King Philip II commandeered her on 15 December 1586 at Sicily,[1] and had her armed with 32 guns for the Spanish Armada.

In 1985, local divers found the wreckage of three vessels of the Armada that had been driven ashore in autumn 1588 at Streedagh Strand, north of the Rosses Point Peninsula on the west coast of Ireland.

The three vessels had been part of the Levant squadron, which had been under the command of Don Martin de Bertendona in La Regazona.

One particular find was a bronze cannon decorated with the image of Saint Matrona of Barcelona, which bears the initial "D" on its touchhole – the mark of the Genoese gunfounder Gioardi Dorino II.

[4] Other pieces with this mark recovered from the wreck indicate that he cast most of what became La Juliana's bronze ordnance.