The  Armada started when Queen Elizabeth had her own half-sister Mary executed because she was a Catholic, so then King Philip decided he would attack England. He thought God was on his side. Phillip was getting his Armada ready, and Sir Francis Drake took a small fleet into the Cadiz habour and he burned the ships and the one's with all the food and drink. Phillip replaced the ship's but he had to put the supplies in barrels with new wood which had not dried out. Eventually the food  would turn bad. There was not much of a plan to get the soldiers from the Netherlands to England. The Spanish did not have a good  port  to use. The  Admiral of the Armada died so the the Duke of Medina took over  there was just one  problem he gets sea-sick. In February the Armada finally set sail, but it  ran into some terrible weather and was blown off course. Food went rotten. The water went bad. Men died of diseases.When  the  Armada  set  sail  in  July  it  was  spotted  by  the  English.  Beacons  were  lit  on  hill  to  spread  the  news  around  the  country. There  were 130 ships covering 11km of sea. The Spanish boats  formed a crescent shape to make it difficult for the  English  to  attack  them. So  for  a  week  the  English  chased  the  Spanish  up  the  English  Channel. On  19th  July  the  Spanish  picked  up  some other  troops  who  were  in  the  Netherlands. The  English  were  ready  to  pounce. Eight  ships  carrying  tar  and  loaded  guns    were  set  on  fire  and  were  sent  along  to  the  Spanish  ships  in  Calais. The  Spanish  panicked  when  they  saw  these  and  fled  off  into  the  night.

By  the  morning  the  Spanish  crescent  had  broken  up. The  Spanish  had  fought  very  bravely. The  ships  that  did  survive  were  severely  battered. There  was  only  one  hope  and  that  was  to  head  home. They  couldn't  go  through  the  Channel  they  had  to go  up  north  round  Scotland. They  only  had  stale  water  and  mouldy  biscuits. By  the  time  they  got  home  only  67  ships  survived  and got  there. Few  sailed  again. It  was a  sad  end  for  such  a  great  fleet.

We  interviewed  people  from  both  sides  and  the  English  person  said "I  think  we  deserved  to  win  it. Sir  Francis  Drake  helped  us by setting  their  supplies  and  ships  on  fire  and  the  weather  didn't  help  them  and  spotted  them  and  trapped  them  early  and  scared  them  so  they  were  running  away  and  after  that  we  got  them."
We  also  interviewed  a  Spanish  person  and  he  said " I  thought  we  were  very  unlucky  to  lose  because  that  pirate  Drake  came  into  our  harbour  and  set  alight  loads  of  barrels  of  food  and  some  of  our  ships  so  then  we  had  to  put  new  food  in  new  barrels  which  hadn't  dried  out. Then  the  weather  went  against  us    and  we  got  blew  in  a  different  direction  which  used  up  our  supplies. After  that  we  got  trapped  in  Cadiz  and  the  English  sent  a  few  fireships  towards  us  and  we  got  scared .

I  thought  the  English  won  because  of  many  reasons. One  reason  is  that  the  English  spotted  the  Spanish  early  so  then  they  could  figure  out  what  to  do  then  trap  them. Another  reason  is  that  the  Spanish  were  unlucky  because  the  weather  blew  them  off  course  when  they  were  sailing  to  England. Another  was  Sir  Francis  Drake  because  he  delayed  the  Spanish  attack  by  burning  the  Spanish'  supplies  and  boats. Another  reason  was  that  the  English  had  more  and  better  ships  and  weapons  than  the  Spanish  because  the  English  had  69  more  ships, 10  more  war  galleons  and  a  better  range  cannon  so  they  could  keep  them  away  and  the  Spanish  couldn't  get  any  more  nearer  because  they  didn't  have  a  good  cannons  and  the  English  would  get  them. Another  reason  was  that  the English  had  better  tactics  and  a  better  plan. The  Spanish  didn't  really  have  a  plan  it  was  just  to  get  to  England  and  fight. The  English  plan  was  to  shoot  the  cannon  to  stop  the  Spanish  from  getting  nearer. The  English  were  also  better  organised  because  they  knew  what  to  do  when  the  Spanish  came, they  knew  what  to  do  when the  Spanish  got  near  and  how  to  do  it. There  are  lots  of  reasons  why  I  think  English  won  the  Spanish  Armada.

Reported by  LEE.J.RYAN
                                      Year 8