A historical simulation

Por: André Geraque Kiffer

Napoleon's naval plan for 1805 was for the French fleet of the Mediterranean and part of the Spanish fleet to break the British blockade and meet in the Caribbean. They would then return, assist the fleet in Brest to get out of the blockade, and together - about 50 ships of the line - would guarantee a safe passage for the French invasion fleet to Britain. Before the Battle of Trafalgar, French Admiral Villeneuve himself had expressed his conviction that Nelson would use some kind of unorthodox attack, speculating that he was going to go straight against his line. But, fearing that his inexperienced officers would be unable to maintain formation in more than one column of squadrons, he chose to keep the French Spanish fleet in a single line, which was in accord with the British plan. Imagining something different for the British maneuver is difficult, considering the fame obtained by Nelson. Therefore, we will try to test whether it would have been possible for Villeneuve, together with Gravina, to reverse the historic result, making it more worthy to include his name in the Arc de Triomphe. Generally speaking, we will follow the original ideas thought by the French admiral, counting on the audacity and dexterity of the Spanish admiral - a scholar of British naval tactics -, making some adaptations based on our previous studies in our book “Naval battles in the French Revolutionary Wars, 1792 to 1815”.