''Warspite'' was a great ship (later classed as a second rate) of the English

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 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 " sailors", 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 man ...

and on 21 June she led, as flagship of Raleigh's expedition, one of the four squadrons to Cádiz, 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. She took part in the failed Islands Voyage hoping to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet 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's next major battle took place during December 1601 in the Irish harbor of

Castlehaven Castlehaven () is a civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is located approximately 75 km south west of Cork City on the coast. The civil parish includes the town of Castletownshend and also contains the hamlets of Rineen and Tragumna. T ...

where an entire Spanish expedition sent to support the rebellion in Ireland was destroyed in the Battle of Castlehaven. In June 1602 she was off the coast of Spain again and began an attack on Cezimbra Bay near

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

( Portugal) which resulted at the Battle of Sesimbra Bay in the capture of a large

carrack A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...

loaded with treasure valued at a million

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s. The next event of ''Warspite''s career was less happy—during 1627 she took part in the Duke of Buckingham's ill-fated Siege of La Rochelle to support the Huguenots at La Rochelle in western France. It ended in disaster and the galleon was reduced to a

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. ''Warspite'' was relegated to harbour service in 1635 and was cut down to serve as a lighter. 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 1603–1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Warspite (1596) 16th-century ships Ships of the English navy