: The book details the English Armada of 1589 , a massive retaliatory fleet led by Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norris that suffered losses in men and ships exceeding those of the Spanish Armada.

: It is the first major account to provide a day-by-day reconstruction of military operations by contrasting biased English accounts with Spanish and Portuguese primary documents .

: Gorrochategui examines how the expedition failed in all three of its primary objectives: Destroying the remaining Spanish fleet in Santander.