Why did the Spanish armada fail to beat the English?

Answer 1

The Spanish Armada lost the Battle of Gravelines for a variety of reasons including bad luck. The reasons that they lost the battle were they had the wind against them, a brand new commander with no experience and also worse tactics than the English.

Their commander, the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, had no qualifications to lead an armada. He alone could have lost this battle for the Spanish but they had even more things against them and these could be the worst of all. The thing that hurt the Spanish the most was their tactics and policy with their big guns or cannons. The Duke did not bring enough food with him for the journey. He also had poor maps. The Spanish only fired their cannons maybe two or three times a day and only when the the were right along side of an English ship; while the English shot theirs so much that they were constantly running out of ammunition. The Spanish didn't believe it necessary to teach their men how to load a cannon after it was fired.

The wind played a powerful part in this battle. It wreaked havoc on the large Spanish ships, while hardly affecting the smaller, more mobile English ships. Eventually, many of the Spanish ships wound up on the coast of Scotland, and Ireland, where people came down to the shores to kill the soldiers and burn the ships.

The Spanish had bad luck and poor weather. The Spanish were sighted off Lizard Point on the 29th of July really gave the English an advantage.

Answer 2

-Armada had to leave some ships behind. Started with 150, had to leave 26 ships behind, now with 124 ships.

-Armada ships had difficulties in May.

-Armada thought most of the English fleet were in Dover, but were in fact in Plymouth.

-Planning a campaign was difficult in that time as there was no way of fast communication.

- The weather!

- The Armada's maps were inaccurate.

- Philip II didn't plan the Armada out very well. The commander, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, had no experience in sea warfare, and was hampered by his instructions on how and when to engage the enemy.

- The Armada lacked food and water, and most of the time were far from any friendly ports.

- Armada had weak ships that were blown off course by the atrocious weather.

- Philip (King of Spain) didn't want to spend a lot of money on ships, ship supplies and soldiers, whereas Elizabeth I (Queen of England) did.

- Armada had lack of experience on English waters.

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Answer 3

The Armada - July to September, 1588

The main causes : bad weather, poor navigation, and the success of the English ships to avoid close combat.

After smaller battles near Eddystone and the Isle of Portland, the Spanish ships were chased from the Isle of Wight and pursued to Calais. There the English sent eight fire ships at night into the anchorages, prompting many Spaniards to cut their anchor ropes and flee. After a serious defeat at Gravelines, the Armada fled northward along the east coast of England. While crossing the north Irish coast to circle back to Spain, the worn ships were caught in gales, and many were wrecked, some because their anchors were lost at Calais. Only 67 of the fleet's 130 ships made it back to Spain, and more than 5000 men were lost.

Answer 4

English had faster ships, ships were filled with good sailors rather than priests and soldiers as the Spanish had, English knew the tides and lay of the land better, English had good tactics (setting fire to their a few of their ships and sending the ships amongst the Spanish to scatter them etc etc), Spanish ran out of food supplies and also the weather seemed to be on the side of the English.

Answer 5

The main thing that destroyed or hampered the Spanish Armada, was the British weather. One Spanish ship was captured by Francis Drake in the English Channel, after the Spanish failed to attack the English Fleet in Plymouth, and failed to anchor in the Solent. Storms in the English Channel and North Sea scattered many Spanish ships. To avoid the English fleet approaching from the south, the Armada was forced to sail round the north of Scotland, and southwards, passing to the west of Ireland.

Answer 6

Bad leaders

Bad weather