Happy 220th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar, /his/!
>>18093132Not mentioned in Patrick O'Brian's historical work so it isn't important.
>>18093177thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsU0nb927NA
>>18093132How do you tag team a motherfucker and still lose
>>18093185The French had purged their officer corps and the Spanish had already been given a black eye at Cape st. Vincent.
>>18093199>The French had purged their officer corps>USSR theme intensifies
>>18093185Nelson's formation cut the enemy line off into 3 parts. The ones in front had to turn around in order to get back into battle, while the guys in the middle got tore apart by superior British gunnery
>>18093185The British also had superior gunnery training. The rate of fire from British ships was usually more than twice that of the French due to having more skilled gunners.
sloth debauch status?
>>18093185This goes back to before Trafalgar, but I read that the British actually cared about the well being of the ship's crew, had ridiculously high standards at the time to reduce disease and malnutrition. Combined with the greatest Admiral of all time and you have a well oiled naval machine.
>>18093132>What if we.... sailed at them in a straight line instead of in a square or wedge or whatever?Naval warfare is a joke
>>18093185The British navy was just completely without peer at the time and Horatio Nelson has a real claim to potentially being the single greatest admiral in history. It's basically the naval equivalent of going up against Napoleon with jet fighters and he knows how to use them.
>>18095057It was 2 parallel lines pushing into 1 line at a parallel, and they committed the cardinal sin of having their T crossed
>>18095964At a perpendicular *
>>18093185Is this THE Admiral Nelson?
>>18095979Eh, he lost sight in one eye and also lost a arm.
>>18094731The Royal Navy had a large percentage of press-ganged crews,and prisoners were also used. The old pewter beer tankers had glass bottoms, so that the drinker could see the press gangs coming.All the officers and midshipmen were volunteers and a fair number of the sailors were too.
>>18093132On the one hand it ensured British naval supremact setting the stage for the 1800s and their ensuing unbearable smugness. On the other hand... the French. I guess either way the wrong side would have won.
>>18096137I think it was something like citrus fruits for scurvy
