Gravelines as the Armada's last chance to reform

The Armada campaign stretched roughly 350 miles by 150 miles and unfolded over several days, making command and control unusually difficult. Gravelines turned that vast operation into an immediate crisis. The fireships had scattered the Armada, yet Medina Sidonia still managed to gather a core around which the fleet might reform. That recovery supports the assessment that he was a capable administrator and natural chief of staff, even though he was not an instinctive fleet commander. English ships had also learned they could close to about 100 yards against Spanish gun crews hampered by limited sea training and slow land-style carriages, making the attempt to restore order increasingly dangerous.