2nd Spanish Armada 1596. Spain and England had been at war for nearly twelve years with neither side gaining the upper hand. The result of the intervention of Philip II in the religious war in France in support of the Catholic League, meant that Spanish forces had established coastal garrisons along the French and Flemish coast by the late 1580s. These bases had a huge strategic value because they allowed England to be threatened by the Spanish fleet and troops. England on the other hand had also intervened in France, but in support of King Henry IV of France, as a result of
3rd Spanish Armada the ship was so badly damaged, but put to sea again in a flyboat and rejoined the armada. He attempted to rally them in one last effort to make a landing at Milford Haven, Waterford, Cork or Brest. In the night of 25 October seeing that the currents were unrelenting he reluctantly ordered the remaining ships to start to part company and to scatter, each one thinking of their own safety. One Spanish ship dismasted by the storm was captured off the Scilly Isles by an English pinnace. Even though it sank on its way to Penzance, the prisoners, including