often in history as the best natural port in Europe. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire the whole Iberian Peninsula, including Ferrol, was raided by the Vandals and incorporated in 411 to the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia; their kingdom was incorporated in 584 by Leovigild to the Visigothic Kingdom. After the collapse of the "Suebic-Visigothic state" these Christian parts of Iberia saw very little change, in comparison with other parts of the Iberian peninsula, becoming part of the Kingdom of Asturias as early as 750AD. A period marked at the beginning with the massive shock and shake, and destruction of one state, followed by the humble-at-first but firm-and-quick rebirth of the "Christian Visigothic State" in the mountains and green pastures of the Atlantic North of the Iberian Peninsula. Over time, Asturias would split into further Christian kingdoms making these parts to change hands from one monarch to the next: first Galicia, then Leon and finally Castile. Ferrol served as a strategic safe port during the Hundred Years' War, sided the House of Trastamara during the Castilian Civil War and as a personal reward to Fernan Perez de Andrade, in 1371, Henry II gave the town to the powerful Andrade family. In 1568 a fire reduced to rubble the old medieval town; in the same period some parts of the existing fortifications at the entrance of the estuary were built. As a naval base, at that time the town was considered more important as a Royal Arsenal than as a safe harbour. With the arrival of the Bourbons in the 18th century, Ferrol became a leading naval centre. Ferrol was made Capital of the Maritime Department of the North, formed under Ferdinand VI and Charles III for the defence of the Spanish Colonial Empire in America. Rapid improvements followed, notably under the leadership of the Marquis of Ensenada, and the position of Ferrol was made almost unassailable from the sea, the difficulties of disembarking troops on its precipitous coast being strengthened by a renewed line of fortresses and newly built castles, including that of San Carlos. The Royal Dockyards of A Graña and Ferrol (Reales Astilleros de Esteiro), built between 1726–1783, produced ships protected with copper sheets from the rolling mills of Xubia. In 1772, The Spanish Royal Academy of Naval Engineers of Ferrol, the first such academy in Spain, was created. For the most laborious works of the