Battle of Gravelines

English fleet attacks the Spanish Armada at Gravelines

Eight burning ships were enough to make Spanish captains cut their anchor cables and break the crescent formation that had survived several earlier English attacks in the Channel.

8 August 1588 — or 29 July, depending on the calendar

During the preceding night, eight English fireships were sent toward the Armada's anchorage off Calais, causing Spanish captains to cut anchor cables and scatter.

On 8 August 1588 in the Gregorian calendar — 29 July under the Julian calendar then used in England — the English fleet, about 136 vessels after reinforcement, closed with the dispersed Armada off Gravelines.

A day at close range

The running battle lasted through the day. Spanish ships were heavily damaged, some were driven ashore, and at least three sank.

A Spanish captain's estimate, cited in Geoffrey Parker and Colin Martin's source notes, gives about 600 killed and 800 injured, although only a few ships sank in the action.

Driven the wrong way

Unable to regain a westward route through the Channel or make the planned junction with Parma's invasion army, the Armada was forced into the North Sea and began the return voyage around Scotland.

English pursuit continued until 12 August, when ammunition and supplies ran low.

The action did not physically destroy the Armada: many of the expedition's ship losses occurred later, during the storm-battered return around Scotland and Ireland.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 3 audit passes Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1588-08-08.

What the sources leave uncertain

The date difference is calendrical, not a scholarly dispute: Spain and modern accounts use 8 August Gregorian, while contemporary England recorded 29 July Julian.
Casualty totals are estimates. The figure of 600 dead and 800 injured comes from a Spanish captain's estimate cited in Geoffrey Parker and Colin Martin's source notes.