In addition to the prestige of the Armada, in addition to the huge fleet that Spain has done its best to build to maintain its colonial rights, the presence of a good commander is also crucial.

The Armada is considered to be the most outstanding commander of Santa Cruz, which also has several place names as proof of his exploits in later generations.

Santa Cruz does not refer to a person, but to the title of a knighthood.

But the Santa Cruz of the Armada was the famous Spanish admiral Álvaro de Bazán.

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Álvaro de Bazán was known as the "Father of the Soldier" by the Spanish soldiers.

Arguably the most capable Spanish admiral, he led his reserves at the Battle of Lepanto and defeated the British and French fleets on several occasions.

And its first battle of fame was the famous Battle of Lepanto.

A legendary admiral, he joined the Navy at a young age.

In 1544 he made a name for himself in the battle against France.

In 1554, he led a detachment of troops to encircle and suppress Algerian pirates.

In 1562 he was appointed mayor of Gibraltar for life and was responsible for commanding the naval fleet there.

In 1563, in Oran, North Africa, he successfully defended himself against the attack of the local emir Hassan.

In 1568 he was promoted to commander of the Naples navy.

In 1569 he was made Marquis of Santa Cruz.

In 1571, by order of the Holy League, the famous naval battle of Lepanto was planned, and he was responsible for commanding the 3o warships of the rearguard fleet. During the battle, Urzi, the left flank of the Turkish army, seized the gap in the ****** fleet, launched a rapid attack, and almost completely annihilated the Papal fleet.

In the summer of 1572, he designed the capture of the Gulf of Hamat.

In 158o he led a fleet to aid the Duke of Alva in the conquest of Portugal, in accordance with the will of King Philip II.

In 1582, he commanded a fleet to defeat the forces of Antonio, the self-proclaimed King of Portugal in the Yars, aided by the French fleet. The ships of his army were almost all built with his talents.

In 1583, at the Battle of San Miguel, he led his army to defeat another French fleet under the command of El Mar de Chateau and executed all prisoners of war. After this battle, he became commander-in-chief of the Spanish fleet.

In 1585, the Marquis of Santa Cruz suggested sending a naval expeditionary fleet to invade England. With the approval of Philip II, in March 1586 he ordered the commander-in-chief of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, Alexandre Farnese, Duke of Parma, to prepare his troops to be escorted to England by the fleet of the Marquis de Santa Cruz the following year.

After that, he carefully prepared for the expedition, but it was not possible due to lack of military funds. When the English pirate king Francis Drake learned that the Spanish navy was actively planning this expedition, he sent a fleet of 23 ships to Cádiz, Spain, in the spring of 1587. Having destroyed several port facilities, breaking his carefully prepared plan, he did everything to eliminate the losses. But after all, its original plan was postponed for a year.

The expedition was not ready, and the Marquis de Santa Cruz died on February 9, 1588.

He was an excellent admiral, well-versed in tactics and had a genius ability to make plans. In addition, he also had outstanding leadership and management skills, and was the most effective general of Philip II. He successfully led the Mediterranean naval battle to the Atlantic Sea, demonstrating his extraordinary military strategy.

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After the Battle of Gravolinne, the Armada was devastated, and the British saw this as their best chance to inflict another heavy blow on Spain, culminating in the famous Mid-World Den 6 operation: the Corunna Lisbon Expedition.

In August 1588, Elizabeth received news that the remnants of the Armada of about 5o ships had returned to Santander and San Sebastian in the Bay of Biscay, Spain. This was a wonderful opportunity, and if these ships were destroyed, there would be little hope of recovery for the Spanish maritime power, for the English fleet would easily intercept the Spanish silver ships from the Americas and the shipbuilding supplies from the Baltics, and Philip II, even if he had made a shipbuilding plan, would have been suspended by lack of supplies.

There can be no doubt that Elizabeth and her ministers recognized this. However, to complete such a large-scale expedition, in addition to a large fleet, a 6th Army was needed, and for Queen Elizabeth, who had just finished the war in the English Channel, it was impossible to organize such a team on her own. As a result, the venture took the form of a joint-stock system, with the Queen paying one-third of the expenses and the rest being raised by Sir John Norris, commander of the 6th Army, Francis Drake, commander of the navy, and his friends and supporters.

In this way, the purpose of this expedition is complicated. In the eyes of Knox and Drake, destroying the remnants of the Armada was no longer enough, but the capture of Lisbon and the ascension of Philip II's rival Antonio to the throne of Portugal. In 1587, Drake learned of the vital importance of Lisbon to Spanish maritime power, and that the capture of Lisbon would be a fatal blow to Spain.

As for the London and southern merchants among the expeditionary investors, the war had cost them many trading opportunities, and they wanted to establish trading stations in Portugal and Yar, or use them as bases for privateer cruises. In this situation, it was almost impossible for Elizabeth to cancel the plan to attack Lisbon, and all she could do was stress to Norris and Drake about the importance of destroying the remnants of the Armada repeatedly.

The instructions to Norris and Drake of 23 February 1589 had three aims: to annihilate the remnants of the Armada in the two ports of northern Spain, to occupy Lisbon and support the rebellion of Antonio in Portugal, and to occupy Yar, which would cut off the financial routes between Spain and the Americas.

Elizabeth made it clear that the expedition had only two fundamental purposes: "to destroy the ships of the Spanish king, and to occupy some of the islands of the Archipelago in order to stop the annual convoy of treasures passing through or from the West and East Indies." Before doing anything else, Norris and Drake had to "destroy the ships in Gipuzqua, Bizcay, and everywhere else, whether they belonged to the King of Spain or to his subjects...... This has been done, and they will not be able to stop you when you are adventuring in his territory; And, if your ships are intact, they may not dare (given that you have such a large army of ships and sailors of our kingdom on their shores) to attempt to attack our kingdom and our Irish lands in your absence. ”

As can be seen from the phrase "when you are on your adventures on his territory", the queen did not prohibit the attack on Lisbon, however, she clearly instructed that the precondition for it was the destruction of Spanish ships. This speaks volumes about her strategic awareness.

It can be said that for the expedition of 1589, Elizabeth's strategic awareness was very clear. However, as soon as they got to sea, the commanders left themselves on their own.

Drake and Norris decided to attack the Armada base of Lisbon, in accordance with Don Antonio's idea of restoring Portuguese independence. Not only would the capture of Lisbon be a huge bonus, but the blockade of the shipping route to the Atlantic Ocean after Portuguese independence would have stuck the throat of Lord Philip II.

With only 15oo generals and high society people who volunteered for the expedition, and about 4ooo soldiers, the Drake fleet suffered many casualties and sick soldiers in the capture of A Coruña. If the Portuguese had really learned from the last campaign in the Western Sector and responded to Antonio's call to rise up and volunteer the English army, they would have easily driven the Spanish occupation forces out of Portugal.

As a result, Drake and Norris decided to avoid the well-guarded, heavily guarded Tagus estuary in the port of Penny Sheden6, about 9o kilometers from the mouth and bordering the Atlantic Ocean.

After Roger Williams and Essex led the 6th force to occupy Penichet, Antonio and Norris immediately followed the main force to the 6th and began to advance towards Lisbon. De Leeco led the fleet south to the waters of Lisbon, encircling Cascais, less than 26 kilometers from Lisbon. As a result, the beleaguered city of Lisbon was immediately thrown into a state of chaos, and the panicked citizens fled outside the city, ignoring the supervision of Governor Abbott.

From the lessons of the 1577 expedition, Drake knew very well that the capture of Lisbon by the River Trujo would not be easy. It can be expected that when the Spaniards until Drake attacked, they would inevitably increase the number of defenders and strengthen the defense system. In fact, Lisbon had fewer than 7ooo defenders, and they were so discouraged that they would not die for the Spanish occupiers. For this reason, Abbott issued a strict order: all suspects who sympathize with and respond to Antonio will be killed.

When Spain annexed Portugal in 158o, Alva's troops were at Cascadeshden6, up the Tejo estuary, maintaining close contact with the 6th Army and capturing Lisbon with the tactics of amphibious warfare by sea 6. Today, Norrisdon's 6th Army had to brave the scorching heat to march into the depths of the 6th Inward, so sickness was endless, and communication with the fleet was very difficult.

Antonio overestimated the Portuguese people's trust in him, and thought that his call would be answered. However, his friends, especially the nobles, did not have a good opinion of him, because he was the king's concubine and was of ****** blood. Under the watchful eye of the Spanish governor, people stood by and watched the unfolding of events. For all these reasons, very few Portuguese supported and participated in the ranks of the expeditionary force, reportedly less than 2oo men.

The Spaniards avoided engaging the English 6th Army and retreated, only to begin a fierce counterattack on 25 May, when warehouses on the outskirts of Lisbon were threatened. Due to the failure of the counterattack, the Spanish army suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat into the city and hold on behind closed doors.

In order to join Drake's fleet, Norris's 6th Den Force was stationed outside Lisbon for three days. During this period, a third of the thousands of soldiers appeared wounded and sick, incapacitated. Coupled with the lack of ammunition and the lack of siege artillery, it was difficult to attack Chrysben with these forces alone. Without the increase in the number of troops, Norris would have had to pin his hopes on the revolt of the Portuguese people. In fact, the Portuguese in the city were also waiting for Norris to attack the city at that time.

The 4o cannons of the fortress of San Julián dominated the narrow estuary of the Tejo River, so that the Drake fleet was afraid to rush up the river, and he was in a dilemma, also waiting for the Portuguese to respond.

Norris gave Antonio a day of reprieve but waited until the last minute for the Portuguese to react after all. So on May 3o**** ordered the besieging forces to begin withdrawing from Lisbon and advancing towards Cascais. Because Antonio was in the army, Norris strictly forbade his subordinates to burn, kill and loot, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the soldiers. Essex was furious that he had lost the opportunity to make a name for himself and build his reputation. So he stood tall in front of the Lisbon Gate, dressed in armor and an iron helmet, with his legs spread out, and stabbed the gate with his sword, scolding to vent his anger in his chest.

As soon as Norris's army arrived, Cascaish immediately fell. Later in the operations meeting, Norris took responsibility and held Drake accountable for ignoring coordinated operations. The meeting broke up unhappily and without results.

Soon came the unexpected good news: a fleet of Hanseatic League ships, due to the Ignorant War and the arrival of the Drake fleet, was heading for Lisbon. This fleet, composed of various transports laden with all kinds of valuable munitions and provisions, escaped the surveillance of the fleets of Frobisher and Biston, and followed the route of the defeat of the First Expedition of the Armada, skirted the north of England and reached the waters near Lisbon.

As soon as the fleet parted ways with the escort fleet, it was immediately captured by the Drake fleet. This reinvigorated the once depressed morale of the expeditionary force. The large flat-bottomed boats sent by the Netherlands have basically completed their combat mission and will be repatriated. Instead of arriving on schedule, the Queen's order urging Essex to return home immediately was struck, and the new English fleet led by Robert Cruise was on standby in the waters of Cádiz.

The Drake fleet continued southward with the army that had failed in the attack on Lisbon, and after joining the Cruise fleet, due to the bad weather at that time, it was impossible to sail to the Yar Islands to search for Spanish treasure transports, so he immediately decided to let his troops board in the port of Vigo6 on the northwest coast of Spain and occupy the city for plunder.

At that time, there were less than 2ooo soldiers in the expeditionary force who could participate in the battle, and many ships were destroyed by the storm. Drake then decided to select 2o sturdy ships from them to continue the expedition, allowing Norris and his troops to return home with the rest of the ships.

The Drake fleet was blown apart by a storm on its way to the Yar Islands, and the flagship "Revenge" was also seriously flooded and could not withstand the long voyage. Robert Cruise and Thomas Fenner led several ships that were blown south to the distant islands of Madeira, where they burned and looted at the behest of St. Portoden6.

And the most important target, the treasure fleet, was nowhere to be found. Drake's flagship, the Revenge, also had a hard time returning to Plymouth. Thus, the most important result of the expeditionary force, which had the great hopes of Queen Elizabeth and the people, was only the 6o transports of the Hanseatic League and the goods they carried, which were auctioned for a total of 30,000 pounds.

A brilliant opportunity was lost. Moreover, due to the changes in the situation in Europe caused by the assassination of King Henry III of France in July 1589, it was impossible for England to organize another expedition in the near future.

Unable to inflict heavy damage on the remnants of the Spanish fleet, in less than three years, Spain once again organized a relatively stronger armada.

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