Nelson - the Right Angle

I have read numerous books on Nelson's tactics at Trafalgar and they all miss the point but what do you expect from arts graduates? Anything vaguely mathematical, scientific or technical leaves them baffled.

So instead of just firing straight at each other with the ships all lined up, Nelson attacked at right angles to the enemy (hence the bad pun). This meant that he could then cut between each enemy ship at which point they could not fire at him (all of their guns were at the sides)

His massive twin guns at the front of each ship then blew a huge hole in the back (or front) of the enemy vessels on either side and inflicted enormous damage the full length of the lower decks. Each of the succeeding guns then fired down the hole at point blank range.

Ouch

Bob Cory

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Modified on 23/07/2023 at 16:34:07 by ℗ Bob Cory