Battle of Trafalgar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815).

The battle was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve off the south-west coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.

The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the previous century and was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy, which involved engaging an enemy fleet in a single line of battle parallel to the enemy to facilitate signalling in battle and disengagement, and to maximise fields of fire and target areas. Nelson instead divided his smaller force into two columns directed perpendicularly against the larger enemy fleet, with decisive results.

Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle, becoming one of Britain's greatest war heroes. The commander of the joint French and Spanish forces, Admiral Villeneuve, was captured along with his ship Bucentaure. Spanish Admiral Federico Gravina escaped with the remnant of the fleet and succumbed months later to wounds sustained during the battle.

Order of battle at the Battle of Trafalgar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle_at_the_Battle_of_Trafa...

Franco-Spanish Fleet

Ships & Commanders

• Neptuno - Capt Don H Cayetano Valdés y Flores
• Scipion - Capt Charles Berrenger
• Rayo - Capt Don Enrique MacDonnell
• Formidable - Rear-Admiral Pierre-Etienne-René-Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley, Capt Jean-Marie Letellier
• Duguay Trouin - Capt Claude Touffet
• Mont Blanc - Capt Guillaume-Jean-Noël de Lavillegris
• San Francisco de Asis - Capt Don Luis de Florès
• San Agustin - Capt Don Felipe Jado Cagigal
• Héros - Capt Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-René Poulain
• Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad - Rear Admiral Báltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, Capt Francisco Javier de Uriarte y Borja
• Bucentaure - Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, Capt Jean-Jacques Magendie
• Neptune - Commodore Esprit-Tranquille Maistral
• Redoutable - Capt Jean Jacques Etienne Lucas
• San Leandro - Capt Don José Quevedo
• San Justo - Capt Don Francisco Javier Garstón
• Santa Ana - Vice-Admiral Vice-Admiral Ignacio María de Álava y Navarrete, Capt Don José de Gardoqui
• Indomptable - Capt Jean Joseph Hubert
• Fougueux - Capt Louis Alexis Baudoin
• Intrépide - Capt Louis-Antoine-Cyprien Infernet
• Monarca - Capt Don Teodoro de Argumosa
• Pluton - Commodore Julien-Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien
• Bahama - Commodore Dionisio Alcalá Galiano
• Aigle - Capt Pierre-Paulin Gourrège
• Montañés - Capt Francisco Alcedo y Bustamante
• Algésiras - Rear-Admiral Charles-René Magon de Médine, Capt Laurent Tourneur
• Argonauta - Capt Don Antonio Pareja
• Swiftsure - Capt Charles-Eusèbe Lhospitalier de la Villemadrin
• Argonaute - Capt Jacques Épron-Desjardins
• San Ildefonso - Capt Don Jose Ramón de Vargas y Varáez
• Achille - Capt Louis-Gabriel Deniéport
• Principe de Asturias - Adm Admiral Don Federico Carlos Gravina, Rear-Admiral Don Antonio de Escaño, Commodore Rafael de Hore
• Berwick - Capt Jean-Gilles Filhol de Camas
• San Juan Nepomuceno - Commodore Don Cosmé Damián Churruca y Elorza
• Cornélie - Capt André-Jules-François de Martineng
• Hermione - Capt Jean-Michel Mahé
• Hortense - Capt Louis-Charles-Auguste Delamarre de Lamellerie
• Rhin - Capt Michel Chesneau
• Thémis - Capt Nicolas-Joseph-Pierre Jugan
• Furet - Lieut Dumay
• Argus - Lieut Tailliard