Naval Battle Gallery

The Spanish Armada which threatened England in July 1588

The Spanish Armada which threatened England in July 1588. The ships of the Spanish fleet are shown in combat with British vessels. The Armada, a fleet of 130 ships under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia was intended to protect an invasion force commanded by the Duke of Parma as it crossed the English Channel. Harrassment from the smaller, more manoeuvrable vessels of the British Navy, the use of fireships and unfavourable weather conditions meant that the Armada could not achieve its objective of guaranteeing Parma's barges safe passage across the Channel. Ultimately the Armada was swept up the North Sea and much of it was destroyed in storms around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Painting in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England

© Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage-Images

Fight against Seven Algerines, 1720s. Creator: Elisha Kirkall

Fight against Seven Algerines by Capt Kempthorne, 1720s. [From the collection of Thomas Brodrick]

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Plan of attack on the Borneo pirates, 1845. Creator: Unknown

Plan of attack on the Borneo pirates, 1845. Map of battle between British warships under Sir Thomas Cochrane, and the forces of Sultan Syarif Osman Alkadrie. A Enemy's Stockade; 1 A Battery of Eight Guns; 2 Eight Gingalls Mounted; 3 Sheriffe Hoosmaun's House, only the rafters remaining; 4 Malay Burying-Ground; 5 Entrance to the Stockade; B Three Gun Battery; C Floating Battery; DD Malay Village; 6 A Wooden Bridge; E Cultivated Ground; FF Jungle that had been cut down to about 2 feet high; G High, impenetrable Jungle; I A Double Boom, laid across the river, formed of two trunks of trees; one 5, and the other 3 feet in diameter; L A small Creek, which was supposed, before the action, to be a deep branch of the river. BRITISH FORCE - H Rocket Battery; K Boats of the Squadron - Twenty-five in Number - Eight Gun-Boats; Fifteen with Marines and Small-Arm-Men'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images