In the course of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Royal Navy reached the climax of its effectiveness as a fighting force. So comprehensive was its record of success that by the conclusion of these conflicts every French colony had fallen into British hands and every French port was under effective blockade. The standards of gunnery, discipline and seamanship attained as a result of regular training, and the constant vigilance and the attentiveness of its officers, enabled the Royal Navy to outfight any opponent, and when Britain emerged in 1815 as the dominant power on the seas it was a position she would hold unchallenged for the next century.
But the Navy’s success may be attributed to more than the men and ships themselves; for the level of resources that the nation committed for its maintenance played an important role in the Navy’s record of achievement. Although its manpower needs were never satisfied, the Navy easily absorbed the largest proportion of the national budget. Both Parliament and the government appreciated that the nation’s prosperity and, indeed, its very existence, depended on the maintenance of a navy superior to all others, and thus they were prepared generously to fund it – even if those funds fell short of what every Lord of the Admiralty and serving officer and rating would have liked. In protecting Britain’s trade across the world, the Navy ensured that the country could generate the funds needed to maintain a maritime force of unprecedented size. Britain’s sound financial base, in turn, enabled the government to borrow heavily to support the Navy, an institution with no rival in terms of technical complexity, administrative support, and cost.
It is remarkable that in a conflict lasting over 20 years little in the way of technological innovation should have occurred. Nor indeed was the age noted for a substantial transformation of tactics. It was, however, a time when Britain produced a multitude of fine commanders at all levels, only the most senior of whom are properly commemorated – men like Nelson, Collingwood, Smith, Saumarez, Duncan, St Vincent, Howe, Cochrane and others. Dozens of lesser-known and in most cases, unrecognized, officers displayed extraordinary skill and devotion to service. Under them, tens of thousands of seamen and marines spent years on blockade duty, protecting trade, fighting privateers and seeking to bring (and, on occasion, actually bringing) the enemy’s fleet to battle – in so doing producing the most powerful navy hitherto known.
British ships in action at Trafalgar. In seeking to separate the Franco-Spanish centre and rear from its van, Nelson issued the following instructions prior to battle: ‘If the enemy’s fleet should be seen to windward in line of battle they will probably be so extended that their van could not succour their rear. I should therefore probably make the second in command’s signal to lead through, about their 12th ship from the rear … My line would cut through about their centre … The whole impression of the British fleet must be to overpower [from] two or three ships ahead of their commander-in-chief, supposed to be in the centre, to the rear of the fleet. I will suppose 20 sail of the enemy’s line to be untouched; it must be some time before they could perform a manoeuvre to bring their force compact to attack any part of the British fleet engaged, or to succour their own ships.’ (Stratford Archive)