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amdsa | 22:39 Tue 14th Dec 2004 | History
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how high were casualities (men and vessels) during the sea battles between english naval forces and spanish armada in 1588? How and why ( due to which causes?)did those casualities take place?
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The Spanish Armada battle at Gravelines itself was definitely not a titanic naval clash, but a short, inconclusive, rather anticlimactic encounter between two large fleets, both of which committed major blunders and neither of which damaged each other significantly.  It�s true that the Armada caused little damage to the English ships, but then, nor did the English cause much harm at all to the Spanish fleet.  It was an unusually ferocious September Atlantic storm as the Spanish vessels were rounding the tip of Ireland, that damaged and/or sank most of the Spanish ships that did not return to port, either directly or in compelling the vessels to beach on the rocky Irish coast.  Most of Spain�s casualties resulted when sailors died of or were incapacitated from disease and exposure, not from battle wounds.  In any case, most of the Spanish ships did manage to return to port in Spain or Portugal - only 65 out of 150 (and a quarter of the original 30,500 sailors).  Many of the lost ships had already been in a state of disrepair, while Philip II�s crucial Atlantic class vessels�the most seaworthy in the Spanish Armada �returned to the Iberian Peninsula largely intact.  In fact, excellent seamanship was displayed by both the English and Spanish sides in their encounter, and it is quite remarkable that the Spaniards did not suffer greater losses considering the unremittingly powerful storm they had encountered.

 

The rapid mobilization of resources upon the return of the Armada ships to harbor in Spain demonstrates that the Spaniards had been very much prepared for the Armada�s potential failure.  Populations in coastal towns were rapidly drafted and quickly responded to aid the often injured and seasick sailors; food supplies, hospital beds and equipment, and physicians were immediately and efficiently mustered for the Spanish Armada�s crews, saving hundreds of lives.

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The English themselves suffered thousands of casualties among their sailors in the Spanish Armada engagement due to exposure and outbreaks of infectious disease, and the battle's aftermath was characterized not by celebration but by finger-pointing, infighting, and bitter protestations when many sailors were not compensated for months.

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