Tonight the Royal Navy celebrates Trafalgar Night. Two hundred and nineteen years ago today, Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson decisively beat the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar. By early afternoon, most of the enemy ships were either captured or disabled. Refusing to cower behind anything resembling protection, Nelson was shot by a sniper from high in the rigging of the French ship Redoutable. His lung punctured and his spine shattered he lay fatally wounded in the arms of his Flag Captain, Thomas Hardy. Having been told victory was assured he uttered, “Thank God I have done my duty” with his dying breaths. The great man certainly knew how to capture a moment.
On 19 October 2023, the USS Carney entered the Red Sea and within hours was involved in most probably the largest single drone and missile interception in naval history. That the Arleigh Burke class destroyer has the sensors, command systems and weapons to do this was not a surprise. What would have impressed even Nelson was that the ship’s company of the Carney did the unprecedented, without errors, on their very first day in a new area, having gone through the Suez Canal only the night before. Every warship thereafter knew what to expect and prepared accordingly. The Carney didn’t have that luxury.
Despite the passage of time, there are other comparisons between the Battle of Trafalgar and the battle for the Red Sea which started on 19 October.
Tonight the Royal Navy celebrates Trafalgar Night. Two hundred and nineteen years ago today, Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson decisively beat the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar. By early afternoon, most of the enemy ships were either captured or disabled. Refusing to cower behind anything resembling protection, Nelson was shot by a sniper from high in the rigging of the French ship Redoutable. His lung punctured and his spine shattered he lay fatally wounded in the arms of his Flag Captain, Thomas Hardy. Having been told victory was assured he uttered, “Thank God I have done my duty” with his dying breaths. The great man certainly knew how to capture a moment.
On 19 October 2023, the USS Carney entered the Red Sea and within hours was involved in most probably the largest single drone and missile interception in naval history. That the Arleigh Burke class destroyer has the sensors, command systems and weapons to do this was not a surprise. What would have impressed even Nelson was that the ship’s company of the Carney did the unprecedented, without errors, on their very first day in a new area, having gone through the Suez Canal only the night before. Every warship thereafter knew what to expect and prepared accordingly. The Carney didn’t have that luxury.
Despite the passage of time, there are other comparisons between the Battle of Trafalgar and the battle for the Red Sea which started on 19 October.