The Spanish Royal Navy, also known as Armada Española or Spanish Armada, was the naval armed force of the Spanish Empire and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. Most notably under the reign of King Ferdinand, the Spanish Armada was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation. For several centuries it played a crucial logistical role in the Spanish Empire and defended a vast trade network across the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Europe and across the Pacific Ocean between Asia and the Americas. The Spanish Armada was the most powerful maritime force in the world in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Reform under the Bourbon dynasty improved its logistical and military capacity in the 18th century, for most of which Spain possessed the worl