a fragment of a painting by Nicholas Hilliard: "The Battle of Gravelines, 8 August 1558."
Kuban 2020;25.0r; 25,0r.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada#Spain.

[Anatol]

Justinus van Nassau (1559–1631) was the only extramarital child of William the Silent.
His mother was Eva Elincx, William's mistress between his first and second marriages. William of Orange recognized Justinus and raised him with his other children.
Justinus studied in Leiden and became Lieutenant-Colonel on 17 May 1583. On 28 February 1585 he became lieutenant-admiral of Zeeland. He was a Dutch army commander known for his role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
While Medina Sidonia lay at anchor, Dunkirk was blockaded by a Dutch fleet of 30 flying boats under the command of Lieutenant Admiral Justinus van Nassau. [57] Dutch boats primarily operated in the shallow waters off Zealand and Flanders, where larger, deeper-draft warships such as Spanish and English galleons could not safely enter.

Further, towards Dunkirk, the Spanish fleet could not move - it turned out that the Dutch had removed all the buoys and other navigational signs east of Calais, just where the banks and shoals begin, and that the British and Dutch were cruising in the Dunkirk area, ready to intercept transports of Parma.
Having lost control, one Spanish ship ran aground near Calais; three ships, carried by the wind to the east, where they also ran aground, were soon captured by the Dutch.
The Dutch had an undeniable naval advantage in these waters, although their fleet was inferior in naval armament. Since Medina Sidonia did not attempt to break the Dutch blockade, and Parma did not risk trying to pass unescorted, the Army of Flanders avoided the trap that Van Nassau had laid for them.
From 1601 until 1625 he was governor of Breda. In 1625 he had to surrender Breda to the Spanish general Ambrogio Spinola after a siege of 11 months. Justinus was allowed to leave for Leiden.
The depiction of his surrender in the painting by Diego Velázquez: The Surrender of Breda.
Justinus of Nassau hands over the keys of the city to Ambrogio Spinola.

Kuban 2020;25.0r.
Source: https://wikibgu.ru/wiki/Justinus_van_Nassau.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada#Spain.

[Anatol]

The very first difficulties after the Battle of Gravelines broke the Spanish admiral. The Spaniards had to abandon the idea of joining up with the forces of the Duke of Parma. He could not get through to Holland to repair ships and replenish ammunition, so he decided to return back to Spain through the North Sea, rounding England and Scotland. It was an adventurous idea, since the autumn storm season was beginning. Off the Orkney Islands, the Great Armada was caught in a severe storm, breaking up into several parts and losing several ships. Subsequently, 19 ships sank or ran aground off the coast of Scotland and Ireland. The British, who were pursuing the Spaniards, managed to capture or sink another 15 galleasses and galleons. Many ships sank, crashed against rocks, and thousands of corpses were thrown ashore. Some of the Spaniards who landed were killed or captured. In September 1588, the remnants of the Armada reached the Spanish coast, losing another 44 ships. Thus, Medina Sidonia lost 63 ships and 15,000 people. According to estimates from the English side, the Spanish fleet lost 66 ships (51 of them sank, 15 were captured).
Also, according to the British, Medina Sidonia lost up to 20,000 people killed, wounded, drowned and died from disease. In addition, 397 Spaniards were captured, and 800 were seriously injured. The damage to the English fleet amounted to up to 8,000 killed and wounded, as well as 8 medium and small ships. The disaster that befell the Great Armada forever undermined the naval and then the military-political power of Spain. England soon became the sovereign mistress of the sea, becoming the strongest power in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages.
Kuban 2020;25.0r; 25,0r.
Source: https://dzen.ru/a/X_1Ufst98VNdRtKo.