In the sixteenth century naval warfare was fought differently depending on where you were.
In the Mediterranean Sea warfare hadn’t changed much since the days of the Romans. Traditionally battles were fought between fleets of galleys and were in effect land battles fought on ships. Admittedly these galleys now had large gunpowder armed cannon on them but other than that it hadnt changed much in 1500 years.
However, as the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and English, went off exploring the world ships by their very nature their ships had to be much hardier.
The introduction firstly of the hulk or merchant ship followed by the armed merchant ship which lead to the full blown warship and all it’s variations was necessary to cope with the much harder oceanic conditions. Nobody was ever going to attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a galley.
With the introduction of the Racebuilt galleon (initially by the English) the first really effective warships began to be built.
These rules are designed to enable wargames to be played between naval forces from the late 16th century. They cover both the mostly galley warfare form the Mediterranean to the battles between ocean going galleons in the Atlantic Ocean.
As well as scenarios for the Battle of Lepanto and the Spanish Armada there are scenarios for the "Last Fight of the Revenge" and Drakes "Singing the King of Spain’s Beard" which are relatively small size battles. There are also scenarios for galley warfare between the Christian and Ottoman empires.
Finally if you are into fantasy wwargaming there is even a section to enable you to fight with a pirate ghost ship.