When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, she continued the work of her father, King Henry VIII, in turning England away from Catholicism and towards Protestantism. Catholicism lost favor completely in England when King Philip II of Spain sent the ill-fated Spanish Armada to England in 1588 in order to use overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and, thus, end the Protestant Reformation in England and the other areas where Queen Elizabeth I had influence such as the Netherlands. Queen Elizabeth sent the English fleet to meet the Spanish and destroyed nearly half its ships. This significant defeat for Spain contributed significantly to the decline of the Spanish Empire, and by 1604 England had won the war and secured its position as a Protestant nation.