It is clear that Spanish mistakes were the main reason for the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. If they had managed to land their forces on the south coast there would have been little to stop them taking London and deposing Elizabeth. Fortunately for her, the plan for the Armada was so badly conceived and executed that its failure was inevitable.
Philip II appointed a commander with no naval experience (the Duke of Medina Sidonia) to captain his fleet and then undermined any chance of its success by ordering him to link up with an invasion force that was still in the Netherlands. How the Spanish fleet was supposed to communicate and link up with a land army under the command of the Duke of Parma in the Spanish Low Countries was never established effectively. This feature of the plan ensured the scheme would never work.
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