The Armada participates in the ‘Remembering the Armada 2024’ festival in Ireland

Between September 20^th and 22^nd, the Chief of Staff of the Armada (AJEMA), Admiral General Antonio Piñeiro Sánchez, traveled to the Irish town of Sligo to attend the events of the ‘Remembering the Armada 2024’ festival. This annual event commemorates the shipwreck of three ships of the ‘Great Armada’ on Streedagh Beach on September 21^st 1588, which resulted in the tragic loss of over 1,100 Spanish sailors and soldiers.

At the end of the commemorative event on the beach, a procession was organized headed towards the ‘Armada Monument’. There, the AJEMA and the ambassador of Spain to Ireland, Mr. Ion de la Riva Guzmán de Frutos, unveiled a monument in memory of the Armada. This memorial stone, built and designed by Sligo artist Martha Quinn to mark the 400^th anniversary of the Spanish Armada shipwrecks on Streedagh Beach and installed with the collaboration of Sligo County Council, represents a permanent monument to the memory of those killed in those days and a recognition to the Armada.

The AJEMA delivered a speech and stressed that this monolith represents a lasting tribute to the sailors and soldiers who perished in those fateful events, also underlining the strong historical link that unites Spain and Ireland. He also expressed his gratitude to the local organization ‘Spanish Armada Ireland’, whose leadership has been instrumental in preserving the memory of the Armada in Ireland.

The presence of AJEMA in Sligo was supported by the presence of the multipurpose vessel ‘Carnota’ in the port of Killybegs. Her deployment  has meant the uninterrupted visit of a Spanish Navy ship on this festival since 2016.