Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz

Álvaro de Bazán, first Marquis of Santa Cruz (1526–1588), was Spain's foremost sixteenth-century admiral. Born at Granada, he fought the Ottomans in the Mediterranean, helped relieve Malta in 1565 and at Lepanto in 1571 led the Christian reserve and restored the line when it was broken.

He crushed the French-backed fleet at Ponta Delgada in 1582, securing the Azores for Philip II, and in 1583 first proposed the invasion of England by sea. Appointed to command the Spanish Armada, he died at Lisbon in 1588 before it sailed, unbeaten in battle.