It was bad luck, bad tactics and bad weather that defeated the Spanish Armada—not the derring-do displayed by Elizabeth’s intrepid sea dogs.

Evidence

How the Spanish Armada Was Really Defeated (The History Reader)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Surviving Cadiz permanently cured English sailors of fearing shore guns, galleys, and fire-ships. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 243; Drake’s raid on Cádiz in April 1587 destroyed roughly 30 ships and large quantities of supplies, setting Spanish Armada preparations back by a year. — Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard

Related

• Drake’s raid on Cádiz in April 1587 destroyed roughly 30 ships and large quantities of supplies, setting Spanish Armada preparations back by a year. (similarity 0.89)
• Ships lost their anchors, and drifted out to sea to avoid catching fire, causing the Spanish ships’ formation to be completely broken. (similarity 0.87)
• No Spanish ship was lost other than the eight fire ships; the fireships’ main effect was forcing the Spanish to scatter. (similarity 0.85)
• On April 29, 1587, the English fleet sailed into the harbor of Cádiz, attacking anchored ships, seizing cargo, and setting the ships on fire. (similarity 0.85)
• Though not a single Spanish ship was, in fact, torched by the attack, the fireships caused many to cut their anchor cables in panic to avoid… (similarity 0.84)
• The weather of 1588 appears to have been extraordinary; the Spanish were prevented from putting to sea for some weeks by contrary winds. (similarity 0.82)
• Drake sailed into Cadiz destroying Spanish ships, and a huge stock of barrels was burned that were intended to transport stores, whose loss would affect essential food and water supplies for the… (similarity 0.82)
• The Spanish ships’ heavy guns. They sustained serious damage and casualties without being able to reply effectively. Three Spanish ships were… (similarity 0.82)
• No Spanish ships were burnt, but the crescent formation had been broken, and the fleet found itself too far leeward of Calais in the rising southwesterly wind. (similarity 0.82)
• The English sent fire ships into the Spanish anchorage at Calais, and prevailing winds and storms ultimately scattered and destroyed the Spanish fleet on its retreat. (similarity 0.81)
• Drake reported burning 16-17 hundred hoops and pipe-staves that would have made 25-30 thousand tons of casks, forcing Spain a year later to supply the Armada’s food under that loss. (similarity 0.81)
• Drake’s 1587 raid destroyed thousands of barrel staves essential for storage barrels, which would later affect the Spanish Armada of 1588 due to a shortage of food and drink. (similarity 0.81)
• Surviving Cadiz permanently cured English sailors of fearing shore guns, galleys, and fire-ships. (similarity 0.81)
• More than 13,500 Armada sailors and soldiers did not come home, the vast majority victims not of English cannon fire but of lack of food and water, virulent disease and incompetent organisation. (similarity 0.80)
• The Armada could not board the faster English ships even with the weather-gauge (similarity 0.80)