The orders, it will be seen, are a distinct advance on those of 1530, and betray strongly the influence of Spanish ideas as formulated, by De Chaves.  So striking indeed is the resemblance in many points; that we perhaps may trace it to Henry’s recent alliance with Charles V. The main difference was that Henry’s ‘wings’ were composed of oared craft, and to form them of sufficient strength he had had some of the newest and smartest ‘galliasses,’ or ’galleys’—­that is, his vessels specially built for men-of-war—­fitted with oars.  The reason for this was that the French fleet was a mixed one, the sailing division having been reinforced by a squadron of galleys from the Mediterranean.  The elaborate attempts to combine the two types tactically—­a problem which the Italian admirals had hitherto found insoluble—­points to an advanced study of the naval art that is entirely characteristic of Henry VIII.

The main idea of the first order is of a vanguard in three ranks, formed of the most powerful hired merchant ships and the king’s own galleons and great ships, and supported by a strong rearguard of smaller armed merchantmen, and by two oared wings on either flank composed of royal and private vessels combined.  The vanguard was to be marshalled with its three ranks so adjusted that its general form was that of a blunt wedge.  In the first rank come eight of the large merchantmen, mainly Hanseatic vessels; in the second, ten of the royal navy and one private vessel; in the third, nineteen second-rate merchantmen.  The tactical aim is clearly that the heavy Hanseatic ships should, as De Chaves says, receive the first shock and break up the enemy’s formation for the royal ships, while the third rank are in position to support.  The wings, which were specially told off to keep the galleys in check, correspond to the reserve of De Chaves, and the importance attached to them is seen in the fact that they contained all the king’s galleons of the latest type.

In the second set of instructions, issued on August 10, this order was considerably modified.  The fleet had been increased by the arrival of some of the west-country ships, and a new order of battle was drawn up which is printed in the State Papers, Henry VIII (Old Series), i. 810.  The formation, though still retaining the blunt wedge design, was simplified.  We have now a vanguard of 24 ships, a ‘battaill’ or main body of 40 ships, and one ‘wing’ of 40 oared ’galliasses, shallops and boats of war.’  The ‘wing’ however, was still capable of acting in two divisions, for, unlike the vanguard and ‘battaill,’ it had a vice-admiral as well as an admiral.

LORD LISLE, No. 1, 1545.

[+Le Fleming MSS.  No. 2+.][1]

The Order of Battle.[2]

THE VANGUARD.

These be the ships appointed for the first rank of the vanguard: 

In primis: 

The Great Argosy. 
The Samson Lubeck. 
The Johannes Lubeck. 
The Trinity of Dantzig. 
The Mary of Hamburg. 
The Pellican. 
The Morion [of Dantzig]. 
The ‘Sepiar’ of Dantzig.
        = 8.