HMS Revenge fought a large Spanish fleet near Flores in the Azores in September 1591. Commanded by Richard Grenville, the ship resisted for many hours before surrendering after sustaining heavy casualties and damage. Revenge later sank in a storm while being taken towards Spain.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson transformed the battle into the famous narrative poem The Revenge: A Ballad of the Fleet. His vigorous rhythms and heroic portrayal made Grenville's doomed resistance one of the best-known naval episodes in Victorian poetry.