Maritime history only when his ship was too disabled to offer any resistance. The Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidona in 1588. The Spanish Armada was sent by King Philip II of Spain, who had been king consort of England until the death of his wife Mary I of England thirty years earlier. The purpose of the expedition was to escort the Duke of Parma's army of tercios from the Spanish Netherlands across the North Sea for a landing in south-east England. Once the army had suppressed English support
3rd Spanish Armada tons; 16 merchantmen, of 5880 tons, 52 German and Flemish hulks for stores, of 15,514 tons, and 24 caravels, pinnaces and barks. 8,634 soldiers, 4,000 sailors, a total of 12,634 men and 300 horses. In this squadron of 32 Andalusia troopships included Carlos de Amésquita who had raided Cornwall two years earlier. These carried the elite Spanish military units known as tercios, many were from the Spanish domains in Italy such as Naples and Lombardy and had rarely been beaten in battle. The Spanish Armada of 1597, as incomplete as it was, put to sea from Corunna on 18 October;