1560 - French troops at Leith are blockaded by ships under Sir William Winter, and besieged by an Anglo-Scottish army. French agree to withdraw under Treaty of Edinburgh. Franco-Scottish union collapses on death of Francis II of France.
1562 - Huguenots give Le Havre to England. John Hawkins sets off on the first of his slave trading voyages to Africa and the Spanish Main.
1563 - English garrison surrenders Le Havre. Skirmish between French and English off La Rochelle.
1568 - John Hawkins is attacked at San Juan de Ulua. Huguenot squadron arrives at Plymouth and takes refuge there. Spanish vessels carrying money for the Flanders army under Alba are driven into, and seized in English ports.
1569 - Revolt of the Northern Earls. Hartlepool blockaded by three ships under Capt. John Henshaw.
1570 - A Russia Company convoy, under William Borough defeats a Polish squadron.
1572 - Drake attacks Nombre de Dios. St Bartholomew's day massacre disposes of Huguenot leaders.
1573 - Drake captures mule train of silver near Panama.
1576 - Martin Frobisher sets off in search of a "North West Passage" to the Orient.
1577 - Drake sets sail for Pacific, on the pretext of a voyage to Alexandria.
1579 - Drake captures Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
1580 - Phillip II of Spain occupies Portugal on death of King Henry. Drake returns in the re-named Golden Hind, having circumnavigated the globe.
1582 - Fenton fights Spanish ships off the coast of Brazil
1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert sails to on an ill fated expedition to establish the first English colony, in Newfoundland.
1585 - Treaty of Nonsuch, by which England offered aid to the Dutch rebels against the Spanish. Richard Grenvile sails to set up a colony at Roanoke Island, Virginia
1586 - Drake takes Santa Domingo and Cartagena. Calling at Roanoke on his way home Drake finds the colonists disheartened and desperate to return home. The colony is abandoned. Cavendish sets out to emulate Drake's circumnavigation, capturing the Santa Ana, and being the first Englishman to land on St. Helena
1587 - Drake "singes the King of Spain's beard" by attacking Cadiz, and captures the Portuguese Sao Phelipe off the Azores. Ostend, garrisoned by the English, is captured by the Spanish. Cavendish captures the Santa Ana off Baja California. A second expedition sails to colonize Roanoke.
1588 - The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, meets the English fleet at Plymouth, fights a running battle up the Channel, and is defeated and scattered in the Battle of Gravelines, near the Dutch coast.
1589 - Drake and Norris land at Corunna. English troops land at Peniche, planning to march on Lisbon.
1590 - Ships of the Levant Company defeat Spanish galleys in the Straits of Gibraltar. John White sets out for Roanoke, but finds no survivors.
1591 - The Revenge is taken off Flores, Azores. Richard Grenvile dies. Cavendish sets out on a disastrous expedition to the far east.
1592 - The Madre de Dios, a Portuguese carrack, and to that date the largest ship ever captured by an English privateer, is taken and brought home to Dartmouth.
1593 - English ships in the Gironde are defeated by a Spanish squadron.
1594 - English ships and troops capture the Spanish fort of Roscanvel. English privateers under the Earl of Cumberland capture and sink the Portuguese carrack Las Cinque Chagas.
1595 - Spanish galleys burn Penzance. Drake and Hawkins set sail for the Caribbean. Hawkins dies.
1596 - Drake dies off Porto Bello. A combined English and Dutch fleet attacks and captures Cadiz
1597 - Spanish invasion fleet is scattered in the entrance to the Channel
1598 - Earl of Cumberland captures San Juan, Puerto Rico
1599 - Spanish galleys under Spinola pass the Straits of Dover
1601 - Royal Charter granted to the East India Company.
1602 - William Parker captures Porto Bello.
1603 - Elizabeth I dies and is succeded by James VI of Scotland (James I).
1604 - Peace between England and Spain.
1614 - Dutch ships attack English Pirates in Crookhaven. The Spanish capture Mamora and evict the English pirates.
1615 - Henry Mainwaring, an English pirate, defeats a Spanish squadron off Cadiz.
1617 - Raleigh sets sail for Guiana.
1618 - Thirty Years War begins, started by a Protestant rebellion in Bohemia.
1621 - English squadron under Mansell unsuccessfully attacks Algiers.
1624 - England declares war on Spain.
1625 - James I dies, his son Charles takes the throne. Anglo-Dutch force fails to take Cadiz
1627 - English troops mount an unsuccessful expedition on the Isle de Rhé
1628 - Duke of Buckingham, Lord High Admiral of England, is murdered in Portsmouth
1630 - Treaty of Madrid ends war with Spain
1634 - First demands for Ship Money are issued
1637 - Rainsborough mounts a successful expedition against the Sallé Rovers (pirates operating out of Sallé).
1639 - Battle of the Downs, Dutch fleet defeats a Spanish fleet within sight of the English mainland
1642 - Parliament takes control of the Navy. English Civil War breaks out. Parliament captures Portsmouth.
1643 - Parliamentary Privateer William Jackson captures Jamaica from the Spanish. Royalists take Bristol
1645 - Parliament retakes Bristol. Royalist ship Swan is captured off Dublin, marking the end of an effective Royalist squadron in the Irish Sea.
1646 - Scilly Isles taken by Parliament. French take Dunkirk, forcing the Royalist Privateers to move base to Wexford or Kinsale.
1648 - Parliamentarian fleet in the Downs mutinies and joins the Royalist rebellion in Kent. Rebel fleet sails to join the Royalist fleet in Holland. Thirty Years War ends with the Treaty of Westphalia.
1649 - Prince Rupert leads the Royalist fleet from Holland to Ireland. Charles I executed. Parliament appoints Deane, Popham and Blake as "Generals at Sea". Blake blockades Rupert in Kinsale, but is forced into Milford Haven by Gales.
1650 - Blake and Popham blockade Rupert in Lisbon. Rupert escapes to Carthagena. All but four of the Royalist fleet are wrecked trying to escape Carthagena.
1651 - Blake evicts Royalist privateers from the Scillies and Jersey. Colonels Birch and Duckenfield defeat Royalist privateers and take the Isle of Man.
1652 - England declares war on United Provinces. A Dutch fleet is scattered by gales in the North Sea. Blake captures six French ships off Le Havre. Blake, Penn and Bourne inflict a major defeat on the Dutch at the battle of the Kentish Knock. Blake is inconclusively defeated by Tromp at Dungeness. English fleet operates around Virginia and Barbados.
1653 - Blake defeats Tromp off Portland. Monck defeats Dutch at Gabbard. Tromp is killed at the Battle of Scheveningen. Rupert arrives at Brest, after an epic voyage in the Caribbean.
1654 - Penn and Venables sail for Caribbean, Blake sails for Mediterranean.
1655 - Blake attacks and fires the Tunisian fleet in the well defended harbour of Porto Farina. Venables takes Jamaica, but fails to capitalize on it and he and Penn return to England in disgrace.
1656 - Edward Blagg leads an English squadron against Rondella and defeats at least eight Spanish privateers. Stayner destroys the Spanish plate fleet and captures around £200,000.
1657 - Blake attacks and totally destroys the Spanish Plate Fleet safely moored in Santa Cruz, Teneriffe. Blake dies in Plymouth Sound, while returning home.
1658 - Stokes negotiates a treaty with the Dey of Tunis. Stokes captures the Mediterranean pirate Papachino. Dunkirk is handed over to England after an Anglo-French attack in which the navy played a major part. Cromwell dies, and is succeeded by his son Richard.
1659 - Squadron under Christopher Myngs raids the Spanish Main and takes £2-300,000 from Coro. Myngs is accused of embezzling most of the prize, but is cleared and returns to the Carribean. Stokes returns from the Mediterranean, and is replaced by Jonas Poole. Mountagu leads an uneventful expedition against the Dutch and Danes in the Baltic. The protectorate collapses and is replaced by the Rump Parliament.
1660 - Charles II is restored to the throne by invitation of Parliament.