[MR] More on "Race-built" Galleons

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Naval Geeks (like me!):

Today in 1588 the disorganized Spanish Armada was licking their wounds from
the fireship attack by the English at Calais on 28 July and their rout at
the Battle of Gravelines on the 29th. The badly damaged Spanish ships fled
in disorder into the North Sea with the English in pursuit. Most of the
Spanish ships had cut their anchor cables in their haste to escape the fire
ship attack, a decision that was to prove as disastrous as the English
attack itself when many of them ran aground during storms off the coast of
Ireland.

A few days ago I called your attention to a Smithsonian Channel program
"Galleons and Privateers" in their "Combat Ships" series. If you missed the
program, see if you can catch it again on reruns. It was a well-produced
and interesting examination of the "race-built" galleons which the English
used to such great effect against the Spanish Armada.

If you missed the show, please allow me to comment more about "race-built
galleons" (sometimes just "race galleons". These were an evolution of the
traditional galleon, but "raced" or razed to lower the forecastle and poop.
This allowed the decks amidship (and thus the keel below) to be straighter
which made the hull more streamlined and thus both faster and more
maneuverable. As the design evolved, the larger guns were moved to lower
decks, giving the vessels greater stability and also improving the guns'
accuracy, plus allowing gun crews greater safety in battle, which meant
more shots could be fired.

The design was pioneered by Sir John Hawkins to take advantage of tactics
used by privateers that depended on stand-off attacks in which the English
ships could rake their targets with repeated broadsides and use stern and
bow guns (called "chasers") to pound an enemy into submission before
boarding. The first purpose-built ship of this type was the 1570 Foresight.
It was followed by many more of similar design, as well as semi-race
galleons rebuilt from older ships.

By contrast, the Spanish galleons were lumbering monsters, with broad, fat
hulls and huge poop and forecastles. These were built not only for combat,
but also as cargo ships to haul New World plunder back to Spain.
Consequently, they were slow, hard to maneuver, and topheavy. Spanish naval
tactics of the time had not evolved much since the middle ages. Their
intention was to fire their guns once to "soften up" a target, then close
in to grapple and board with an overwhelming force of soldiers. Against the
Armada, the English somewhat unsportingly refused to get close enough to be
boarded. They would swoop in from the rear, firing their bow guns first,
veer off presenting their port or starboard guns in a raking broadside,
then turn away from the target to deliver a final salvo with their stern
guns. When operating as a squadron, the next English ship would repeat this
tactic, and as each ship broke off they would circle around for another
pass. The tactic was devastating, which was why the Spanish Armada used a
crescent formation, allowing their ships to protect each other. Woe to any
Spanish vessel that fell behind or was on the ends of the crescent.

The most famous "race-built" galleon was the 464-ton Revenge of 1577. She
was commanded by Sir Francis Drake at the Battle of Gravelines and was the
lead ship in the English squadron. Revenge was lost off the Azores when her
captain Sir Richard Grenville took her into the face of 51 Spanish
galleons. Although Revenge inflicted terrible destruction on the Spanish
ships, the result was an inevitable defeat as the ship was dismasted and
pounded to pieces.

Your can read more about Revenge at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_ship_Revenge_(1577) .

For a bit more on "race-built" galleons see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race-built_galleon .

A deeper discussion can be found at
https://www.historynet.com/dawn-gun-ships.htm .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆