On August 8, 1588, the waters of the English Channel churned with the gyrations of hundreds of warships. The great Spanish Armada had arrived to carry out an invasion of Elizabethan England and was met head-on by the English fleet under the command of Sir Francis Drake. The Spanish ships were large and heavy; they were packed with soldiers and carried formidable cannons that fired 50 lb
round shot that could devastate any ship of that era. In contrast, the English ships were smaller and lighter; they carried no soldiers and were armed with lighter, shorter-range cannons. The balance of power in Europe hinged on the outcome of this naval encounter. King Philip II of Catholic Spain was attempting to squash Protestant England’s rising influence in the political and religious affairs of Europe; in turn, Queen Elizabeth I was attempting to defend the very existence of England as a sovereign state.