A Spanish fleet of 130 ships sailed from La Coruna in August of 1588 and was called the Spanish Armada.  Its sole purpose was to escort an army fro Flanders to invade England and overthrow Queen Elizabeth I with the intent of stopping English interference in the Spanish Netherlands as well as English and Dutch privateering.  As the result of unfortunate choices and bad weather, over a third of the ships failed to make it back to home port.  You may read more about this below:

Drake’s Great Armada may be read here:

http://www.bartleby.com/33/51.html

A documentary on the sinking of the Spanish Armada can be viewed here: