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GREAT MILITARY BATTLES
THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR
1805
ADMIRAL HORATIO NELSON
Following
the brief peace set forth by the treaty of Amiens in 1802 - 03, Napoleon
rekindled his grand strategy for the conquest of England. The emperor would
first assemble his 150,000 strong Grand Armee in northern France, Napoleon knew
this would draw the British Royal Navy into the English channel to protect
there coastline.
With
the British preoccupied with invasion, Napoleon then ordered French warships
under Admiral Villeneuve to leave port and rendezvous with a Spanish squadron
under Admiral Federico Gravina in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
French
spies would then leak this information to the British which would draw the
Royal Navy away from the channel, once the English fleet was on an intercept
course the French and Spanish vessals would outflank there persuers head north
and re enter the channel to support the invasion.
However
this plan was instantly thwarted as English spies had informed the British
Admiralty of the secret rendezvous at Martinque and placed Admiral Horatio
Nelson in command of a British fleet with orders to prevent Villeneuve from
uniting with Gravina at all cost.
ADMIRAL PIERRE VILLENEUVE
Nelson
was one day behind the French fleet as it left the port of Toulon leaving the
Medditerainian Sea, sailing past the rock of Gibralter and into the Atlantic.
Nelson vigourously persued the French leaving them no time for respite.
So
hot on Villeneuves heels was Nelson that when the enemy fleet rendezvoued with
the Spanish at Martinque, Villeneuves panicked and tried to escape his persuers
by doubling back towards Europe.
However
on July 23rd, Villeneuve was intercepted by a British task force under Admiral
Robert Calder and was bloodied at the battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia
Spain, having two ships of the line captured and suffering 2,000 casualties.
BATTLE OF CAPE FINISTERRE
Villeneuve
now abandoned the idea of putting into the main French naval base at Brest and
slipped into the Spanish port of Vigo instead. Nelson arrived and concentrated
his fleet of the coast of Spain and blockaded the port in an effort to force
Villeneuve to give battle.
With
the French squadron moored in Vigo, Napoleon knew he could not launch an
invasion of England without the British fleet neautralized, he therefore gave
Villeneuve a direct order to sail for the main French naval base at Brest and
combine his forces with that of Admiral Ganteaumes.
On
August 13th Villeneuve put to sea but was forced by Nelson to take refuge
further up the Spanish Coast at the port of Cadiz, where he linked up with a
Spanish squadron. Napoleon was furious at Villeneuves unwillingness to give
battle and for the next month belittled and humiliated the Admiral pollitically
and in the court of public oppinion.
Admiral
Villeneuves honor now forced his hand and with a combined fleet of 18 French
and 15 Spanish ships of the line put to sea on October 20th. Nelson sighted the
enemy squadrons on the morning on the 21st and ordered his fleet to sail
towards the enemy line in two columns, the starboard division under Vice
Admiral Cuthburt Collingwood led by the HMS Royal Sovereign (15 Ships) and the
port column (12 Ships) commanded by Nelson himself aboard HMS Victory.
BATTLE
FORMATIONS
In
the light breeze the British columns moved slowly downwind while the enemy line
lay stationary. In naval doctrine of the period, Nelsons ships should have been
annihilated by hundreds of broadsides, but Nelson was aware that French tactics
dictated they fire high above the waterline at the masts and rigging to
imobilize enemy vessals, thus he knew they would be unable to destroy his two
columns before they had closed the range.
The
British ships took heavy damage as they slowly advanced towards there foe, but
once they split the enemy line at 11:45am, they were able to fire diciplined
highly efficent double raking broadsides into the bows and stern sections of
the enemy vessals which blasted Villeneuves ships into splinters.
It
is reported that one double sided broadside from the HMS Victory instantly
killed 400 sailors aboard Villeneuves flagship the Bucentaure. By 4:00pm the
Franco Spanish line had been completly broken in several places.
It
was at about this time during the height of the battle that Admiral Nelson was
mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter firing from the rigging of the
Redoutable, dying some thirty minutes later at 4:30pm.
DEATH OF ADMIRAL NELSON
Although
the death of Admiral Nelson was a crushing blow, the outcome of the battle was
beyond doubt as all around the battlefield French and Spanish warships were
being cut to peices by disciplined British gunfire.
By
6:30pm the battle had ended in complete British victory, 18 French and Spanish
ships had struck their colors and surrendered, 11 heavily damaged others just
managed to escape back to Cadiz while four more made off to other ports.
British
losses amounted to 458 killed and1,208 wounded. French and Spanish casualties
in stark contrast numbered 4,395 killed, 2,541 wounded and 8,000 captured.
Britains one sided victory asuared no country would challenge England for
supremacy of the Seas and Oceans for the next one hundred years.
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