Horatio Nelson (1758～1805), a famous British naval marshal. He continued to win victories in maritime battles, especially in one fell swoop, which destroyed the then powerful maritime enemy, the Franco-Spanish Combined Fleet, which promoted the growth of Great Britain's naval strength, fueled the British bourgeoisie's struggle for colonial hegemony, and helped Britain become a world-class power. made historic contributions.
Quotes
England requires everyone to abide by their duties.
Life introduction
Nelson was born on September 29, 1758 in the village of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England. At the age of 12, he joined the Royal Navy as a naval cadet and served as a trainee on the ship captained by his uncle Shacklin. Nelson was diligent and studious, and quickly mastered a lot of experience in ship driving and sea life. He was an experienced and capable young officer.
Around the time Nelson became a naval captain, it was the era when European powers were waging war for maritime hegemony, and the Mediterranean became a maritime battlefield where heroes competed. After several years of fighting, the British navy was driven out of the Mediterranean by France. In 1789, the French Revolution drew people's attention to the European continent. As the threat of war escalated, Nelson was assigned to command of the Agamemnon and later transferred to the Chatham. The Agamemnon belonged to Lord Hood's Mediterranean fleet.
On February 1, 1793, France, Spain, the Netherlands and other three maritime powers launched a war against Britain. After capturing the two important cities of Bastia and Calvi on the French island of Corsica, During the landing battle, Nelson fought bravely against the enemy and made remarkable achievements. He was injured and lost his right eye. Unexpectedly, when judging the merits and rewards, Nelson not only failed to be included in the merit list, but his name was not even on the injured list. He didn't care much about this, but instead became more determined to "build a lifelong legacy with actions." At the end of 1795, the new commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, Jervis, made an exception and promoted Nelson to commander of the squadron. The following winter, Napoleon's successive victories on the Italian battlefield made it impossible for the British fleet to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean and had to withdraw to Gibraltar. Nelson was the main organizer of this retreat.
However, it was the Battle of Cape St. Vincent that made Nelson famous. On February 14, 1797, 15 warships of the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet and 27 warships of the Spanish Fleet encountered each other at Cape St. Vincent in the Atlantic Ocean, and a fierce battle began. During the battle, Nelson, as the commander of the squadron, disobeyed the orders of the fleet commander, broke away from the formation and rushed towards the Spanish fleet, blocking its way. After bombarding the Spanish warships, he personally led his sailors to board the enemy ships and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Nelson's actions played a key role in the British fleet's victory at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. As a result, he was promoted to rear admiral and awarded the title of Lord
In July 1797, Nelson attacked the Spanish Canary Islands While traveling to Tel Reef, he was shot in the right elbow and lost his entire right arm. In early 1798, Nelson returned to the fleet after recovery and served as commander of the Mediterranean Squadron. On the night of August 1 of the same year, he led his troops to raid the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay and achieved a complete victory. Created a baron by the King of England.
At the end of 1800, Russia, Sweden and Denmark formed an armed neutrality alliance to jointly deal with Britain. In order to disrupt them, in March 1801, Admiral Parker led a fleet of 53 warships into the Oresund Strait. On April 2 of the same year, Nelson led a squadron to attack the Danish fleet. In the early stages of the battle, due to the organized resistance of the Danish fleet, the British army suffered heavy losses. Parker ordered Nelson to withdraw from the battle, but Nelson ignored it and continued to attack. Under the fierce attack of the British warships, the Danish fleet suffered heavy losses and was forced to surrender. Nelson pursued the victory and drove away the Swedish fleet and the Russian fleet. Completely destroyed the Three Kingdoms Alliance. Nelson was made a viscount for meritorious service and succeeded Parker as commander of the Baltic Fleet.
In May 1803, Nelson served as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet to fight against the French and Spanish combined fleets. On October 19, 1805, the Franco-Spanish combined fleet left the port of Cadiz, Spain, attempting to head to the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar to cooperate with Napoleon's military operations in Italy. At this time, Nelson was waiting in the waters of Trafalgar, west of Cadiz. On October 21st, the largest naval battle in the 19th century - the Battle of Trafalgar - began. The Franco-Spanish combined fleet participating in the war had 33 battleships, and the British fleet had 27 battleships.
The battle ended at around 4 p.m., with 8 of the 33 warships of the Franco-Spanish combined fleet being sunk, 12 captured, and more than 7,000 casualties. No British warships were lost, and there were only more than 1,600 casualties. But unfortunately, during the battle, Nelson was shot and killed by a rifleman on the French ship "Awe". He was only 47 years old. After Nelson's death, the United Kingdom held a grand funeral for him in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and his body was buried in the tomb of the cathedral.
Classic Battle
At the end of 1804, Spain joined France in declaring war on Britain. In the autumn of 1805, Napoleon was preparing to launch the decisive Battle of Ulm-Austerlitz against Austria. He urgently needed the Franco-Spanish combined fleet to attack Austria's ally Naples to assist his ground campaign.
However, at this time, the French-Spanish combined fleet commanded by French Vice Admiral Villeneuve was blockaded in the Spanish port of Cadiz by the British fleet led by Nelson. Villeneuve clearly realized that if he wanted to return to the Mediterranean in accordance with Napoleon's order, he must first overcome Nelson. But he knew that he was no match for Nelson, so he hesitated to set off. It turned out that in early September Nelson learned that the French fleet had arrived in Cadiz Port to rendezvous with Spanish ships and was under the surveillance of British Admiral Collingwood. Soon, the Admiralty sent Nelson and four warships to meet Collingwood in Cadiz to strengthen the blockade of the port.
On September 28, the two squadrons met in the waters near Cadiz and formed a British fleet with 33 warships. After the rendezvous, Nelson took over Collingwood's command and began a blockade of the port of Cadiz. On the day Nelson arrived in Cadiz, it happened to be his 47th birthday. Nelson took advantage of the opportunity of the captains to congratulate him on his birthday and held a combat meeting on the flagship "Victory" to elaborate on his long-awaited combat plan.
Nelson's plan was to cut off the enemy's columns and concentrate his firepower on attacking various parts of the enemy fleet one after another. To this end, he did not adhere to the rigid one-column line tactics stipulated in the Royal Navy's "Battle Doctrine", but divided the British fleet into two columns: one of the detachments broke into the enemy column at a vertical angle, cutting off its rearguard from the center. , and then concentrate their forces to attack the rearguard ships of the enemy fleet. Another detachment cut off the connection between the enemy's central army and the vanguard, and then focused on shelling the enemy's central army. In this way, Nelson could use all his forces to concentrate on attacking 2/3 of the enemy fleet's warships. In order to quickly split the enemy's formation, the 100-gun "King Power" and the 104-gun "Victory" served as the forwards of the two detachments respectively. Because both ships are battleships with three decks and one hundred guns, they are much more powerful than the enemy ship equipped with only 74 guns. The reason why Nelson dared to make such a determination and adopt such tactics that did not meet the requirements of doctrine was mainly because the British Navy possessed powerful weapons-giant short guns, which could cause fatal damage to the enemy at close range. In addition, the British ship also has well-trained gunners and new artillery shell ignition devices, which can ensure that the gunners can fire at any time during navigation.
On October 19, 1805, under pressure from Napoleon, Villeneuve finally led a French-Spanish fleet consisting of 33 battleships to leave the port of Cadiz and enter the Atlantic Ocean. The fleets of both sides did not come into direct contact, but monitored each other from a distance. At this time, Nelson was not eager to seek a battle. He wanted to lure the enemy fleet out first and then attack and destroy it. Therefore, as long as the enemy fleet does not leave your sight, it will be fine.
At dawn on October 21, the two fleets met on the sea west of Trafalgar, Spain. At this time, Villeneuve's combined fleet was heading southeast to the Strait of Gibraltar, but he was still uneasy. At 6 a.m., Nelson sent a signal to the fleet and moved forward in two fleets. At this time, 15 warships commanded by Collingwood dispersed in a row to the leeward direction; Nelson personally led another 11 warships to form a windward row and launched an attack at the same time.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Villeneuve ordered the entire fleet to make a U-turn at 8 o'clock and sail north. Just as Nelson had predicted, the combined fleet attempted to return north to the port of Cadiz. However, due to the long column, it took more than 2 hours for the Franco-Spanish combined fleet to turn to the north, but the order was very chaotic.
At 11:10, the French Navy's 110-gun battleship "Vergaux" was the first to see the British ship "King Power" approaching, and then issued an order to fire, starting Trafalgar. The first shot of the naval battle.
The reason why the battleship "King Quan" can take the lead and rush to the forefront is due to its adoption of advanced shipbuilding technology. Like the "Victory", it was wrapped with copper skin on the outer shell of the hull, which greatly improved the speed. Therefore, it only took 10 minutes to insert between the French warship "Vergaux" and the Spanish warship "Santa Anna", intercepting the combined fleet in the middle as planned. The 14 British ships following him engaged in a fierce artillery battle with 16 enemy ships at close range. The first broadside salvo of the "King Power" destroyed the stern of the "Santa Anna", causing 400 sailors to lose their combat effectiveness, accounting for about half of the ship's personnel.
At the same time, Nelson was leading 11 other warships to rush towards the enemy. At 11:50, when the decisive battle was about to begin, Nelson sent a famous signal to the fleet on the flagship "Victory": "England requires everyone to abide by their duties!" During the process of engaging the enemy, in order to save ammunition, the "Victory" There was no counterattack for 40 minutes. Its mainmast was punctured with many large holes, and its mainmast was also hit by cannonballs, causing its speed to slow down a lot. At this moment, Nelson discovered the enemy's flagship "Buxintaulie". However, Nelson did not sail directly towards it, but feigned an attack on its vanguard, and then sailed parallel to the enemy column, giving Villeneuve the illusion that Nelson was trying to use old-fashioned linear tactics. A few minutes later, when the fleet was approaching the target and approaching the firing range of its artillery, Nelson suddenly ordered the "Victory" to turn around and attack the center of the enemy column. At the same time, another signal was sent to the fleet, "Attack the enemy at close range!" This is the "Nelson Secret" praised by later generations.
At 12:15, the "Victory" took the lead in inserting between the "Buchintole" and the "Awe", and once again chopped the combined fleet that had been cut in half by Collingwood at chest level. Only then did Nelson give the order to open fire. In an instant, the "Victory"'s giant short cannon and twin pellet cannons fired simultaneously. The 10 avant-garde warships intercepted by Nelson had no intention of fighting and tried to take refuge in the Port of Cadiz. The 7 Chinese warships intertwined with Nelson's ships, forming a melee.
At 1:15 p.m., the broken mast of the "Victory" hooked the "Awe". Nelson saw an opportunity and was braving a hail of bullets on the quarter deck, preparing to capture it with a boarding battle. it. However, his dazzling military uniform and medals gave away his identity. Nelson was shot by a special class sniper on the "Awe" and died in action. An hour later, the entire battle ended. The Franco-Spanish combined fleet suffered heavy losses. 20 of the 33 battleships were destroyed or captured, and more than 7,000 people were killed or injured. However, none of the British battleships were lost, and there were only more than 1,600 casualties. The Battle of Trafalgar was the largest naval battle in the 19th century and is regarded as a classic battle in the history of sailing naval warfare in which a small number defeated a large number.
Character Comments
Nelson was a rare naval warfare genius. He was one of the first generals in British naval history to abandon the popular line tactics at the time and create mobile warfare at sea. Especially in the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson successfully used this tactic to defeat the French-Spanish combined fleet, depriving France of the ability to compete with Britain at sea, and made a major contribution to Britain's establishment of maritime hegemony and its fight for overseas colonies. contribute. His flagship "Victory" has also been preserved as an important historical relic. Nelson's extraordinary courage and superb commanding skills made him a famous general and went down in history. In order to commemorate him, the British people built Trafalgar Square in London and erected a large column monument with a statue of Nelson. At the same time, Nelson's statues and monuments were also built in major cities across the country. The British people have always regarded Nelson as a national hero and used his name to symbolize the glory of the British Navy.