Spanish Armada
The ships were on their way to Flanders, across the English Channel, to fetch an army to invade England. However, the Royal Navy, under Queen Elizabeth I, caught up with the ships on the way. English ships sailed from Plymouth to attack the Armada. They were faster and more easily moved than the larger Spanish galleons. The English fired on the Armada and lost no ships as the Spanish sailed eastward off the south coast of England.