Battle of the Bay of Biscay (1592) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) | |||||||
Photography of the Bay of Biscay by Tom Bayly. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
England | Spain | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | Pedro de Zubiaur | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
6 warships
[2] 40 merchant ships [3] | 5 flyboats [2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Flagship boarded and burned
[2]
[3] Several ships damaged 3 ships captured [3] [4] | 1 flyboat damaged [4] |
The Battle of the Bay of Biscay of 1592 was a naval engagement that took place in waters of the
Bay of Biscay, in November 1592, between a Spanish naval force of 5
flyboats commanded by Captain Don
Pedro de Zubiaur and an English convoy of 40 ships, supported by a 6-warship squadron, as part of the
Brittany Campaign during the
Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the
French Wars of Religion.
[1]
[2] The Spanish force led by Captain Zubiaur, despite being outnumbered, engaged the English ships, achieving a resounding success.
[3] The English
flagship was boarded and burned, causing great confusion among the English convoy.
[3]
[4] Shortly after, another English force composed of six warships (sent by Queen
Elizabeth I of England to
Bordeaux to support the French
Protestants), arrived at the battle, and tried to defend the convoy.
[2] After long and intense fighting, the Spaniards were victorious in battle, and three more English ships were captured, besides several ships seriously damaged.
[2]
[3]
[4]
The next year, on 18 April, in the same waters, another English naval force, commanded by Admiral Wilkenson, was defeated by Zubiaur's naval forces off the coasts of Blaye, a town besieged by land and sea by Protestant forces in the context of the French Wars of Religion. [5] [6]