As we know, Spain has a history of naval prowess. From the large number of Spanish explorers who discovered parts of the new world to the notorious Spanish Armada, Spain was arguably the world's most intimidating naval power. My question, is why? What were some causes that allowed Spain to rise up to the power that they attained? My best guess is their location in relation to the Mediterranean. What are some of your thoughts?
Spain was a naval power during the period when Spain was wealthy, due to extracting riches from her American possessions. She could afford a large navy, and she needed one to defend the stream of silver which supported the large armies the Hapsburg's deployed in Europe.
Spain was never as adventurous or innovative in seamanship and naval affairs as either the Portuguese (who innovated the dominant European sea-going, heavily cannon armed warship first, and won important naval battles in the Indian Ocean) or the Dutch and English (who challenged Spain later).
Spain won very few critical or seminal naval battles (and lost several). The main critical victorious battle to which Spain contributed was the battle of Lepanto in the Mediterranean in 1571, which broke the Ottoman thrust to dominate that sea.
One of Spain's problems in naval affairs, was that she needed to maintain a two ocean navy (Mediterranean and Atlantic) which for several centuries required different technologies and ships to be effective. This was expensive.
All in all, Spain had powerful navies when she was the richest nation in Europe, but they were rarely the most effective navies, and were constantly challenged by the navies of much poorer and weaker countries that were more daring and innovative at sea.
Adding to /u/mormengil 's answer.
Spain's naval prowess evolved in nature over a rather long period in the development of naval power, and the development of the states that could afford to be a strong naval power.
Spain rose in strength (or more precisely the union of Castile & Leon, and Aragon, and Navarra) under Isabella and Ferdinand, at a time when Castile was the dominant power. In this period, Castile's major trading partners were the Nederlanders and the Italians. The discovery of the Americas and division of the world between Spain and Portugal meant that Spain had a new focus on the Atlantic, administered under the Council of Castile.
Following the reconquesta, expansion into North Africa also made sense due to growing need to import food items into Iberia, as Castile was increasingly focused on sheep-herding at the cost of agriculture. Under Charles V we saw a partnership with Genoa's galley navy in the region, where Genoa provided much of the naval assets and Spain provided the infantry to fight on the galleys and maintain garrisons (presidio) in the ports and towns they control.
In this period, the east coast (Mediterranean) of Spain, namely lands under Aragon, were in either upheaval or economic distress. So Spain's partnership with Genoa increased.
As Ottoman power in the Mediterranean grew, so did conflict with Spain and her allies. As we know, this culminated in the great Battle of Lepanto in 1571, where Spain's Philip II funded a large navy with Genoa, Venice, Papal State as partners. That victory was due to strong galley fleet that could maneuver under manpower even in the absence of favorable wind, carrying a large number of soldiers on board. The prevailing tactic was to fire once at close range as the galleys came close, then grapple, then send fearsome Spanish soldiers for boarding action.
As war with England loomed, you have keep in mind several factors:
Henry VIII Tudor was allied with Charles V of Spain, and his first wife was Catherine of Aragon, sister of Charles V. Henry had wanted to marry his first daughter Mary to Charles V, although Charles married a Portuguese bride with larger dowry. Instead, Mary was married to Philip II of Spain. This was part of Charles V's grand strategy of a northern orbit: Spain - England - Low Countries.
The period of Mary's rule of England saw Spanish naval knowledge being absorbed by English shipbuilders. Mary ordered the building of race-built galleons following Spanish design but with emphasis on gunnery. This includes more guns and better reloading mechanisms, in particular re-design of the gun carriages. So basically while the vessel was designed in Spanish style, the armament was done in English style.
Elizabeth, as we know now, was a Protestant and eventually led England away from Spain's orbit to become an outright adversary. She ordered further ships built following the design done in the era of Mary. These are the ships that led the battle against the Spanish Armada in 1588.
Speaking of which, the Spanish came into that battle first of all wanting to avoid confrontation with the English fleet. Their objective was to escort a large flotilla of transport vessels to the Low Countries where they could take the Army of Flanders across the strait to England, to conquer England. And this they nearly succeeded in doing, except for weather, English gunnery, and English persistence.
The two navies had very different goals. The Spanish would have much preferred to avoid the English navy. But they had to stay together as a fleet to protect the slow and vulnerable transports. If they had to fight, they preferred to fight on the decks, not from a distance. The English wanted to stop the invasion. They didn't want to fight a boarding action, they preferred ranged gunnery action.
So you are correct that the Mediterranean taught the Spanish how to fight as a navy, but that style of fighting failed in the battle against England due to asymmetric objectives, advances in gunnery, poor high-level strategy (most agree that the Spanish will likely have done better if they had either invaded England or Ireland straight from Spain itself, or have the Army of Flanders do their own crossing, rather than have to escort transporters literally around England first), weather, tactics, etc.
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