Action of 23 October 1805

Battle of Trafalgar
Part of the Trafalgar Campaign
The Battle of Trafalgar, as seen from the starboard mizzen shrouds of the Victory. J. M. W. Turner (oil on canvas, 1806–1808)
Date 21 October 1805 Location Cape Trafalgar, Spain 36°17′N 6°16′W / 36.29°N 6.26°W / 36.29; -6.26Coordinates: 36°17′N 6°16′W / 36.29°N 6.26°W / 36.29; -6.26 Result Decisive British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	French Empire Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Horatio Nelson † Cuthbert Collingwood	Pierre-Charles Villeneuve (POW) Federico Gravina (DOW)
Strength
33 ships (27 ships of the line and six others)	41 ships (France: 18 ships of the line and eight others Spain: 15 ships of the line)
Casualties and losses
458 dead 1,208 wounded Total: 1,666	France: 10 ships captured, one ship destroyed, 2,218 dead, 1,155 wounded, 4,000 captured Spain: 11 ships captured, 1,025 dead, 1,383 wounded, 4,000 captured Aftermath: Apx. 3,000 prisoners drowned in a storm after the battle Total: 13,781

33 ships

41 ships

(France: 18 ships of the line and eight others

458 dead
1,208 wounded

France:
10 ships captured,
one ship destroyed,
2,218 dead,
1,155 wounded,
4,000 captured

Spain:
11 ships captured,
1,025 dead,
1,383 wounded,
4,000 captured

Aftermath:
Apx. 3,000 prisoners drowned in a storm after the battle

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1815).

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 the French Admiral Villeneuve in the Atlantic Ocean off the southwest coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar, near the town of Los Caños de Meca. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost. It was the most decisive naval battle of the war, conclusively ending French plans to invade England.

The British victory spectacularly confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the eighteenth century and was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy. Conventional practice, at the time, was to engage 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 enemy fleet, with decisive results.

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