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The Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October 1805 , is part of the War of the Third Coalition assembled by Britain against France . It was the most significant Naval Battle of the Napoleonic Wars and the pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. A Royal Navy fleet of 27 Ships Of The Line destroyed an allied French and Spanish fleet of 33 ships of the line west of Cape Trafalgar in south-west Spain . The French and Spanish lost 22 ships; the British none. The British commander Admiral Lord Nelson died late in the battle, by which time he had ensured his place as Britain's greatest naval hero. The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established through the eighteenth century. After the battle, the Royal Navy remained unchallenged as the world's foremost naval power until the rise of Imperial Germany prior to the First World War , 100 years later. However, by the time it was fought, Napoleon had decided to abandon his plans to invade southern England and instead was successfully conducting military operations in Germany against Britain's continental allies. The 200th anniversary of the battle was marked by Trafalgar 200 celebrations in Britain . ORIGINS In 1805, the First French Empire , under Napoleon , was the dominant military power on the European continent, while the British Royal Navy controlled the seas. During the course of the war, the British imposed a Naval Blockade on France, which affected French trade and kept the French from fully mobilising their own naval resources. Despite several successful evasions of the blockade by the French navy, they were unable to inflict a major defeat on the British. The British control of the seas enabled them to attack French interests at home and abroad with relative ease. When the Third Coalition declared war on France after the short lived Peace Of Amiens , Napoleon Bonaparte was determined to invade Britain. To do so, he had to ensure that the Royal Navy would be unable to disrupt the invasion Flotilla , which would require the French Fleet to control the English Channel. The main French Fleets were at Brest in Brittany and at Toulon on the Mediterranean coast. Other ports on the French Atlantic coast contained smaller Squadrons . In addition, France and Spain were now allied, so the Spanish fleet based in Cádiz and El Ferrol was also available... The British possessed an experienced and well-trained corps of naval officers. By contrast, most of the best officers in the French navy had either been executed or dismissed from the service during the early part of the French Revolution . As a result, Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was the most competent senior officer available to command Napoleon's Mediterranean fleet. However, Villeneuve had shown a distinct lack of enthusiasm to face Nelson and the Royal Navy after his defeat at the Battle Of The Nile . Napoleon's naval plan in 1805 was for the French and Spanish fleets in the Mediterranean and Cádiz to break through the blockade and combine in the West Indies . They would then return, assist the fleet in Brest to emerge from blockade, and in combination clear the English Channel of Royal Navy ships, ensuring a safe passage for invasion barges. West Indies Early in 1805, Admiral Lord Nelson was commanding the British fleet blockading Toulon. Unlike William Cornwallis , who commanded the Channel Fleet's tight blockade of Brest, Nelson adopted a loose blockade in hopes of luring the French fleet out of port. Nelson hoped to engage and destroy the French in a major battle. However, Villeneuve's fleet successfully emerged and evaded Nelson's fleet when his forces were blown off station by storms. While Nelson was searching for them in the Mediterranean, Villeneuve passed through the Straits Of Gibraltar , rendezvoused with the Spanish fleet, and sailed as planned to the West Indies . Once Nelson realized that the French had evaded him and crossed the Atlantic Ocean , he abandoned his station in the Mediterranean to pursue them. Admirals of the time, due to the slowness of communications, had to have considerable autonomy to make Strategic as well as Tactical decisions. Nelson's task was to contain or destroy Villeneuve's fleet. Cádiz In the West Indies, the French fleet again evaded Nelson's forces. The French sailed for Europe, originally intending to break the blockade at Brest, but after two of his Spanish ships were captured during the Battle Of Cape Finisterre by a squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder , Villeneuve decided not to attempt joining the fleet in Brest, and sailed back to Ferrol. Napoleon's invasion plans for England depended entirely on his ability to rendezvous a sufficiently large number of ships-of-the-line before Boulogne , France . This would require Villeneuve's force of 32 ships to successfully join Vice-Admiral Ganteaume's force of 21 ships at Brest, along with a squadron of five ships under Captain Allemand, which would give him a combined force of 53 ships of the line. When Villeneuve set sail from Ferrol on 10 August , he was under these strict orders from Napoleon to sail northward toward Brest. Instead he grew nervous of the British observing his manoeuvres, so on 11 August he sailed southward towards Cádiz on the south-western coast of Spain. With no sign of Villeneuve's fleet, by 26 August the three French army corps invasion force near Boulogne became needed elsewhere. This force broke camp and made for Germany , where it would thereafter be fully engaged. The same month, Nelson returned home to England, after two years of duty at sea, for some well-earned rest and recuperation. He would be ashore for a total of 25 busy days, and he was warmly received by the British who were understandably nervous about the possibility of French invasion. Word reached England on 2 September about the presence of the combined French and Spanish fleet in the Cádiz harbour. Nelson had to wait until 15 September before his ship HMS ''Victory'' was ready to sail. On 15 August , Cornwallis made the fateful decision to detach 20 ships of the line from the fleet guarding the channel and to have them sail southward to engage the enemy forces in Spain. This left the channel somewhat denuded of ships, with only eleven ships of the line available. However this detached force would form the nucleus of the British fleet that would fight at Trafalgar. Initially this fleet was placed under the command of Vice-Admiral Calder. This force reached Cádiz on 15 September . Nelson joined the fleet on 29 September to take command. The British fleet kept a constant watch on the Cádiz harbour by means of Frigate s, while the main force remained out of sight 50 miles (80 km) west of the shore. Nelson's hope was to lure the combined Franco-Spanish force out and engage them in a battle of obliteration by means of a "pell-mell battle". The force watching the harbour was led by Captain Blackwood, commanding HMS ''Euryalus'' . He was brought up to a strength of seven ships on 8 October , consisting of five frigates and two schooners. Supply situation At this point Nelson's fleet badly needed provisioning. On 2 October five ships of the line, ''Queen'' , ''Canopus'' , ''Spencer'' , ''Zealous'' , ''Tigre'' , and the frigate ''Endymion'' were dispatched to Gibraltar under Rear-Admiral Louis for supplies. These ships were later diverted for convoy duty in the Mediterranean, whereas Nelson had expected them to return. British ships continued to arrive, and by 15 October the fleet was up to full strength for the battle. Although it was a significant loss of strength to the fleet, once the first-rate ''Royal Sovereign'' had arrived, Nelson allowed Calder to sail for home in his flagship, the 98-gun ''Prince Of Wales'' rather than sending him back in a smaller ship. Calder was under a cloud for his actions during the engagement off Cape Finisterre on July 22 . Meanwhile, Villeneuve's fleet in Cádiz was also suffering from a serious supply shortage that could not be readily rectified by the cash-strapped French. The blockades maintained by the British fleet had made it difficult for the allies to obtain stores and their ships were ill fitted. Villeneuve's ships were more than two thousand men short of the force they would need to sail. Shortage of men and supplies were not the only problem in the Franco-Spanish fleet. The main French ships of the line had been kept in harbour for years by the British blockades with only brief sorties. The hasty voyage across the Atlantic and back served to use up vital supplies and was no equivalent for the British fleet's years of experience at sea and training. The French crews contained few experienced sailors, and as most of the crew had to be taught the elements of seamanship on the few occasions when they got to sea, gunnery was neglected. Villeneuve's supply situation began to improve in October, but news of Nelson's arrival made Villeneuve reluctant to leave port. Indeed the captains of the fleet had held a vote on the matter and the result was a decision to stay in the harbour. On the 14th of September Napoleon gave orders that the French and Spanish ships at Cadiz should put to sea at the first favourable opportunity, join seven Spanish ships of the line then at Cartagena , go to Naples , and land the soldiers they carried to reinforce his troops then in that kingdom, and should fight a decisive action if they met a British fleet of inferior numbers. NELSON'S BATTLE PLAN During the period of Blockade off the coast of Spain in October Nelson instructed his captains as to how he meant to fight the approaching battle over the course of two dinners aboard the ''Victory'' . The governing principles of his instructions were that the order of sailing in which the fleet was when the enemy was seen was to be the order of battle; that no time was to be wasted in forming a precise line; that the attack was to be made in two bodies, of which one, to be led by the second in command, Collingwood , was to be thrown on the rear of the enemy, while the other, led by Nelson himself, was to take care that the centre and van should not come to the assistance of the ships cut off. Nelson was careful to point out that something must be left to chance. Nothing is sure in a sea fight beyond all others; and he left his captains free from all hampering rules by telling them that ‘No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy’. In short the execution was to be as circumstances should dictate, subject to the guiding rule that the enemy's rear was to be cut off and superior force concentrated on one part of the enemy's line. The plan had three principal advantages. Firstly, it would allow the British fleet to close the enemy fleet as quickly as possible, reducing the chance that the enemy fleet would be able to retreat without fighting. Secondly, it would quickly bring on a mêlée or pell-mell battle, by breaking the enemy line and inducing a series of individual ship-to-ship fights, in which the British ships were likely to prevail. Nelson knew that the better seamanship, faster gunnery and higher morale of British crews was a decisive advantage that could not be compensated for by any amount of bravery on the part of their opponents. Thirdly, it would bring a decisive concentration on the rear of the enemy fleet. The ships in the van of the enemy fleet would have to turn back to support the rear, which would take a long time. The main drawback of attacking head on was that the Franco-Spanish ships would be able to maintain a Raking Broadside fire on the bows of the leading British ships as they approached, to which the British ships would be unable to reply. Nelson's plan was a radical break from the prevailing Tactical Orthodoxy , which involved manoeuvring to approach the enemy fleet in a single Line Of Battle and then engaging in a parallel line. The intention of going straight at the enemy echoed the Tactics used by Admiral Duncan at the Battle Of Camperdown and Admiral Jervis at the Battle Of Cape St. Vincent , both in 1797. In preparation for the battle, Nelson ordered the ships of his fleet painted in a distinctive yellow and black pattern (later known as the Nelson Chequer) that would make them easy to distinguish from their opponents. BATTLE On 18 October , Villeneuve received a letter informing him that Vice-Admiral François Rosily had arrived in Madrid with orders to take command. At the same time, he received intelligence that a detachment of six British ships had docked at Gibraltar (this was Admiral Louis's squadron). Stung by the prospect of being disgraced before the fleet, Villeneuve resolved to go to sea before his successor could reach Cadiz. Following a gale on 18 October the fleet began a rapid scramble to set sail. Departure The weather, however, had suddenly turned calm following a week of gales. This slowed the progress of the fleet departing the harbour, giving the British plenty of warning. Villeneuve had drawn up plans to form a force of four squadrons, each containing both French and Spanish ships. Following their earlier vote to stay put, the captains were reluctant to leave Cádiz and as a result they failed to follow closely Villeneuve's orders (Villeneuve had reportedly become despised by many of the fleet's officers and crew). As a result the fleet straggled out of the harbour in no particular formation. It took most of 20 October for Villeneuve to get his fleet organised, and it set sail in three columns for the Straits of Gibraltar to the south-east. That same evening the ship ''Achille'' spotted a force of 18 British ships of the line in pursuit. The fleet began to prepare for battle and during the night they were ordered into a single line. The following day Nelson's fleet of 27 ships of the line and four frigates was spotted in pursuit from the north-west with the wind behind it. Villeneuve again ordered his fleet into three columns, but soon changed his mind and ordered a single line. The result was a sprawling, uneven formation. The British fleet was sailing, as they would fight, under signal 72 hoisted on Nelson's flagship. At 5:40 a.m. the British were about 21 miles (34 km) to the north-west of Cape Trafalgar, with the Franco-Spanish fleet between the British and the Cape making for the straits of Gibraltar. At 6 o'clock that morning, Nelson gave the order to prepare for battle. Seeing that a battle would now be forced on him, Villeneuve ordered his whole fleet to turn back north towards Cadiz. At 8 a.m. Villeneuve ordered the fleet to ''wear together'' and turn back for Cádiz. This reversed the order of the Allied line, placing the rear division under Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir Le Pelley in the Van , rather than the rear. The wind became contrary at this point, often shifting direction. The very light wind then blowing rendered manoeuvring all but impossible for the most expert crews. The inexperienced crews had difficulty with the changing conditions, and it took nearly an hour and a half for Villeneuve's order to be completed. The French and Spanish fleet now formed an uneven, angular crescent, with the slower ships generally leeward and closer to the shore. Villeneuve was painfully aware that the British fleet would not be content to attack him in the old-fashioned way, coming down in a parallel line and engaging from van to rear. He knew that they would endeavour to concentrate on a part of his line. But Villeneuve was too conscious of the inexperience of his officers and men to think it possible to make counter movements with them. By 11 a.m. Nelson's entire fleet was visible to Villeneuve, drawn up in two parallel columns. The two fleets would be within range of each other within an hour. Villeneuve was concerned at this point about forming up a line, as his ships were unevenly spaced and in an irregular formation. The French-Spanish fleet was drawn out nearly five miles (8 km) long as they were approached by Nelson's fleet. As the British drew closer, they could see that the French and Spanish fleet was not sailing in a tight order but rather in irregular groups. Nelson could not immediately make out the French flagship as the French and Spanish were not flying command pennants from any of their ships. The six British ships dispatched earlier to Gibraltar had not returned, so Nelson would have to fight without these ships. He was outnumbered and outgunned by his opponent, as the Spanish and French had nearly 30,000 men and 2,568 guns to his 17,000 men and 2,148 guns. The Franco-Spanish fleet also had six more ships of the line than did the British, and so could more readily combine their fire. There was no means by which some of Nelson's ships could avoid being "doubled on" or even "trebled on". Order of battle See Also: Trafalgar order of battle Engagement The battle progressed largely according to Nelson's plan. At 11:35, Nelson sent the famous Flag signal, " England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty " (he had intended to send "Nelson confides that every man will do his duty", but his signal lieutenant suggested changes based on the number of flags required; Nelson required six flags while there was already a specific flag for England; the word "confides" was not included in the signal codebook, so he suggested "expects" instead; the word "duty" was also absent, and this was sent letter by letter, "D-U-T-Y"). Unlike the photographic depiction, this signal would have been shown on the mizzen mast only and would have required 12 'lifts'. The fleet was approaching the French line in two columns. Leading the windward column in ''Victory'' was Nelson, while Collingwood in ''Royal Sovereign'' led the second, leeward, column. As the battle opened, the French and Spanish were in a ragged line headed north as the two British columns approached from the west at almost a right angle. The northern, windward column of the British fleet was headed up by Nelson's 100-gun flagship ''Victory''. The leeward column was led by the 100-gun ''Royal Sovereign'', the flagship of Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood . Nelson led his line into a feint toward the van of the Franco-Spanish fleet and then turned toward the actual point of attack. Collingwood altered the course of his column slightly so that the two lines converged at the line of attack. Just before the lee column engaged the allied forces, Collingwood said to his officers, "Now, gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter". Because the winds were very light during the battle, all the ships were moving extremely slowly, and the lead British ships were under fire from several of the enemy for almost an hour before their own guns would bear. At noon, Villeneuve sent the signal "engage the enemy", and the ''Fougueux'' fired her first trial shot at the ''Royal Sovereign''. The ''Royal Sovereign'' was sailing with all sails out and, having recently had her bottom cleaned, outran the rest of the British fleet. As she approached the allied line, she came under fire from the ''Fougueux'', ''Indomptable'' , ''San Justo'' and ''San Leandro'', before breaking the line just astern of Admiral Alava's flagship ''Santa Ana'', into which she fired a devastating double-shotted Raking Broadside . The second ship in the British lee column, the ''Belleisle'' , was engaged by the ''Aigle'' , ''Achille'' , ''Neptune'' and ''Fougeux''; she was soon completely dismasted, unable to manoeuvre and largely unable to fight, as her sails blinded her batteries, but kept flying her flag for 45 minutes until the following British ships came to her rescue. For 40 minutes, the ''Victory'' was under fire from the , ''Conqueror'' and the ''Neptune'' . A general mêlée ensued, and during that fight, ''Victory'' locked masts with the French ''Redoutable''. The crew of the ''Redoutable'', which included a strong infantry corps (with 3 captains and 4 lieutenants), gathered for an attempt to board and seize the ''Victory''. A Musket bullet fired from the mizzentop of the ''Redoutable'' struck Nelson in the left shoulder and passed through his body lodging in his spine. Nelson exclaimed, "They finally succeeded, I am dead." He was carried below decks and died at about 16:30, as the battle that would make him a legend was ending in favour of the British. The ''Victory'' ceased fire, the gunners having been called on the deck to fight the capture, but were repelled to the below decks by French grenades. As the French were preparing to board ''Victory'', the ''Temeraire'', the second ship in the British windward column, approached from the starboard bow of the ''Redoutable'', and fired on the exposed French crew causing many casualties. At 13:55, Captain Lucas, of the ''Redoutable'', with 99 fit men out of 643 and severely wounded himself, was forced to surrender. The French ''Bucentaure'' was isolated by the ''Victory'' and ''Temeraire'', and then engaged by the ''Neptune'', ''Leviathan'' and ''Conqueror''; similarly, the ''Santísima Trinidad'' was isolated and overwhelmed without being rescued, surrendering after three hours. As more and more British ships entered the battle, the ships of the allied centre and rear were gradually overwhelmed. The allied van, after long remaining quiescent, made a futile demonstration and then sailed away. The British took 22 vessels of the Franco-Spanish fleet and lost none. Among the taken French ships were the ''Aigle'' , ''Algésiras'' , ''Berwick'' , ''Bucentaure'', ''Fougueux'', ''Intrépide'' , ''Redoutable'', and ''Swiftsure'' . The Spanish ships taken were the ''Argonauta'', ''Bahama'', ''Monarca'', ''Neptuno'', ''San Agustín'' , ''San Ildefonso'', ''San Juan Nepomuceno'' , ''Santísima Trinidad'' , and ''Santa Ana''. Of these, the ''Redoutable'' sank, the ''Santísima Trinidad'' and ''Argonauta'' were scuttled by the British and later sank, the ''Achille'' exploded, the ''Intrépide'' and ''San Augustín'' burned, and the ''Aigle'', ''Berwick'', ''Fougueux'', and ''Monarca'' were wrecked in a gale following the battle. As Nelson lay dying, he ordered the fleet to anchor as a storm was predicted. However, when the storm blew up many of the severely damaged ships sank or ran aground on the Shoals . A few of them were recaptured by the French and Spanish prisoners overcoming the small prize crews or by ships sallying from Cádiz. AFTERMATH Only eleven ships regained Cádiz, and of those only five were considered seaworthy. Under captain Julien Cosmao , they set sail two days later and attempted to re-take some of the English prizes; they succeeded in re-capturing two ships, and forced Collingwood to scuttle a number of his prizes. The four van ships which escaped with Dumanoir were taken on November 4th by Sir Richard Strachan at the Battle Of Cape Ortegal . When Rosily arrived in Cádiz, he found only five French ships remained rather than the 18 he was expecting. The surviving ships remained bottled up in Cádiz until 1808, when Napoleon invaded Spain. The French ships were then seized by the Spanish forces and put into service against France. HMS ''Victory'' made its way to Gibraltar for repairs carrying on board the body of Admiral Nelson. It put into Rosia Bay, Gibraltar and after emergency repairs were carried out it returned to England. Many of the injured crew were brought ashore at Gibraltar and treated in the Naval Hospital. Those that subsequently died from injuries sustained at the Battle are buried in and near the Trafalgar Cemetery, at the south end of Main Street, Gibraltar. Vice-Admiral Villeneuve was taken prisoner and taken back to England. After his return to France, and on his way to Paris, Villeneuve was found in his inn room stabbed six times in the chest with a dining knife. The verdict was that he had committed suicide. The Battle took place the very day after the Battle Of Ulm , and Napoleon did not hear about it for a few weeks - the Grande Armée had left Boulogne to meet Britain's allies before they could muster a huge force. He had tight control over the Paris media and kept the defeat a closely guarded secret. In a propaganda move, the battle was declared a "spectacular victory" by the French and Spanish. Less than two months later, the War of the Third Coalition ended with a decisive French victory over Russia and Austria, Britain's allies, at the Battle Of Austerlitz . Prussia decided not to join the Coalition and, for a while, France was at peace again. However, it could no longer defeat Britain at sea, so Napoleon went on to impose a continental blockade in an attempt to deny Britain trade with the continent. CONSEQUENCES Following the battle, the Royal Navy was never again seriously challenged by the French fleet in a large-scale engagement. Napoleon had already abandoned his plans of invasion before the battle but they were never revived for fear of the Royal Navy. Nelson became Britain's greatest naval war hero, and an inspiration to the Royal Navy, yet his unorthodox tactics were only infrequently emulated by later generations. The first monument to be erected in Britain to commemorate Nelson was raised on (1798), Copenhagen (1801) and Trafalgar (1805). In 1808, Nelson's Pillar was erected in Dublin to commemorate Nelson and his achievements (many sailors at Trafalgar had been Irish), and remained until it was blown up by "Old IRA " members in 1966. London 's famous Trafalgar Square , which was named for his victory, and Nelson's statue atop Nelson's Column finished in 1843 towers triumphantly over it. Conversely, generations of French schoolchildren were taught that Trafalgar was an "inconclusive battle in which the British Admiral was killed". The disparity in losses has been attributed by some historians less to Nelson's daring tactics, than to the difference in fighting readiness of the two fleets. Nelson's fleet was made up of battle-hardened ships of the line, drilled in countless skirmishes during months of blockades of French ports, whilst the French fleet had generally been used merely to supply troops. As such, the battle could be seen as an inevitable massacre by an overwhelmingly superior enemy, but this scarcely diminishes its symbolic importance. The Royal Navy proceeded to dominate the seas for the remaining years of sail. Although the victory at Trafalgar was typically given as the reason at the time, modern analysis by historians such as Paul Kennedy suggests that relative economic strength was a more important underlying cause of British naval mastery. An anecdotal consequence is that French Navy officers Have Not Been Called "sir" ever since. 200TH ANNIVERSARY in , ''Illustrious'' , ''Invincible'' , ''Ocean'' , ''Príncipe De Asturias'' and ''Saipan'' . The frigate '' Grand Turk '' played the part of HMS ''Victory'' in a symbolic reenactment of the battle. Lapenotiere 's historic voyage in HMS Pickle bringing the news of victory from the fleet to Falmouth and thence by post chaise to the Admiralty in London, was commemorated by the New Trafalgar Dispatch and Trafalgar Way celebrations, from July to September, in which an actor played the part of Lapenotiere and reenacted the historic journey. On 21 October , naval manoeuvres were conducted in Trafalgar Bay, near Cadiz , involving a combined fleet from Britain, Spain and France. Many descendants of those men who fought and died in these waters, including members of Nelson 's family, were present at the ceremony. IN POPULAR CULTURE '' by J. M. W. Turner (oil on canvas, 1822–1824) combines events from several moments during the battle.]]
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