Editing Battle of Trafalgar (section)

==Background==
{{Main|Trafalgar Campaign}}
In 1805, the [[First French Empire]], under [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], was the dominant military land power on the European continent, while the British Royal Navy controlled the seas.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kongstam |first=Angus |year=2003 |chapter=The New Alexander |page=46 |title=Historical Atlas of the Napoleonic Era |publisher=Mercury Books |location=London |isbn=1904668046}}</ref> During the course of the war, the British imposed a naval [[blockade]] on France, which affected trade and kept the French from fully mobilising their naval resources.{{sfnp|Stilwell|2005|pp=22–24}} Despite several successful evasions of the blockade by the French navy, it failed to inflict a major defeat upon the British, who were able to attack French interests at home and abroad with relative ease.{{sfnp|Willis|2013|p=247}}

When the [[Third Coalition]] declared war on France, after the short-lived [[Peace of Amiens]], Napoleon renewed his determination to invade Britain. To allow his invasion [[flotilla]] to reach England, he needed to wrest control of the [[English Channel]] from the Royal Navy.{{sfnp|Adkins|Adkins|2006|p=134}}

The main French [[Naval fleet|fleets]] were at [[Brest, France|Brest]] in Brittany and at [[Toulon]] on the [[Mediterranean]] coast. Other ports on the French Atlantic coast harboured smaller [[Squadron (naval)|squadrons]]. France and Spain were allied, so the Spanish fleet based in [[Cádiz]] and [[Ferrol, Galicia|Ferrol]] was also available.{{sfnp|Stilwell|2005|p=107}}

The British possessed an experienced and well-trained corps of naval officers.{{efn|When offered his pick from the [[Navy List]] by [[Lord Barham]] (the [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]), Nelson replied "Choose yourself, my lord, the same spirit actuates the whole profession; you cannot choose wrong" {{harvp|Allen|1853|p=210}}.}} By contrast, some of the best officers in the French navy had been executed or had left the service during the early part of the [[French Revolution]].{{sfnp|Stilwell|2005|p=104}}

Vice-Admiral [[Pierre-Charles Villeneuve]] had taken command of the French Mediterranean fleet following the death of [[Latouche-Treville|Latouche Treville]]. There had been more competent officers, but they had either been employed elsewhere or had fallen from Napoleon's favour.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=97}} Villeneuve had shown a distinct reluctance for facing Nelson and the Royal Navy after the French defeat at the [[Battle of the Nile]] in 1798.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=121}}

Napoleon's naval plan in 1805 was for the French and Spanish fleets in the Mediterranean and Cádiz to break through the blockade and join forces in the [[Caribbean]]. They would then return, assist the fleet in Brest to emerge from the blockade, and together clear the English Channel of Royal Navy ships, ensuring a safe passage for the invasion barges.{{sfnp|Lavery|2009|p=171}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180" caption="The admirals of the campaign">
File:HoratioNelson1.jpg|Vice Admiral [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio, Lord Nelson]], by [[Lemuel Francis Abbott]]
File:Cuthbert Collingwood, Baron Collingwood by Henry Howard.jpg|Vice Admiral [[Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood|Cuthbert Collingwood]]
File:Amiraldevilleneuve.jpg|[[Pierre-Charles Villeneuve]], the French admiral
File:FedericoGravinaYNápoliAnónimoHacia1810.jpg|[[Federico Gravina]], the Spanish admiral
</gallery>

===Pursuit of Villeneuve===
[[File:Nelson's Search in the Mediterranean.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Nelson's search in the Mediterranean]]
Early in 1805, [[Vice Admiral]] Lord Nelson commanded the British fleet blockading the Mediterranean port of [[Toulon]]. Unlike [[William Cornwallis]], who maintained a [[Blockade#Close, distant, and loose blockades|close blockade]] off Brest with the [[Channel Fleet]], Nelson adopted a loose blockade in hope of luring the French out to battle, saying, "to be able to get at the enemy you must let ''them'' come out to ''you'', if ''you'' cannot get at ''them''."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Rear Admiral Bertie |journal=Naval Chronicle |date=1811 |volume=26 |page=23}}</ref>{{sfnp|Lavery|2009|p=171}} However, Villeneuve's fleet successfully evaded Nelson's when the British were blown off station by storms. Nelson commenced a search of the Mediterranean, supposing that the French intended to make for [[Egypt]], but Villeneuve instead took his fleet through the [[Strait of Gibraltar]], rendezvoused with the Spanish fleet in Cádiz, and sailed as planned for the Caribbean. Once Nelson realised that the French were crossing the Atlantic, he set off in pursuit.{{efn|Admirals of the time, due to the slowness of communications, were given considerable autonomy to make [[Naval strategy|strategic]] as well as [[Naval tactics|tactical]] decisions.}}[[File:The Chase to the West Indies.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The Chase to the West Indies]] He missed them by just days in the West Indies as a result of false information.{{Sfnp|Hannah|2021|page=106}}

===Cádiz===
Having lured the British to the West Indies, Villeneuve returned from the Caribbean to [[Europe]], intending to break the blockade at Brest.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=121}}  Nelson, still in fear for Egypt, made to return to the Mediterranean. The fast sailing corvette taking word of his plans back to the admiralty spotted the French heading further north. On receiving this intelligence [[Lord Barham]] immediately ordered Admiral Cornwallis to combine his squadron with that of Vice Admiral [[Robert Calder|Calder]] off Ferrol and to stretch out thirty to forty leagues into the Atlantic to block the French from entering the Channel.{{Sfnp|Hannah|2021|page=186}}

Calder intercepted the French resulting in an inconclusive engagement during the [[Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)|Battle of Cape Finisterre]] in which two of the Spanish ships were captured. Villeneuve abandoned his plan and sailed back to [[Ferrol, Galicia|Ferrol]] in northern Spain.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=137}} There he received orders from Napoleon to return to Brest according to the main plan.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=141}}

Napoleon's invasion plans for Britain depended on having a sufficiently large number of ships of the line protecting his port of [[Boulogne]] on the English Channel. This would require Villeneuve's force of 33&nbsp;ships to join Vice-Admiral [[Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume|Ganteaume]]'s force of 21&nbsp;ships at Brest, along with a squadron of five ships under Captain Allemand, which would have given him a combined force of 59&nbsp;ships of the line.

When Villeneuve set sail from Ferrol on 10&nbsp;August, he was under orders from Napoleon to sail northward toward Brest. Instead, he worried that the British were observing his manoeuvres, so on 11 August, he sailed southward towards Cádiz on the southwestern coast of Spain.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=142}} With no sign of Villeneuve's fleet, on 25&nbsp;August, the three French army corps' invasion force near Boulogne broke camp and marched into Germany, where it was later engaged. This ended the immediate threat of invasion.{{sfnp|Stilwell|2005|p=32}}{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=157}}

The same month, Admiral Lord Nelson returned home to Britain after two years of duty at sea.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=145}} He remained ashore for 25&nbsp;days and was warmly received by his countrymen.{{sfnp|Best|2005|pp=161–162}} Word reached Britain on 2&nbsp;September about the combined French and Spanish fleet in Cádiz harbour.{{sfnp|Lee|2005|p=268}} Nelson had to wait until 15&nbsp;September before his ship, {{HMS|Victory}}, was ready to sail.{{sfnp|Lee|2005|p=273}}

On 15&nbsp;August, Cornwallis decided to detach 20&nbsp;ships of the line from the fleet guarding the English Channel to sail southward to engage the French and Spanish forces in Spain,{{sfnp|Lee|2005|p=283}} leaving the Channel with only 11&nbsp;ships of the line.{{sfnp|Lee|2005|pp=283–284}} The detached force formed the nucleus of the British fleet at Trafalgar. This fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Calder, reached Cádiz on 15 September. Nelson joined the fleet on 28 September to take command.{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=170}}

Hoping to lure the combined Franco-Spanish force out from Cádiz harbor and engage it in a decisive battle, Nelson kept his main force out of sight approximately {{convert|50|mi|km}} offshore{{sfnp|Lee|2005|p=288}} and sent a squadron of [[frigate]]s (faster, but too small for the line of battle) to keep watch on the harbour.{{sfnp|Lee|2005|p=288}} This was led by Captain [[Henry Blackwood|Blackwood]] aboard {{HMS|Euryalus|1803|6}}, with five frigates, a [[schooner]], and a [[brig]].{{sfnp|Best|2005|p=190}}

===Supply situation===
Nelson's fleet badly needed provisioning. On 2&nbsp;October, five ships of the line, {{HMS|Queen|1769|6}}, {{HMS|Canopus|1798|2}}, {{HMS|Spencer|1800|2}}, {{HMS|Zealous|1785|2}}, {{HMS|Tigre|1795|2}}, and the frigate {{HMS|Endymion|1797|6}} were dispatched to [[Gibraltar]] under [[Thomas Louis|Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis]] for supplies.<ref>James p. 22.</ref>{{citation not found|date=August 2020}}

[[File:Battle Of Trafalgar By William Lionel Wyllie, Juno Tower, CFB Halifax Nova Scotia.jpg|upright=1.35|left|thumb|''Battle of Trafalgar'' by [[William Lionel Wyllie]], Juno Tower, [[CFB Halifax]], Nova Scotia, Canada]]

These ships were later diverted for convoy duty in the [[Mediterranean]], although Nelson had expected them to return. Similarly, {{HMS|Superb|1798|6}} under Captain [[Richard Goodwin Keats]] had been sent to the dockyard for a re-fit after four years at sea, including the chase of Villeneuve, and was expected to return to the fleet where Keats was to be Nelson's second, but the ship was not released in time.{{Sfnp|Hannah|2021|page=120–124}} Other British ships continued to arrive, and by 15&nbsp;October the fleet was up to full strength for the battle. Nelson also lost Calder's [[flagship]], the 98-gun {{HMS|Prince of Wales|1794|2}}, which he sent home as Calder had been recalled by the Admiralty to face a court-martial for his apparent lack of aggression during the engagement off Cape Finisterre on 22&nbsp;July.

Meanwhile, Villeneuve's fleet in Cádiz was also suffering from a serious supply shortage that could not be easily rectified by the cash-poor French.{{sfnp|Lee|2005|p=278}} The blockade maintained by the British fleet had made it difficult for the Franco-Spanish allies to obtain stores, and their ships were ill-equipped. Villeneuve's ships were also more than two thousand men short of the force needed to sail. These were not the only problems faced by the Franco-Spanish fleet. The main French ships of the line had been kept in harbour for years by the British blockade with only brief sorties. The French crews included few experienced sailors, and, as most of the crew had to be taught the elements of seamanship on the few occasions when they got to sea, gunnery was neglected.{{sfnp|Hannay|1911|p=154}} The hasty voyage across the Atlantic and back used up vital supplies. Villeneuve's supply situation began to improve in October, but news of Nelson's arrival made Villeneuve reluctant to leave port. His captains had held a vote on the matter and decided to stay in harbour.

On 16&nbsp;September, Napoleon gave orders for the French and Spanish ships at Cádiz to put to sea at the first favourable opportunity, join with seven Spanish ships of the line then at [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]], go to [[Naples]] and land the soldiers they carried to reinforce his troops there, then fight decisively if they met a numerically inferior British fleet.{{sfnp|Hannay|1911|p=153}}