21 Oct. 1805. Trafalgar.

[usmc1855]

Horatio Times

As morning dawned on 21st October 1805, the combined fleets of France and Spain prepared to face a smaller British fleet off Cape Trafalgar. This battle was the culmination of the long pursuit from the Mediterranean to the West Indies earlier that year which had left Nelson frustrated and exhausted. At last, on that calm October morning, he had the chance to decisively defeat the enemy and end the threat of a French invasion of Britain.

Piqued by orders that were to lead to his replacement, and increasingly anxious to do something to fight his nemesis, French Admiral Pierre Charles Villeneuve had lead the fleet out of Cadiz on the 20th where they were almost instantly spotted by the British. In the hours that were to follow, Villeneuve and his forces were decisively defeated as the Allied line was sliced in two. Meanwhile Nelson, mortally wounded in the height of the fighting, was left to suffer a slow and painful death deep in the hold of his flagship while his men fought like lions above to secure him his greatest victory, perhaps the greatest and most famous victory in naval history.

[Union Jack]

We always remember Nelson but hardly anyone remembers the true victor of Trafalgar.

[Naharaht]

We always remember Nelson but hardly anyone remembers the true victor of Trafalgar.

To whom are you referring, Neil, please?

[csadn]

Mother Nature? (Given how many of the British prizes were subsequently lost to the storm which the battle was fought in the calm-before of....)

Or perhaps John Clerk, best known for suggesting the notion of "breaking the line" and going for a decisive victory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clerk_of_Eldin .

Or Napoleon -- not two days earlier, he had (again) crushed the Austrians at Ulm, thus explaining the *nine-year* gap between Trafalgar and Waterloo.

Really, Trafalgar's only significance is: It would be the last fleet-level action in Europe until Jutland.

[David Manley]

We always remember Nelson but hardly anyone remembers the true victor of Trafalgar.

French and Spanish shipbuilders and foundries, all those hulls and guns to replace......

[Diamondback]

Are we forgetting that Nappy had plans for an "Operation Sealion" of his own? The question re Trafalgar is, how close was the invasion fleet to being ready to go and in need of man-o'-war protection? We know Villeneuve sortied to avoid the humiliation of being relieved... but what was it Boney intended to be done with the combined fleet right at that point in time?

[Devsdoc]

Horatio Times

As morning dawned on 21st October 1805, the combined fleets of France and Spain prepared to face a smaller British fleet off Cape Trafalgar. This battle was the culmination of the long pursuit from the Mediterranean to the West Indies earlier that year which had left Nelson frustrated and exhausted. At last, on that calm October morning, he had the chance to decisively defeat the enemy and end the threat of a French invasion of Britain.

Piqued by orders that were to lead to his replacement, and increasingly anxious to do something to fight his nemesis, French Admiral Pierre Charles Villeneuve had lead the fleet out of Cadiz on the 20th where they were almost instantly spotted by the British. In the hours that were to follow, Villeneuve and his forces were decisively defeated as the Allied line was sliced in two. Meanwhile Nelson, mortally wounded in the height of the fighting, was left to suffer a slow and painful death deep in the hold of his flagship while his men fought like lions above to secure him his greatest victory, perhaps the greatest and most famous victory in naval history.

Sorry to be picky Brain,
But the Allied line was sliced into three sections at 2 points.
Be safe
Rory

[Berthier]

The invasion for England had been called off, there were (are) serious questions as to whether the whole project was feasible though N. never admitted so. The movements of the Austrian Army precipitated events anyway and perhaps relieved N of having to make a call that may have been more fateful than the Russian invasion of 1812. Napoleon instead took the Grande Armee to Ulm and then Austerlitz to defeat the Austrians and Russians comprehensively. The initial movement away from the Boulogne camps started on 27th September and General Mack surrendered his Austrian army at Ulm the day before Trafalgar. Napoleon must have known the sea campaign to invade Britain was over for the immediate future but did not send messages to Villeneuve to avoid action. On the contrary he was still encouraging the Admiral to leave port, his aim presumably being to confuse his enemies and keep any British intervention confined to home as security against assault.