the battle of trafalgar

Nelson's victory at Trafalgar ended the threat of a French invasion and ensured British rule of the seas for the next 100 years. However, at the moment of his greatest triumph, the main British hero was shot down on the deck of his captain, HMS Victory.

Data from the battle of Trafalgar

• Who: The Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships of the line under the command of Admiral Pierre Villeneuve (1763-1806) faced an English fleet of 27 ships of the line under the command of Lord Horatio Nelson (1758-1805).
• How: Nelson's frontal attack on the Franco-Spanish line broke his formation and allowed the superior artillery of the English ships to destroy the enemy.
• Where: At the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, in front of Cape Trafalgar (Spain).
• When: October 21, 1805.
• Why: Nelson, who had pursued the Franco-Spanish fleet around the world, caught up with them in the Strait of Gibraltar, and Villeneuve decided, for personal reasons, to fight rather than flee.
• Result: The combined fleet, despite heroic resistance, was shattered and England forever eliminated the threat of a French invasion.

Background

Nelson's victory at Trafalgar 200 years ago is the most famous and decisive naval battle of all time. However, it is often forgotten that it was a product of Napoleon's plans to invade England. In the spring of 1805, Napoleon had assembled some 2,000 gunboats and transports in French Channel ports to move an army of 167,000 veteran soldiers to the Kent coast . For the invasion to be successful, Napoleon had to be sure that the British Royal Navy had been lured well away from the English Channel, while his rickety flotilla of barges and barges sailed from Boulogne and Calais.
Napoleon had the virtue of appointing the wrong men to the crucial posts when it came to naval warfare, and when he chose Count Pierre Villeneuve, he really shined. Not only had he survived Aboukir Bay (1798), thus acquiring a lifelong terror of Nelson, but Villeneuve detested Napoleon's person and policy, and especially his plan to lure Nelson to the West Indies with the squadron of Villeneuve, which sailed from Toulon on March 30. At the same time, Nelson was sailing between Sardinia and Sicily, waiting for Villeneuve to set course for Egypt. It was not until April 18 that he learned that the French fleet was heading west across the Atlantic .
On May 12, with 10 ships of the line and three frigates, Nelson headed out into the Atlantic for the West Indies. Four days later, Villeneuve had reached Martinique, where he was determined to remain until Admiral Ganteaume with his 21 ships of the line joined him from Brest. However, Villeneuve had to start sailing back to European waters to support Napoleon's landings by June 22 at the latest. On May 26 they were joined by six Spanish ships of the line under the command of Admiral Federico Gravina (1757-1806), increasing the combined fleet to 21 ships of the line.

The action of calder

Meanwhile, Nelson had again received misinformation, so when he reached the West Indies he sailed south to Trinidad instead of north. Once again, he had failed to find the elusive enemy. Nelson's colleague, Commander of the English Channel Fleet, Admiral Sir Robert Calder (1745-1845), had more luck, for he ran into the combined fleet off Cape Finisterre on 22 July. Calder had 15 ships of the line, against Villeneuve's 21 ships of the line and seven frigates. An inconclusive action ensued in which Calder captured two Spanish vessels and damaged four others, while sustaining damage to only four vessels and counting 199 casualties in his own squadron. Both fleets set sail in opposite directions on July 27.
Although Calder thought he had done well, his inability to destroy the combined fleet drew criticism at home, and Calder demanded a court martial to clear his name. Calder's only consolation was that Villeneuve's behavior was considered even worse.
The French commander rudely blamed Gravina and the Spanish for the defeat at Finisterre, when in fact the Spanish had put up a splendid fight, as Napoleon (an inveterate Hispanophobe) had to admit a month later.

Nelson in cadiz

Nelson also had nothing to celebrate when he returned to England for the last time on August 19. The same day that Nelson returned to take command of the British squadron blockading Cádiz (September 29), the admiral celebrated his 47th birthday, although he appeared to be at least a decade older .
Nelson was revived when Pitt's promise of help was fulfilled quite unexpectedly:by October 15, Nelson had some 27 ships of the line and five frigates. The frigates were under the command of Captain Sir Henry Blackwood (1770-1832), and kept about 3 miles offshore to keep an eye on the combined fleet at Cadiz. The combined fleet had 2,600 sailors and 33 ships of the line, against Nelson's 27 ships and 2,100 sailors .
Nelson planned that, once the combined fleet sailed from Cadiz, he would attack the enemy in two columns at right angles to his line, thus breaking it and then cutting off and destroying the rear before the vanguard could back it up. Perhaps Nelson thought this plan was "secret"; however, Villeneuve, who had studied Nelson carefully, immediately realized that Nelson was going to do this. Villeneuve may have been a timid and uninspired commander of men, but he was no fool, and his actions on October 21 showed that he was no coward either.

Layouts

The combined fleet began to leave Cádiz in the early hours of Saturday 19 October, but two days later it had only reached the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The Franco-Spanish line of battle, if it can be called that, was a 9-mile-long messy and scattered mess of ships. That morning, Monday, October 21, would be fateful for both sides when a rising tide heralded the approach of an Atlantic storm.

Franco-Spanish provision

Initially stationed in the Mediterranean, Villeneuve ordered the entire fleet to reverse course because he was determined to die in battle and not face the wrath of the hateful Corsican if he escaped to Naples . By 10:00, his fleet, shaped like an irregular crescent with wide gaps between the ships, had finally changed direction. Admiral Le Pelley's division now formed the vanguard while Gravina's Spanish hardliners, who had been in the lead, became the rearguard. An hour later, Villeneuve watched as Nelson's fleet fell on him in two separate columns.

English layout

As for the British, they had been preparing for battle since 06:00 . Nelson was determined to hunt down and catch up with the fleeing combined fleet. To the astonishment of him and the other English commanders, the enemy, at 08:40, changed direction and headed west again, directly towards them. As always, Nelson was determined to take the lead with HMS Victory (his 100-gun captain), though his commanders warned him that this would make him an easy target for enemy fire. Nelson dismissed the idea that he should let the squadron of his second-in-command, Admiral Collingwood, take the lead. At 11:00, Nelson hoisted a singular but encouraging, though clearly evident, sign to his fleet:"England expects every man to do his duty" . There was a tremendous roar of approval from the officers and men of the entire English fleet as the signal was read and understood.

The battle

Forty-five minutes later the first hesitant shots were fired as Villeneuve, in his captain the Bucentaure (80 guns), cautiously hoisted his pennant . Nelson, on the other hand, was on the poop deck of the Victory when he made, at 11:50, his last signal to the fleet:"Engage the enemy more closely." At 12:04, Victory's solid oak sides were being hailed by shots from Bucentaure (concentrating their fire on the English ship's port quarter), Redoutable, Héros, and the 136-pound Spanish giant Santísima Trinidad. cannons, captain of Admiral Baltasar de Cisneros.
As they fired volleys at the Victory, French and Spanish snipers on deck and in the masts raked the English captain's decks with musket fire . Victory's wheel was smashed, forcing her to be steered from an inside deck; Nelson's secretary, John Scott, was gunned down; the topmast mast was ripped off and all other masts were damaged. The Victory passed at last under the Bucentaure's stern, and fired a devastating double-charge sweep through her stern galleries, dismantling 20 guns and killing dozens of crew . The rest of the fleet followed, breaking through the Franco-Spanish line, just as Nelson had planned, and the battle became a melee of individual ship-to-ship actions, where the superior English artillery could dominate.

Fall of the redoutable and Santísima Trinidad

At 13:10, the Victory was engaged with the French Redoutable, under the command of Captain Jean-Jacques Lucas, a Provençal arsonist, who inspired her crew to fight fiercely against the English enemy . Within minutes, precise and deadly French fire had killed 40 Marines. A sniper aboard the Redoutable hit Nelson with a shot that entered the admiral's shoulder, pierced his lung and pierced his spine.
Now and for the next two hours, the battle reached its greatest fury . The French ship was receiving fire from both sides, when the 98-gun HMS Téméraire joined the fray. At 1:40 p.m. the Téméraire swept the Redoutable, now a wreck, with repeated volleys, but Lucas and his brave crew refused to lower the flag until the English ship was left in as dismal a state as the ship herself. her. Finally, Lucas and his men, totally exhausted, gave up . The Redoutable had suffered 487 dead and 81 wounded, including Lucas:a staggering 88% of her crew!
At 14:30 the Santísima Trinidad was also a complete wreck; however, when an English boarding party stepped on her deck, a Spanish officer reported that the proud captain had not capitulated, despite her being unable to fire a single cannon. . She would take hours to finally be taken by the English. The Bucentaure was also, at 4:15 p.m., out of service with 450 casualties, only one crew member still standing, hers three captains wounded.