''Warspite'' was a

great ship The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assi ...

(later classed as a

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

) of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Tudor navy The Tudor navy was the navy of the Kingdom of England under the ruling Tudor dynasty (1485–1603). The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the future Ro ...

.The 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the eighteenth century, but is sometimes applied as an anachronism. The vessel was built at

Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events ...

by the master shipwright Edward Stevens and launched about 1 March 1596. She carried a crew of 300 when at sea, of whom 190 were classed as " mariners", manning the guns and fighting the ship; 80 as "

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s", working the sails and ancestors of present-day seamen and 30 "gunners", the armament specialists. Following her launching, she was commissioned under Captain Sir

Arthur Gorges Sir Arthur Gorges (c. 1569 – 10 October 1625), was an English sea captain, poet, translator and courtier from Somerset. Origins He was the son of Sir William Gorges (d.1584) of Charlton, in the parish of Wraxall in Somerset, lord of the manor ...

and on 21 June she led, as flagship of

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

's expedition, one of the four squadrons to

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, and in the same year fought in the Battle of Cádiz. In 1597 and three years later ''Warspite'' took part in expeditions which brought the indispensable loot of the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. She took part in the failed

Islands Voyage The Islands Voyage, also known as the Essex-Raleigh Expedition, was an ambitious, but unsuccessful naval campaign sent by Queen Elizabeth I of England, and supported by the United Provinces, against Spain during the Anglo–Spanish War (1585 ...

hoping to intercept the

Spanish treasure fleet The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...

in which Walter Raleigh sailed as Vice Admiral and commanded by Gorges. On its return to England it faced the Spanish Armada of 1597 which failed due to storms and the safe passage of the English fleet. ''Warpsite'', leaking from the same storm, captured two Spanish ships from the Armada off St Ives. The information given by the prisoners was vital on learning the Armada's objectives. Sesimbra

The

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

's next major battle took place during December 1601 in the Irish harbor of Castlehaven where an entire Spanish expedition sent to support the rebellion in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

was destroyed in the Battle of Castlehaven. In June 1602 she was off the coast of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

again and began an attack on Cezimbra Bay near Lisbon (

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

) which resulted at the

Battle of Sesimbra Bay The Battle of Sesimbra Bay was a naval engagement that took place on 3 June 1602, during the Anglo-Spanish War. It was fought off the coast of Portugal (then within the Iberian Union) between an English naval expeditionary force sent out with ...

in the capture of a large carrack loaded with treasure valued at a million ducats. The next event of ''Warspite''s career was less happy—during 1627 she took part in the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham. ...

's ill-fated

Siege of La Rochelle The siege of La Rochelle (, or sometimes ) was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–28. The siege marked the height of the struggle between the Catholics and the Pr ...

to support the

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s at

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

in western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It ended in disaster and the galleon was reduced to a hulk. ''Warspite'' was relegated to harbour service in 1635 and was cut down to serve as a

lighter A lighter is a portable device which creates a flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of items, such as cigarettes, gas lighter, fireworks, candles or campfires. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid or ...

. She was sold out of the navy in 1649.

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

General and cited references

* Lavery, Brian (2003). ''The Ship of the Line''. Volume 1: ''The Development of the Battlefleet 1650–1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . * Winfield, Rif (2009). ''

British Warships in the Age of Sail ''British Warships in the Age of Sail'' is a series of four books by maritime historian Rif Winfield comprising a historical reference work providing details of all recorded ships that served or were intended to serve in the (British) Royal Navy ...

1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Warspite (1596) 16th-century ships Ships of the English navy