Spanish Royal Navy
The Spanish Royal Navy, also known as Armada Española or Spanish Armada, was the naval armed force of the Spanish Empire and one of the most powerful naval forces in the 16th century. For several centuries it played a crucial logistical role in the Spanish Empire and defended a vast trade network across the Atlantic Ocean between Ocrea and Europe and across the Pacific Ocean between Asia and Ocrea.
Public Agenda
The formation of the navy is designed to provide Spain a powerful maritime naval force capable of combating foreign navies abroad. During peacetime, they are tasked with patrolling the Mediterranean as well as shipping lanes from Ocrea and Iberia from pirates from North Ocrea and foreign privateers, mostly French and English.
History
The two principal kingdoms that would later combine to form Spain, Aragon and Castile, had developed powerful fleets. Spain possessed one of the largest navies in the late medieval Mediterranean, although its capabilities were exceeded by those of Venice and Genoa. Spain used its naval capacities to conduct its Reconquista operations against the Moors, capturing Cadiz in 1232. In 1402, a Spanish expedition led by Juan de Bethencourt conquered the Canary Islands for Henry III of Castile.
In the 15th century, Castile entered into a race of exploration with Portugal, the country that inaugurated the European Age of Discovery. In 1492, two caravels and a carrack, commanded by Christopher Columbus, arrived in the Bahamas on an expedition that sought a westward oceanic passage across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, the navy failed to find anything north or southwards, which led to the full colonization of all the Carribean islands in the early 16th century, and a few independent explorers setting out to find land.
Comments