The Battle of Trafalgar 1805

[TexaS]

This reminded me of the description about HMS Neptune's sailing abilities. Her captain had described her as the slowest, worst manoeuvrable ship in the fleet, but on that day during the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson had to order them to take in the studdingsails or Neptune would have overtaken HMS Victory. She had been as transformed into a quick and manoeuvralbe ship smaller than she actually was.

This is with regards to the discussion in another thread about individual characteristics of the ships. Not only do they differ within a class of ships, and due to maintenance (thinking of HMS Agamemnon) but apparently also the form on the specific day.

[Diamondback]

This reminded me of the description about HMS Neptune's sailing abilities. Her captain had described her as the slowest, worst manoeuvrable ship in the fleet, but on that day during the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson had to order them to take in the studdingsails or Neptune would have overtaken HMS Victory. She had been as transformed into a quick and manoeuvralbe ship smaller than she actually was.

This is with regards to the discussion in another thread about individual characteristics of the ships. Not only do they differ within a class of ships, and due to maintenance (thinking of HMS Agamemnon) but apparently also the form on the specific day.

And also by having a good steersman who knows his charge's quirks and idiosyncracies, how to exploit things for good and mitigate the bad--the SR-71 Blackbird fleet was similar, and aircrews learned to pick out and exploit the unique quirks of each aircraft, like 981's lighter weight and lack of certain electronics making her a noticeably faster climber and accelerator, great for "rocket rides" patrolling the Korean DMZ.