Battle of Bayona Islands (1590)

Battle of Bayona Islands (1590)
Part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
Photography of the Cies Islands by Alberto Pérez.
Date Early 1590 Location Off Bayona Islands, Atlantic Ocean Result Spanish victory[1][2]
Belligerents
United Provinces  England	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Pedro de Zubiaur
Strength
14 ships[2]	3 flyboats[2]
Casualties and losses
14 ships captured (7 ships boarded)[3][4] (Flagship boarded and captured)[2]	Unknown

The Battle of Bayona Islands, also known as the Battle of Bayona Bay, was a naval engagement that took place in early 1590, off Bayona Islands (present-day Cíes Islands), near Bayona (or Baiona) and Vigo, Spain, between a small Spanish naval force commanded by Captain Don Pedro de Zubiaur, and an Anglo-Dutch flotilla of 14 ships, during the Eighty Years' War, and in the context of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the French Wars of Religion.^[2][4] After several hours of hard combat, the Spanish naval force composed of three flyboats achieved a great success, and the Anglo-Dutch fleet was totally defeated.^[4] The flagship of the Dutch was boarded and captured, including another six ships more.^[4] Finally, the rest of the Dutch fleet was forced to surrender.^[2][5] Shortly after, Pedro de Zubiaur arriving at Ferrol, along with the captured ships, with great surprise for the Spanish authorities of the port.^[2][4]

• Cies Islands
• English Armada
• Battle of the Strait of Gibraltar (1590)
• Siege of Rheinberg (1586–1590)
• French Wars of Religion
• Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)

• Arsenal, León./Prado, Fernando. Rincones De Historia Española. Editorial EDAF S.L. Madrid 2008. ISBN 978-84-414-2050-2 (in Spanish)
• Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1898). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. Vol. III. Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval. Madrid. (in Spanish)
• Extractos de las juntas celebradas por la Real Sociedad Bascongada de los amigos del país, en la villa de Bilbao por julio de 1790. Vitoria. 1790. (in Spanish)
• Gracia Rivas, Manuel. En el IV Centenario del fallecimiento de Pedro Zubiaur, un marino vasco del siglo XVI^{[permanent dead link]}. Itsas Memoria. Untzi Museo Naval. San Sebastián 2006. (in Spanish)
• Rodríguez González, Agustín Ramón (2006). Victorias por Mar de los Españoles. Biblioteca de Historia. Grafite Ediciones. Madrid. ISBN 84-96281-38-8 (in Spanish)

• Biografía de Don Pedro de Zubiaur (in Spanish)