Editing English Channel (section)

=== England and Britain: Naval superpower ===
[[File:Elizabeth I Watching Defeat of Spanish Armada by an unknown artist, 16th century.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|The [[Spanish Armada]] off the English coast in 1588]]

From the reign of [[Elizabeth I]], English foreign policy concentrated on preventing invasion across the Channel by ensuring no major European power controlled the potential Dutch and Flemish invasion ports. Her climb to the pre-eminent [[sea power]] of the world began in 1588 as the attempted invasion of the [[Spanish Armada]] was defeated by the combination of outstanding naval tactics by the English and the Dutch under command of [[Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham]] with [[Francis Drake|Sir Francis Drake]] second in command, and the following stormy weather. Over the centuries the [[Royal Navy]] slowly grew to be the most powerful in the world.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

[[File:La bataille des Cadinaux en novembre 1759.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] which ended the [[Planned French invasion of Britain (1759)|French invasion plans]] in 1759]]
The building of the [[British Empire]] was possible only because the [[Royal Navy]] eventually managed to exercise unquestioned control over the seas around Europe, especially the Channel and the North Sea. During the [[Seven Years' War]], France attempted to [[Planned French Invasion of Britain (1759)|launch an invasion of Britain]]. To achieve this France needed to gain control of the Channel for several weeks, but was thwarted following the British naval victory at the [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] in 1759 and was unsuccessful (The last French landing on English soil being in 1690 with a raid on Teignmouth, although the last French raid on British soil was a raid on Fishguard, Wales in 1797).

Another significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. The [[Battle of Trafalgar]] took place off the coast of Spain against a combined French and Spanish fleet and was won by Admiral [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio Nelson]], ending [[Napoleon]]'s plans for a cross-Channel invasion and securing British dominance of the seas for over a century.