Álvaro de Bazán, Admiral of Spain

[Anatol]

Álvaro de Bazán - Spanish admiral , 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz.
Alvaro de Basan was born in Granada , where his ancestors moved from the Bastan Valley in Navarre, from which the Basan family took its name. His grandfather, also Alvaro de Basan, took part in the liberation of Granada from the Moors in 1492. His father, also named Alvaro, was in the service of Charles V and was commander of the Royal Spanish Navy in the Mediterranean .
The future admiral followed in his father's footsteps, rising high in the ranks at a young age. Basan was a member of the Order of Santiago . He married his cousin, sister of the 1st Duke of Peñaranda of the Zúñiga family .
In 1564, commanding a fleet of galleys, he took part in the capture of the island of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and the blockade of the pirate port of Tetuan .
In 1568, Philip II appointed Basan to command a fleet of galleys based in Naples . In this position, he participated in the war with the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Holy League . In the famous Battle of Lepanto (October 7, 1571), in which the Ottoman fleet was severely defeated, Basan commanded the reserve squadron.
The following year he assisted Juan of Austria in the capture of Tunisia .
During the War of the Portuguese Succession (1580-1583), the Marquis of Santa Cruz defeated the squadron of the pretender Antonio and his French and English allies near the Azores , and then captured the islands themselves, thereby bringing victory to the Spanish crown in the war.
Basan considered England the most dangerous enemy of Spain and advocated war with it. In August 1583, he sent a letter to King Philip in which he proposed for the first time the creation of an Invincible Armada with the goal of conquering England. The Marquis of Santa Cruz was supposed to command this mighty fleet, but at the stage of preparation for the campaign his plans began to diverge from the intentions of the king.
In 1587, Francis Drake burned the Spanish fleet in the harbor of Cadiz , and although Basan was in Lisbon at the time , he was blamed for the disaster. He died in Lisbon on February 9, 1588. The invincible armada was led in his place by the Duke of Medina Sidonia .

PMR 2019[P].
Source: Wikipedia -org.translate.goog/wiki/Де_Басан,_Альваро.