All language subtitles for Combat Ships - S03E02 - The Battle of Trafalgar WEBDL-1080p x265 EAC3 5.1 [EN] [EN] MrPanda_track3_[eng]

[narrator]
This time on Combat Ships...

-[cannons roaring]
-[dramatic music]

...the Battle of Trafalgar.

Huge ships going head to head

in the greatest sea battle
of the Age of Sail.

[dramatic music]

With hundreds of guns ablaze.

[Nick] They've got both
sides working the guns

and enemy shot coming through

that they would load and re-fire
again at point blank range.

[narrator] Britain versus
France and Spain

-in deadly conflict.
-[suspenseful music]

[Ben] Naval battle at this time
was like entering hell.

Gun decks were full
of smoke, blood, gore,

your dying comrades.

This was war
at its most vicious,

immediate, and destructive.

-[dramatic music]
-[explosion booms]

[narrator] A battle of legends.

[Jeanne] Adoring crowds
followed him everywhere.

He was really considered
the one person in England

who was gonna save
them from the French.

[narrator] With a legacy
that has lasted centuries.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannons booming]

[theme music]

Combat ships.

Fast, effective.

His orders were to find the
British and to pick a fight.

[narrator] Going right to
the heart of the battle.

The Marines have always
thought of themselves

as the spear point of the
United States military power.

Their whole doctrine of combat
was to go fast, hit hard,

get it over within a hurry.

[narrator] Combat ships
have changed the world.

[Mary]
She gained her freedom.

Now she's going down
a river with an army.

She's was like,

"We're about to show you
what we're working with."

[narrator]
Thanks to clever design,

-raw firepower,
-[artillery booming]

and the heroism of their crews.

The rule of thumb
on a frigate is

you can lose two
spaces and stay afloat,

but if you lose a third,

you go to Davy Jones'
locker in a hurry.

[dramatic music]

-[artillery booming]
-[dramatic music]

[missiles whooshing]

[dramatic music]

[explosion booms]

[suspenseful music]

-[dramatic music]
-[birds shrieking]

[narrator] October 21st, 1805.

Off Cape Trafalgar on
the southern coast of Spain,

a huge fleet of 33
French and Spanish ships

stare down an
approaching British force.

[dramatic music]

[cannon booms]

Age-old enemies facing off
in a climactic,

decisive battle for the ages.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannon booming]

Centuries of rivalries
between Britain and France

boiled over and culminated
in early 19th century

in the Battle of Trafalgar.

[narrator] Both nations
jostled for power.

France was dominant in Europe

and Britain,
with its powerful navy,

was colonizing the world.

It was a battle
that would decide

who was gonna control
the world's oceans.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] This epic clash
will see 60 of history's

greatest combat ships
go head to head.

The most famous is HMS Victory.

[suspenseful music]

HMS Victory is a 3 1/2
thousand ton killing machine.

And they seem romantic
and nostalgic to us today,

but make no mistake,
these ships were built for war.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Victory is
an engineering marvel.

One of the biggest
ships of her time.

It took 6,000 oak trees
to build her,

clearing 100 acres of woodland.

[Nick] These ships
were designed to hold

as many guns as possible.

They're essentially just
a mobile gun platform.

Victory was designed
to carry 100 guns.

The largest, the 32 pounders,
were on the lower gun deck.

Then you've got 24 pounders
on the middle gun deck

and 12 pounders on
the upper gun deck,

quarterdeck, and forecastle.

[narrator]
Ships like Victory

were designed to
position themselves

parallel to their target
so they could fire all the guns

on one side of the ship
at the same time.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannons roaring]

This was known as a broadside.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannons roaring]

[Nick] These guns could fire
a 32-pound iron shot

over 2,000 yards at
a speed of 500 miles an hour.

And when a whole
broadside was fired,

that's the equivalent of
the size of a small car,

that's 1.5 tons of iron,

being shot out of
the side of the ship.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Combat ships of
the time were given ratings

based on the number
of guns they carried.

From the first rates,
like Victory,

that carried over 100,

to the sixth rates
that carried as few as 20.

Only the first three rates,
ships with 64 guns or more,

would fight in fleet battles.

They were known
as Ships Of The Line.

A ship of the line is any
ship that was large enough

to fight in the line of battle.

And the line of battle
is the name given

to the tactics at the time

where two opposing fleets
would sail in parallel lines,

fire at each other
in relatively close range.

[narrator] Being in position
to inflict the most damage

meant being exposed to equally
brutal fire from the enemy.

So picking your battles
was crucial.

In a time when ships
were powered only by sails,

wind direction was crucial
in these line battles.

The fleet positioned upwind
had the initiative,

the so-called weather gage.

They could decide when and
where to begin the battle,

but the fleet downwind
in the leeward gage

had one advantage.

It could turn,
fill it sails, and escape.

[dramatic music]

The man making
the key decisions

for the British fleet
at Trafalgar

is the legendary
Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Standing on the decks
of HMS Victory,

he leads his 27 ships

straight toward the guns
of the combined fleet.

Horatio Nelson was the
class idea of leadership.

Fearless, intelligent.

I think Nelson was peerless
amongst military leaders

of all time,
not just his own time.

[narrator] Nelson first made
a name for himself in 1797

during the Battle
of Cape St. Vincent.

A British fleet led
by Admiral Jarvis

took on a much larger
force of Spanish ships.

The British fleet were in
a single line of battle,

maneuvering to engage
the enemy.

But they were too slow

and the Spanish were
close to escaping.

When Nelson realized this,
he took the initiative,

broke formation,
and moved to intercept

-some of the Spanish ships.
-[suspenseful music]

[Eric] He boarded
one Spanish ship,

and he led the charge
with his sword.

He was nothing, if not brave.

And then there was
another Spanish ship,

and an even larger one
on the other side.

And so he boarded that too.

[narrator] And captured both.

That example of heroism
made him instant celebrity

and made him famous
amongst the fleet.

And gave him a kind
of aura of leadership

and personal heroism
that never left him.

[narrator] But Nelson would
also taste bitter defeat.

A year later, during another
battle with the Spanish.

He was shot through
the upper right arm

and the injury was so severe
that it required his arm

to be amputated just
below the shoulder.

I think Nelson really thought,
for a long time,

that he was invincible and
he could overcome anything

that he met with.

But after he was
injured at Tenerife,

the loss of his arm was
just a constant reminder

of his failure.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] Nelson always put
himself in the line of fire.

[dramatic music]

Now aboard Victory,

he once again leads
from the front

into the hailstorm
of cannonballs.

-[suspenseful music]
-[water whooshing]

On October 21st, 1805,
off Cape Trafalgar,

Nelson hoped to annihilate
the enemy fleet

and turn the age old war with
France in Britain's favor.

-[suspenseful music]
-[swords clanging]

A war that France was winning,

thanks to their own
legendary leader,

Napoleon Bonaparte.

[Aparajita] Napoleon was brave,
charismatic, ambitious,

a strategic genius.

End of 18th century, 1796, 1797,

that is the time
sort of, you know,

when Napoleon is
arising to power.

And he is running through
Northern Italy, Western Germany,

Poland, you know, Spain.

He sought European dominance.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] And more.

Napoleon also set
his sights on Egypt

and even Britain's colonial
crown jewel, India.

[suspenseful music]

To get them,

he needed his fleet
to control the Mediterranean,

the gateway to
these territories.

In the spring of 1798,

Britain sent Nelson to retake
control of this crucial sea.

After three months of searching
for the French fleet,

Nelson finally found it
anchored in Aboukir Bay,

off the Egyptian coast.

The French fleet of
13 ships of the line

was anchored in a
defensive formation.

It was an impregnable position,
or so it seemed.

Ships lined in order
with the sea on one side,

dangerous shoals on the other.

So they were guarded on one side

because any enemy attacking
them would surely run aground.

[narrator] Nelson too
had 13 combat ships

to launch his attack.

The imminent Battle of the
Nile looked evenly matched.

[dramatic music]

With the sun setting,

Nelson knew he had a chance to
shift the odds in his favor.

[Jeanne]
It could be really risky

to conduct a fleet
battle at night

because you ran the risk of
firing upon your own ships,

of collisions, of entanglements,

or even running aground.

But when Nelson spotted the
French anchored in Aboukir Bay

on the afternoon of August 1st,

he knew he had caught
them by surprise.

And he absolutely
was not willing to give them

10 or 12 hours to prepare
or to escape.

The French weren't
expecting them

and were actually all
just sat at anchor.

They weren't cleared for action.

They saw the British
fleet approaching

and then suddenly
all hell let loose.

[narrator]
Nelson instructed his captains

to use the favorable wind

to engage and focus fire on
the front of the French line

to overwhelm them.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannons booming]

The French ships in the rear
would be unable to sail upwind

to support the front.

But Nelson's plans always
left room for maneuver.

He expected his captains

to use their initiative.

He gave them
general instructions.

He showed them the kinds
of things he wanted doing.

And he expected them
to think for themselves.

[narrator]
His method was rewarded

when Captain Foley,
in the lead ship,

spotted an opportunity.

The first ship,

rather than go on the
seaward side of the enemy,

decided he would sail
in shore of them,

towards the shoals,

risking his ship in a maneuver

the French would never
think any attacking enemy

would ever do.

And as a result,

the French didn't have
cannons loaded on their side.

Didn't have gun crews ready
to counter that attack.

So the British could almost
fire at will at the French.

[narrator] Four ships
followed shoal side.

The rest positioned
themselves seaside.

Eight British ships
now engulfed

five French vessels in gunfire.

[Eric] Quite early on,

the ships at the northern
end of the French line

are being devastated by being
attacked from both sides.

But then the big flagship,
the first rate L'Orient,

catches fire, blows up.

[dramatic music]

And then the rest of the fleet
are dealt with afterwards.

The battle goes on,
to some extent,

into the following day.

But really, by the evening,

the French had been
well and truly hammered.

[Ben]
They were unable to counter

this lightening attack
from the British.

This unexpected,
fast and hard pummeling

that the British gave them.

[narrator]
Of the 13 French ships,

11 were destroyed or captured.

Only two escaped.

One stroke, Nelson
had regained control

over the Mediterranean.

It made him the
greatest naval hero

-that Britain had ever known.
-[people cheering]

[cheerful music]

[narrator]
It proved the British

were the ultimate naval power.

Due not just to its
intrepid leaders,

but also the crews
that sailed the ships

and manned the guns.

[Ben] The British Navy had a
superiority in its manpower,

not its ships.

The thing that made it a
great navy was its people.

The people that served onboard.

[narrator] The Royal Navy
was hungry for manpower,

employing 120,000 personnel
by the time of Trafalgar,

more than any other navy.

An appetite that could not
be sustained by Brits alone.

The Victory, like all
other ships at Trafalgar,

had a multiethnic crew.

There are 22 nationalities
onboard the Victory,

including Brazilians,
Danes, Jamaicans.

An extraordinary
spectrum of humanity

that's onboard this one vessel.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Many of the
Black sailors were free men

at a time when
slavery was still rife

in British territories.

[S.I.] It's a time when
Britain is, in fact,

in the late 18th century,

the largest trader in human
lives across the Atlantic.

So the Royal Navy finds itself
in the bizarre position

of being, on one hand,

the protector of British
interests and commerce,

including human lives
in the Caribbean.

And, on the other hand,
it is also the largest employer

of free Black labor
in the world.

[narrator]
Although the Royal Navy

made it near impossible
for Black sailors

to rise up the ranks
to become officers,

they certainly made
use of their skills.

The presence of
multi-ethnic labor points to

the reality that,
despite the racist conditions

which prevailed throughout
the British Empire

in British possessions,

the Royal Navy was
fundamentally pragmatic.

It was looking for solutions
to its problems of manpower,

of local knowledge,
regional skills, languages,

and all other special skills

that non-White
or other populations

could bring onboard.

[narrator] Once on the ships,

these international crews
underwent constant training.

The Royal Navy wanted to
ensure they were combat ready.

[Ben] More than any other navy,

the Royal Navy was
constantly in operation.

It was blockading other
navies into ports.

It was maintaining convoy
duties to protect trade.

So it was always a sense
that this was a busy navy

that was constantly
at preparation.

[narrator]
They put extra emphasis

on drilling the gun crews.

[cannon roars]

[Kate] These guns were
absolutely massive

and huge and heavy.

And I don't think people
realize it took 12 people

to prepare and actually
run them out for action.

[narrator] Each 32-pound gun
was solid iron,

weighing 3 1/2 tons...

[cannon booms]

...and recoiled violently
after each shot.

Gun drill was important
for two reasons.

First of all, it meant
you could keep firing,

even in the thick of battle.

But also the other
thing that gun drill did

was it increased
the rate of fire,

how quickly you could
load and fire the gun.

-[cannon booms]
-[dramatic music]

If you have two ships
with the same number

of the same size of guns,

you might think
they're evenly matched.

But if one ship can fire
their guns every 90 seconds,

but the other ship takes
three minutes to load and fire,

that first ship has
twice as many guns.

Because it doesn't matter
how many guns you have,

what matters is
how many cannonballs

are hitting the enemy.

And so the more rapidly
that you can aim and fire,

the more effective you can be.

-[suspenseful music]
-[cannons booming]

[narrator]
The Battle of the Nile

was an awesome demonstration
of the superiority

of the British crews
over their enemy.

This resounding defeat
was a huge blow to Napoleon,

but it did not stop him.

He turned France into
the dominant power

on mainland Europe
in the following years.

[Aparajita] Great Britain
was the only thing standing

between Napoleon and his
ambition of European domination.

And since Britain
wanted to stop Napoleon

and Napoleon had
this idea of sort of,

invading Britain.

Napoleon wanted to
knock out his biggest,

most threatening enemy for good.

That was a very hard
task to accomplish.

It would require getting a
battle fleet into the Channel

and giving enough
cover for Napoleon

to bring 140,000 troops or so
across the English Channel.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] Napoleon ordered
the creation of a huge fleet

to once and for all settle
the score with Britain.

A move that set the stage
for the Battle of Trafalgar.

-[cannons roaring]
-[suspenseful music]

-[suspenseful music]
-[birds shrieking]

In early 1805,

a combined fleet of 33 French
and Spanish ships of the line

massed in the
Spanish harbor of Cadiz.

[suspenseful music]

It was an awesome collection
of combat ships,

which included the pride
of the Spanish Navy,

the Santisima Trinidad.

[awe-inspiring music]

The Santisima Trinidad was
renowned as the biggest warship

afloat ever in the Age of Sail.

It packed a huge
amount of guns. 130.

No other warship in the world
had such a amount of firepower.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] The British
Admiralty could not leave

this threat unchecked.

They sent Nelson
to deal with it.

On September 14th, 1805,

he left England
onboard HMS Victory.

Nelson had a clear goal.

In a briefing to the
prime minister, he wrote.

[interpreter] It is annihilation
that the country wants

and not merely
a splendid victory.

[narrator] To achieve this,

Nelson decided
he could not rely

on the old line
of battle tactics.

The problem was trying
to inflict decisive damage

on an enemy fleet,

that also sailed in line
was extremely difficult.

-Battles could go on all day.
-[cannons booming]

On certain occasions,
more than one day.

So therefore, the more
novel commanders decided

there must be a better way.

What you needed to do was to
outmaneuver your opponent.

And this meant that
you'd have to take risks.

[narrator] Nelson was a firm
believer in this new doctrine.

When he arrived off Cadiz
on September 28th, 1805,

he invited the captains of
his fleet onto HMS Victory

to present them with his plan.

[suspenseful music]

A key document for
explaining Nelson's tactics

at Trafalgar is
this small sketch,

which he will have
produced surrounded

by his fellow officers in
the wardroom of Victory.

And in the excitement
of explaining his plans,

he's picked up his pen and
just dashed out a quick diagram

that explains how he imagines
the battle will take place.

[narrator] Nelson believed
the French and Spanish

combined fleet would be in
a standard line formation.

He wanted two British columns
of ships to cut this line.

This simple plan became
known as the Nelson Touch.

It split the
British fleet in two.

Nelson would lead one squadron,

Admiral Collingwood the other.

Nelson's basic plan deals
with the combined fleet

as a line which he is
going to cut into three.

His squadron will come in and
chop off the head of the line,

which will sail away
and have to turn round

in order to come back
into the battle later.

[narrator] A maneuver
that could take hours

if the wind was against them.

Collingwood's column
will cut here

and then fan out to deal
with the rear of the line.

Individual ships
picking off their targets.

So Nelson's plan is designed
to give the British

a moment of
numerical superiority

before the enemy vanguard
can come back into battle.

[narrator] By October, 1805,

Nelson had 27 ships of the line
waiting beyond the horizon,

ready for battle.

In Cadiz, the French
Admiral Villeneuve,

commander of the Franco-Spanish
fleet of 33 ships,

knew the British
were out there.

[suspenseful music]

All Nelson could do was wait.

Attacking the fleet in
a heavily-defended harbor

would have been suicide.

He sent his six smaller,
faster vessels,

including four frigates,
to monitor the combined fleet.

A frigate was a small war ship.

It was cut down so
it was maneuverable.

Unlike a big lumbering
ship of the line,

it could maneuver very quickly.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] The frigate
class of combat ships

was the backbone
of the Royal Navy.

[suspenseful music]

Frigates were fundamental.

They were the eyes of the fleet.

Frigates could go much
closer to an enemy harbor

to see what was going on,

see if any preparations were
being made for a fleet to leave.

And feed back information to
the bigger ships of the line

that were lying off harbor,

ready to intercept
to any enemy fleet.

[narrator] But frigates
were more than just scouts

for the battle fleets.

[Ben] Frigates were the
workhorses of the Royal Navy

and the mainstay of
the British Empire,

because they were small,
fast, maneuverable

and quite vicious at fighting.

They were excellent
for convoying trade.

They were good for raiding
the trade of your enemy.

[Kate] The frigates would
take prizes,

which were usually
merchant ships,

and then these would
either be sold off

or the goods onboard
would then be sold off

and the money with them be
split out amongst the captain.

And then it would
sort of filter down

just through smaller increments

to each of the officers
and the crew.

[narrator] And their commanders
were a special breed.

[Ben] Frigate captains were
the most enterprising,

ambitious captains and
officers in the Royal Navy.

And they were quite glamorous
figures at the time.

And wanted to use
their own initiative

and to be bold and daring
and get into battle.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] One of the
most daring of his time

was a man named John Perkins.

[S.I.] John Perkins's
most audacious attack

on another vessel
would have been

the taking of
the French ship

the Duquesne in 1804.

Perkins was in a 32-gun frigate

and he took on the Duquesne,
which had 74 guns.

He did eventually
have some backup,

but the fact that
it had the audacity

to even think of
taking on a ship

of more than twice his
firepower is extraordinary

and typical of the man.

[narrator] Born in Jamaica,

Perkins also knew
the Caribbean waters

like the back of his hand.

Yet even with this
courage and skill,

he was an unlikely commander.

[S.I.] John Perkins was
a person of mixed race.

So he's very unusual

in as much as he made it
through all the

hoops and ladders

which would've stopped and
hindered other non-White men.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] The Royal Navy rarely
promoted people of color.

He was its first Black
commissioned officer

and he made his presence felt.

[S.I] Of Perkins, it was said

that he annoyed the enemy
more than any other officer

by his feats of gallantry

and the immense number
of prizes that he took.

And we are talking about an
immense number of prizes.

315 enemy ships either taken,
sunk, or destroyed

and more than 3,000 prisoners,

which is a
phenomenal achievement.

[narrator] But his achievements
did not always protect him

from the bigotry of the time.

[S.I.] One of the
attendants of the Tartar

which Perkins is commanding,

declares that it is
a cursed disgrace

for us British officers
to be under the command

of a blood-thirsty
colored captain.

So clearly, at officer level,

there was discomfort
at his seniority.

And this must've been something

which accompanied him
throughout his career.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] Nelson too
had mastered his naval prowess

commanding frigates
in the Caribbean.

The bold and daring
qualities never left him.

As the admiral of the fleet,

he waited on word from
his scouting frigates.

By now, they had reported
that Villeneuve's fleet

had 33 ships of the line.

[Ben] Information would be fed
back to fleets by signals,

almost like a relay
race of one frigate

being able to
communicate to another,

to communicate to another,
and bring back clear,

concise information
to the fleet commander.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] In Cadiz,
Villeneuve received orders

from Napoleon to
leave port and sail

to deliver troops
to Naples, Italy.

[dramatic music]

Outside the safety
of Cadiz Harbor,

Nelson's frigates lay waiting,

ready to signal
the British fleet.

[dramatic music]

On October 20th, 1805,

after nearly a month
of waiting,

Nelson finally got the signal.

Villeneuve was on the move.

[Rob] It took the best
part of an entire day

for Villeneuve's
fleets to leave Cadiz.

On the 20th of October,
they were fully at sea,

but had been spotted by the
scouting British frigates.

They were able to alert Nelson.

By this stage, Villeneuve
knew he had been spotted

and had turned around in
a slightly chaotic maneuver,

heading back towards
the safety of Cadiz.

But too late.

By this stage,

the main British
fleet had formed up

into its two squadrons
and the stage was set

for what would be
the Battle of Trafalgar.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] Hoping to
split the enemy's line,

the two British
columns headed straight

for the broadsides of
the combined fleet.

[cannon roars]

The riskiest moment for Nelson.

[Ben] What he essentially
wanted to do

was to use his biggest
and best ships,

HMS Victory and
HMS Royal Sovereign,

as battering rams to batter
into the French line.

[suspenseful music]

[Rob] Although placing your
best ship at the front allows

the maximum firepower
eventually to be delivered,

it does have its risk.

As the ship approaches
the enemy line,

it is being bombarded by
broadsides from the enemy fleet.

And there's a real risk of
potentially catastrophic damage,

meaning that the ship might
be taken out of the battle.

[narrator] That risk
becomes reality.

The wind is light.

Nelson's column crawls
toward the French line

with Nelson and the
Victory at its head.

Now it might seem
foolhardy for Nelson

to place himself in
one of those ships,

but, of course,
Nelson needed to be seen

to be leading from the front.

His men and his
officers expected that.

And he wouldn't have been
happy in any other position.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator]
As Victory took a beating,

the second British
column catches

a more favorable breeze.

Collingwood's squadron is
the first to engage the enemy,

taking advantage of
the fresher winds.

He is able then to
break the enemy line,

deliver his raking broadside.

And then, meanwhile,
the captains behind him

will fan out bringing
the fight to the enemy.

[suspenseful music]

At the same time,
Nelson's squadron

is very slowly advancing
towards the enemy line.

He is now looking
for his target,

which will be
the French flagship,

the Bucentaure.

Other ships will also be
looking for their targets.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] At 1:00 PM,

after enduring an
hour of enemy fire,

Victory breaks the
Franco-Spanish line

just below Admiral
Villeneuve's Bucentaure.

Below decks,
Victory's port side gun crews

were finally in the perfect
position to pull the trigger.

[Ben] When it broke the line,

it was able to do what
Nelson had planned.

It was able to rake the enemy,

to fire through the stern,
its undefended portion,

with its maximum firepower.

[Nick] If you
fire down the stern,

there's almost nothing
to stop the shot

going all the way
along the deck,

which is why Bucentaure
is thought to have lost

over 200 men just from
that single broadside.

[narrator] As Victory dealt a
devastating blow to Bucentaure,

its bow rammed
another French ship,

the Redoutable,
and became entangled.

Now they've got both
sides working the guns

and enemy shot coming through,

but they would load
and re-fire again

at point blank range.

[Ben] This is how
Nelson liked to fight.

Close and with the
hardest possible force.

[dramatic music]

[narrator]
The Battle of Trafalgar

began to descend into chaos.

More and more ships
from Collingwood's column

were engaging the
French and Spanish ships.

But Victory was still alone,
surrounded by the enemy.

The next British ship
was still minutes away.

Victory's gunners frantically
fired every weapon they had.

[Ben] To be part of
that kind of battle

was like entering hell.

You wouldn't be
able to see much.

The smoke, the noise.

The noise would deafen
you for days afterwards.

You would be surrounded
by your fellows dying,

people being decapitated.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] To understand just
how deadly this gunfire was,

the Vasa Museum in
Stockholm, Sweden,

home to a 17th-century
combat ship,

created an exact replica

of one of her 24-pounder guns
and took it to a firing range.

[suspenseful music]

Fred Hocker was one of the
lead historians on the project.

[Fred] We fired
a total of 54 rounds

to assess range, velocity,
accuracy, and effect.

To test effect, we built a
full-scale copy of a section

of the side of Vasa.

Essentially one gun poured and
the hull structure around it,

and then punched a series of
holes in it with that cannon

in order to assess
splinter damage, penetration,

and what the effect inside
the ship would have been,

being hit with cannon balls.

[cannon roars]

[narrator] The tests proved
these guns packed a punch.

[Fred] There was no part
of the ship structure of Vasa

that would stop a
24-pound cannonball.

And, in fact,
what we discovered is virtually

every round that we fired
had enough residual velocity

that it would have gone
through the other side

of the ship as well.

[narrator]
Aside from cannonballs

flying across the decks,

crews had to contend with the
splinters each shot produced

as it crashed through
the wooden hull.

[Fred] The vast
majority of splinters

you created by shooting through
the thin part of Vasa's side

would bounce off your clothing.

However, if you hit a spot

that has a big internal
reinforcing timbers,

knees, standards,
rider timbers on the inside,

so that instead of going
through 45 centimeters of oak,

the ball is going through
75 centimeters of oak,

that allows that shockwave to
spread out over a bigger area.

And then you break
off really big chunks

of those internal timbers.

And so, instead of
getting ten millimeter

or ten gram matchsticks,

you get big chunks
that weigh kilograms

traveling at 200 meters
per second.

They're deadly.

[intense music]

You could say,
in a perverse way,

"That your best defense
against a heavily-armed ship

is to be a lightly-built ship."

[narrator] But at Trafalgar,

the hulls were thicker
and the guns were bigger.

[suspenseful music]

[Fred] Considering what
we discovered firing

a 24-pound ball at 17th-century
ship structure,

in light of the
heavier guns firing

at thicker hull
sides at Trafalgar,

I would expect the result

of Victory's lower
and middle tier

to have been devastating on
French and Spanish ships.

I can't imagine that
there was any ship

that could stop
one of those balls.

And because those structures
are so much thicker

than what we were firing at,

I would imagine that the size
of splinters being generated

are much larger,
and thus much more deadly.

[narrator] But Victory's gunners
got as well as they gave.

Marine Lieutenant Roatley,

stationed on the
middle deck of Victory,

would later recall.

[Interpreter] A man
should witness a battle

in a three decker
from the middle deck,

for it beggars all description.

It bewilders the senses
of sight and hearing.

There was the fire from above,
the fire from below,

besides the fire from
the deck I was upon.

The guns recoiling
with violence,

reports louder than thunder,

the decks heaving and
the sides straining.

I fancied myself in
the infernal regions

where every man
appeared a devil.

-[cannons roaring]
-[suspenseful music]

To keep your nerve
under that kind of chaos

and slaughter called
upon ultimate resources.

[Fred] The British understood

your best strategy for
survival is offensive.

Serve your gun as
efficiently as you can

to subdue the enemy
as quickly as you can

so he will quit firing
his guns at you.

And that's what
practice was about.

What all of the
gun drill was about

was to imprint
the actions needed

to load and fire the
gun in muscle memory,

so that you could do it even
when you were terrified,

because that was
the way to survive.

That was your best chance of
surviving a naval engagement

was to win.

[narrator]
On Victory's upper deck,

the situation was
just as chaotic.

Nelson watched
the battle unfold.

Victory was still lashed
to the French ship,

Redoutable, whose Captain
Lucas saw his only chance

of survival in a
boarding attempt.

[Nick]
So this is the quarterdeck.

This is like the nerve
center of the ship.

This is where Nelson
commanded the fleet.

You've got smoke everywhere.

It may seem like chaos,
but it's organized chaos.

These men are well drilled.

You've got marines
with small arms trying

to repel the French
from boarding.

You've got men on the gun crews
at the guns firing rapidly.

And it was at this point
Nelson was shot by a sniper.

He was shot through the shoulder
and it severed his spine.

He was taken below by his man.

And his men quickly tried
to avenge this brutal attack,

looking in the rigging
tops of the French ship

for the sniper.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Suddenly,
the British fleet

was without its
fearless leader.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannons roaring]

On HMS Victory,

the British sailors
were fighting hard

during a crucial stage of
the Battle of Trafalgar.

[cannon roars]

While below decks,

their admiral was
fighting for his life.

Admiral Nelson was
shot only 15 minutes

after Victory broke
the enemy's line.

When Nelson is hit and
wounded and taken below deck,

the battle is still undecided.

The fate remains
in the balance.

[suspenseful music]

At the heart of Nelson's
genius as a leader

was to get people to
understand what they should do,

even in the most
dire of situations.

His most fundamental
order was that no captain

could do wrong if he brought
himself alongside an enemy

and just fought them.

It was up to every captain,

every gun crew,
to keep on fighting.

[Rob] As more and more
British ships come in,

the numerical balance is
tipping in Britain's favor.

[narrator] The Franco-Spanish
vanguard of ten ships

now began their slow
turn to rejoin the fight.

The British needed a decisive
blow before that happened.

It was on the gunners
to keep pounding away.

Each gun crew would
be well drilled

and they could load and fire
these guns in 90 seconds.

[cannons roaring]

90 seconds is incredibly
fast for reloading and firing

one of these guns.

The French in Spanish
couldn't keep up.

The French and Spanish were
not trained in the same way.

They did not have
that same experience.

They saw the British
sailors as kind of devils.

They described them as devils.

How could people fire
so much so rapidly?

[dramatic music]

[narrator] More and more
British ships poured

into the line.

[suspenseful music]

By 2:00 PM, the huge
Santisima Trinidad,

target of multiple attacks,
was a floating carcass.

One of its sailors remembered.

[Interpreter]
She could not move.

The English shot had told
our sails to tatters.

It was as if huge
invisible talons

had been dragging at them.

The ship creaked and
groaned as she rolled

and through a thousand holes
and crevices in her hull,

the sea spurted in and
began to flood her hold.

[narrator] At the same time,
three more British ships

raked the Bucentaure,

leaving Admiral
Villeneuve no choice

but to surrender
the French flagship.

At the same time,
in the chaos of the battle,

more and more the
French and Spanish ships

are actually
lowering their flags,

indicating that they
have surrendered.

Nelson's tactic of trying to get

an early numerical
advantage has actually paid off.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] By 4:15 PM,

a British victory
is inevitable.

[Rob] Captain Hardy comes
down to the orlop deck

of HMS Victory to tell Nelson

that a victory
has been achieved

at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Nelson is relieved.

"Now I am satisfied," he said,

"Thank God I have
done my duty."

[awe-inspiring music]

[narrator] Nelson would
die 15 minutes later.

[awe-inspiring music]

The British victory
was resounding.

18 of the enemy's 33 ships
were captured or destroyed.

The Spanish suffered
over 2,000 casualties.

The French over 4,000.

[awe-inspiring music]

Though many, like Victory,
were badly damaged,

no British ship was lost.

The British defeat of
the Franco-Spanish fleet

during the Battle of Trafalgar

was devastating to
France and Spain as well.

They lost control of the seas.

Therefore, they had
no ability to try

and cross the Channel

or invade Egypt or any
of those opportunities

that Napoleon sought to
try and defeat the British.

[narrator] The British victory

did not end Napoleon's
dominance over Europe,

which would last
another decade.

But it gave Britain
control of the oceans

for the next century.

The victory was bittersweet.

[dramatic music]

The British had over
1,000 casualties,

including their
revered admiral.

[Kate] The news of victory was
greatly received in London,

but the news of the death
of Nelson caused people

to show a public
outpouring of emotion

that really you would
probably only be able

to compare nowadays to
the death of Princess Diana.

People throughout
the entire country

were mourning
the death of Nelson.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] Today,
Nelson's victory at Trafalgar

is commemorated by one of
London's most famous landmarks.

[dramatic music]

And by the ship
that made him a legend.

[Nick] Victory
is a unique survivor.

She survived many battles.

At Trafalgar, she was
already 40 years old.

And that's why it's so
incredible that she survived.

And it's through her fame,

that's the reason we
still have her today.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] She is the only
remaining ship of the line,

the last witness to one
of the greatest battles

in naval history.

[dramatic music]