ARMA´DA, the Spanish name for any large naval force; usually applied to the Spanish fleet vaingloriously designated the _Invincible Armada_, intended to act against England A.D. 1588. It was under the command of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, and consisted of 130 great war vessels, larger and stronger than any belonging to the English fleet, with 30 smaller ships of war, and carried 19,295 marines, 8460 sailors, 2088 slaves, and 2630 cannon. It had scarcely quitted Lisbon on 29th May, 1588, when it was scattered by a storm, and had to be refitted in Corunna. It was to co-operate with a land force collected in Flanders under the Prince of Parma, and to unite with this it proceeded through the English Channel towards Calais. In its progress it was attacked by the English fleet under Lord Howard, who, with his lieutenants, Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, endeavoured by dexterous seamanship and the discharge of well-directed volleys of shot to destroy or capture the vessels of the enemy. The great lumbering Spanish vessels suffered severely from their smaller opponents, which most of their shot missed. Arrived at length off Dunkirk, the armada was becalmed, thrown into confusion by fire-ships, and many of the Spanish vessels destroyed or taken. The Duke of Medina-Sidonia, owing to the severe losses, at last resolved to abandon the enterprise, and conceived the idea of reconveying his fleet to Spain by a voyage round the north of Great Britain; but storm after storm assailed his ships, scattering them in all directions, and sinking many. Some went down on the cliffs of Norway, others in the open sea, others on the Scottish coast, others on the coast of Ireland. In all, seventy-two large vessels and over 10,000 men were lost.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. A. Froude, _Spanish Story of the Armada_; Sir J. K. Laughton, _State Papers relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada_; J. R. Hale, _Story of the Great Armada_.
ARMADALE, a town of Scotland, Linlithgowshire, in coal and iron district. Pop. 4739.
[Illustration: Armadillos--Left, Hairy Armadillo. Right, Kappler's Armadillo]
ARMADI´LLO (genus Das[)y]pus), an edentate mammal peculiar to South America, consisting of various species, belonging to a family intermediate between the sloths and ant-eaters. They are covered with a hard bony shell, divided into belts, composed of small separate plates like a coat of mail, flexible everywhere except on the forehead, shoulders, and haunches, where it is not movable. The belts are connected by a membrane which enables the animal to roll itself up like a hedgehog. These animals burrow in the earth, where they lie during the daytime, seldom going abroad except at night. They are of different sizes: the largest, _Dasypus gigas_, being 3 feet in length without the tail, and the smallest only 10 inches. They subsist chiefly on fruits and roots, sometimes on insects and flesh. They are inoffensive, and their flesh is esteemed good food.--There is a genus of isopodous Crustacea called Armadillo, consisting of animals allied to the wood-lice, capable of rolling themselves into a ball.