Armies and navies have often remodelled their tactics or their organization in imitation of some admired antagonist, but not often in the face of the enemy and within sight of the crisis of a decisive campaign. The new organization does seem to have worked better than the old one. Its adoption was a credit to the intelligence of the English Council of War, and a tribute to the efficiency of their adversaries.

Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish A…, loc. 691