I will admit, we Athenians have not launched a fleet of full 130 triremes since the fall of our Empire. I have myself commanded only fleets much smaller than that, constrained as we are by our financial situation. But the fact is that even in the days of Perikles and Alkibiades of the Alkmeonidai, such fleets rarely conquered large places, satisfying themselves mostly with raiding and attacking smaller settlements. After all, even 130 triremes will carry only about 1300 hoplites and 500 archers, unless they are accompanied by troop carriers and horse transports. How large is this place you call England?

130 ships! Where would the Spanish get 130 ships from? They didn't have 130 ships before the Yanks handed them their asses in 1898, and they've barely rebuilt since then. Even the ships they do have are no match for the Dover Patrol, let alone the Grand Fleet. They've only got one modern battleship, and practically no modern cruisers. Any Spanish admiral trying such a thing would be the acme of an ass!!

Please, Don Medina Sidonia. You couldn't take on a single-island nation with 130 ships??? I took possession of an entire continent with merely 3 vessels. And I didn't even bring a map!

When you realize your incompetence and need a maestro to teach you the true ways of conquest, have your people call my people.

Medina Sidonia, this is your King and Emperor speaking.

Let us be really clear here. The English under Mary Tudor basically copied my Spanish ship designs. They originally wanted her to be married to me, but the English couldn't pay me enough dowry! So I had her marry my son instead.

Why is it that every damn good thing I did is either wasted or misused by allies-turned-heretics. Damn that Elizabeth.

Yes the Spanish shall win, for God the king of Heaven blesses them and sends them to chase the English out of FranceEngland. Don't forget that your king Charles V is the rightful ruler of England.

But beware of fires. Fires are dangerous.

Excerpt from 6 hour speech

They would fight you to the last and win. Indeed, our own Revolutionary soldiers would be sent to assist them in an act of internationalist solidarity. As Antonio Maceo once said, “Whoever attempts to appropriate Cuba will reap only the dust of its soil drenched in blood, if he does not perish in the struggle”. So it shall be for our English comrades who fight against the backwards empire of Spain!

Don Alonso, My Duke, fear thee not, for the King has put you in charge on good counsel. I wrote a song, dedicated to our wondrous Armada, for this special occasion.

Song: if slow you go, there I send you,

in whole heaven I do trust

that you shall change for happy news,

the name of song and prophecy.

The barbarous language of the English has, of course, butchered my verse. Nevertheless, go forth, and kill the impious, the heretics, the protestants. Santiago!

Spain? You mean the crowns of Aragon or Castile? We should hope no true Christian monarch should launch such a cowardly assault while Our royal attention is focused on consolidating Our most righteous rule in France. Should the Castilians or Aragonese dare to set foot in England as foes, it would be but the work of a day to defeat their troops and send them back to their homeland. We led a force straight to the heart of France and overthrew their greatest captains in a single battle. We would be amused to see any of the monarchs of that peninsula, who have so far proven themselves incapable of fully expelling the Moors from Christian lands, attempt to challenge a royal English army in battle. Our illustrious grandfather, John of Lancaster, and his royal brother Edward Prince of Wales, utterly annihilated the Castilians when they made a foolish alliance with the French. It would aggrieve Us mightily to be forced to spill so much Christian blood again.

Your good friends at the Dutch weathergazing society foretell favourable winds for your return voyage, my lord!

Even if you land with 130 ships the enemy will pretend you came with 3000. Still, that doesn't seem like enough ships. Perhaps you should secure a nice base of operations closer to England. The winds can be treacherous. If you are short of men there are plenty of fine mercenaries that would be happy to assist you for a bit of coin. Keep in mind the English will need repeated demonstrations that they are conquered before settling down.