13. The former soldier became a leading naval officer during the Anglo-Spanish Wars
Raleigh was wounded during the English expedition to capture the Spanish port of Cadiz in 1596, though he recovered in time to join the English expedition to the Azores the following year, known as the Islands Voyage. The joint Anglo-Dutch expedition was a failure for the allies, and Raleigh returned to England in time to be an active leader of the English defense against the Spanish Armada, officially the Third Spanish Armada. It was this Spanish Fleet that found itself defeated by the weather in the English Channel and off the Irish Coast as much as by the actions of the English ships, though the British Navy counts its first great heroes among the men who commanded English vessels, including Drake and Raleigh.
