<P> In the Spanish Netherlands, 30,000 soldiers awaited the arrival of the Armada, the plan being to use the cover of the warships to convey the army on barges to a place near London . All told, 55,000 men were to have been mustered, a huge army for that time . On the day the Armada set sail, Elizabeth's ambassador in the Netherlands, Valentine Dale, met Parma's representatives in peace negotiations . The English made a vain effort to intercept the Armada in the Bay of Biscay . On 6 July negotiations were abandoned, and the English fleet stood prepared, if ill - supplied, at Plymouth, awaiting news of Spanish movements . The English fleet outnumbered the Spanish, 200 ships to 130, while the Spanish fleet outgunned the English--its available firepower was 50% more than that of the English . The English fleet consisted of the 34 ships of the Royal Fleet (21 of which were galleons of 200 to 400 tons) and 163 other ships (30 of which were of 200 to 400 tons and carried up to 42 guns each), 12 of these were privateers owned by Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake . </P> <P> The Armada was delayed by bad weather . Storms in the Bay of Biscay forced four galleys and one galleon to turn back, and other ships had to put in for repairs, so only about 123 or 124 ships actually made it to the English Channel . Nearly half the fleet were not built as warships and were used for duties such as scouting and dispatch work, or for carrying supplies, animals, and troops . </P> <P> The fleet was not sighted in England until 19 July, when it appeared off The Lizard in Cornwall . The news was conveyed to London by a system of beacons that had been constructed all the way along the south coast . On that evening, the English fleet was trapped in Plymouth Harbour by the incoming tide . The Spanish convened a council of war, where it was proposed to ride into the harbour on the tide and incapacitate the defending ships at anchor and from there to attack England; but Medina Sidonia declined to act because this had been explicitly forbidden by Philip, and decided to sail on to the east and towards the Isle of Wight . As the tide turned, 55 English ships set out to confront them from Plymouth under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham, with Sir Francis Drake as Vice Admiral . Howard ceded some control to Drake, given his experience in battle . The rear admiral was Sir John Hawkins . </P> <P> On 20 July, the English fleet was off Eddystone Rocks, with the Armada upwind to the west . That night, in order to execute their attack, the English tacked upwind of the Armada, thus gaining the weather gage, a significant advantage . At daybreak on 21 July the English fleet engaged the Armada off Plymouth near the Eddystone rocks . The Armada was in a crescent - shaped defensive formation, convex towards the east . The galleons and great ships were concentrated in the centre and at the tips of the crescent's horns, giving cover to the transports and supply ships in between . Opposing them the English were in two sections, Drake to the north in Revenge with 11 ships, and Howard to the south in Ark Royal with the bulk of the fleet . </P>

Who commanded the english against the spanish armada