Editing Elizabethan era (section)

===English Navy and defeat of the Armada===
[[File:English Ships and the Spanish Armada, August 1588 RMG BHC0262.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|right|The Spanish Armada fighting the English navy at the [[Naval battle of Gravelines|Battle of Gravelines]] in 1588]]
While Henry VIII had launched the [[Royal Navy]], Edward and Mary had ignored it and it was little more than a system of coastal defense. Elizabeth made naval strength a high priority.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Julian S. |last=Corbett |date=1898 |url=https://archive.org/details/drakeandtudorna01corbgoog |title=Drake and the Tudor Navy, With a History of the Rise of England as a Maritime Power|publisher=New York, B. Franklin }}</ref> She risked war with Spain by supporting the "[[Elizabethan Sea Dogs|Sea Dogs]]", such as [[John Hawkins (naval commander)|John Hawkins]] and [[Francis Drake]], who preyed on the Spanish merchant ships carrying gold and silver from the New World. The Navy yards were leaders in technical innovation, and the captains devised new tactics. Parker (1996) argues that the full-rigged ship was one of the greatest technological advances of the century and permanently transformed naval warfare. In 1573 English shipwrights introduced designs, first demonstrated in the "Dreadnaught", that allowed the ships to sail faster and maneuver better and permitted heavier guns.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1996 |title=The 'Dreadnought' Revolution of Tudor England |journal=Mariner's Mirror |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=269–300 |doi=10.1080/00253359.1996.10656603}}</ref> Whereas before warships had tried to grapple with each other so that soldiers could board the enemy ship, now they stood off and fired broadsides that would sink the enemy vessel. When Spain finally decided to invade and conquer England it was a fiasco. Superior English ships and seamanship foiled the invasion and led to the destruction of the [[Spanish Armada]] in 1588, marking the high point of Elizabeth's reign. Technically, the Armada failed because Spain's over-complex strategy required coordination between the invasion fleet and the Spanish army on shore. Moreover, the poor design of the Spanish cannons meant they were much slower in reloading in a close-range battle. Spain and France still had stronger fleets, but England was catching up.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1888 |title=Why the Armada Failed |journal=History Today |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=26–33}}</ref>

Parker has speculated on the dire consequences if the Spanish had landed their invasion army in 1588. He argues that the Spanish army was larger, more experienced, better equipped, more confident, and had better financing. The English defenses, on the other hand, were thin and outdated; England had too few soldiers and they were at best only partially trained. Spain had chosen England's weakest link and probably could have captured London in a week. Parker adds that a Catholic uprising in the north and in Ireland could have brought total defeat.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |year=1976 |title=If the Armada Had Landed |journal=History |volume=61 |issue=203 |pages=358–368 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1976.tb01347.x}}</ref>

The following year England launched an equally unsuccessful expedition to Spain with the [[English Armada|Drake–Norris Expedition]]. The advantage England had won upon the destruction of the Spanish Armada was lost and would mark a revival of Spanish naval power. A [[Capture of Cádiz|second English armada]] sent in 1596 succeeded in capturing and sacking Cádiz, and was one of the most signal English victories of the war. Further Spanish Armadas also failed - in [[2nd Spanish Armada|1596]], [[3rd Spanish Armada|1597]] and [[4th Spanish Armada|1601]]. The war ended with the [[Treaty of London, 1604|Treaty of London]] the year following Elizabeth's death.