Storms, not cannons, destroyed Spain's 'Invincible Armada'

In 1588 Spain sent 130 ships to invade England, but an English fireship attack broke its formation at Gravelines. The retreat around Scotland and Ireland into Atlantic storms did far more damage than English guns, wrecking roughly a third of the fleet and killing thousands of sailors before it limped home.

— Garrett Mattingly, The Armada — Houghton Mifflin, 1959; awarded a special Pulitzer Prize, 1960
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