The
Spanish Armada (, literally "Great and Most Fortunate Navy") was a
Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from
A Coruña in August 1588, under the command of the
Duke of Medina Sidonia with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to overthrow Queen
Elizabeth I of England and the Tudor establishment of Protestantism in England, with the expectation that this would put a stop to English interference in the
Spanish Netherlands and to the harm caused to Spanish interests by English and Dutch
privateering.