Armada!

by Robert Milne-Tyte

L1 Glossy paperback 1988 160p. 8.50x5.25x0.40 BOOK ABOUT IN 1588 WAS THE GREATEST FEAT OF ENGLISH ARMS SINCE THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT A CENTURY AND HALF EARLIER.

Genres: Spain, Military History, History, British Literature

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book solely because I am taking a trip to Spain & Portugal this year. To that end, I had zero knowledge of the Spanish Armada having read nothing about Spanish history. I enjoyed this book. It was easy to read, had a bit of humor and enough descriptive language to make the point that life onboard these seafaring vessels was terrible. The Spaniards were ill prepared for the fight with the English due in large part to the discrepancy in weapons and to staffing. England staffed their vessels with mariners:soldiers about 2:1 ratio vs the Spanish who staffed with soldiers:mariners at a 2:1 ratio. In addition, I found this fascinating, the Spaniards believed "the use of heavy guns as a distinctly unchivalrous form of combat". Here is an example of how the chivalrous form of combat was to occur in the minds of the Spaniards. Ref page 68: "Meanwhile the San Martin held her course, and as she drew near to the Ark, Medina Sidonia ordered her topsails lowered and turned her broadside on to the English flagship. According to the rules, Lord Howard should have accepted the challenge at that point and gone alongside to allow the troops aboard the two vessels to test their skill in hand-to-hand combat. But the Spaniards had still not grasped the fact that the rules had been rewritten, war at sea was now a different game, so that instead of tilting at his opponent like some medieval knight, the English admiral, to the undoubted disgust of the Spaniards, merely discharged a broadside at the inviting target which the Armada flagship presented then sailed unchivalrously on while the following ships of his group did that same."

[John Somers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book on a topic I didn't know a whole lot about before reading it. I'm still not convinced that the English adoption of gunnery rather than boarding tactics (they only actually sank 4 spanish ships in combat) had as big a part in the victory as the author feels but he argues his point well and like most of the words worth military library this is well worth a read if you're interested in the period.