Drake and Norris Attack Lisbon

April 1, 1589

An English counter-armada under Drake and John Norris tried to liberate Lisbon from Spanish control and return a Portuguese pretender to the throne. The expedition, poorly planned and worse supplied, ended in disaster, with thousands of Englishmen dying of disease and fever. Drake fell from favor with the queen. The failed counter-armada, costing eleven thousand men, demonstrated that offensive amphibious operations were far harder than the defensive victory of 1588.