3rd Spanish Armada fleet. Howard immediately sent the fleet out to hunt the Spanish, most of whom had arrived back at port. Any remaining Spanish ships were rounded up and captured along with their soldiers and crew. Philip took much of the blame for the failure by the Armada commanders, particularly Padilla. The Armada was the last of its kind that the Spanish would execute under Philip II before his death. The war with Spain and England had been going on for nearly twelve years and both sides had achieved little in their goals. The result of the intervention of Philip II in
3rd Spanish Armada objectives and overall strategy of the Spanish armada as a whole within a few days, whilst the ships were off the English and Welsh coasts. Howard on his return was rewarded soon after by the Queen and was created Earl of Nottingham. Lessons were learned however, in particular at Falmouth, where Mountjoy's consultant military engineer Paul Ivey was responsible for strengthening the castles at St Mawes and Pendennis. It was put into immediate effect - information from prisoners claimed that an invasion would be attempted the following summer but only if the taking of Falmouth or Milford had succeeded. This