On this day in 1805 legendary admiral Lord Horatio Nelson led the Royal Navy into battle against the combined Spanish & Napoleonic French fleets off Cape Trafalgar. Forming up into two columns the Royal Navy smashed headlong into the battleline & engaged in a frantic & savage fight at close range. Superior British gunnery & audacity prevailed & the Napoleonic fleet was shattered. The Royal Navy sank or captured 22 enemy vessels without losing a single one of their own. Lord Nelson was shot by a sharpshooter from the French ship Redoubtable & died later that same day. The victory at Trafalgar cemented England as the dominant naval power for generations. In the eponymous Trafalgar Square in London a statue of Nelson sits atop a 52M (169 ft.) column, the same height as the mainmast of his flagship Victory. HMS Victory is preserved as a museum ship to this day. ENGLAND EXPECTS THAT EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY ⚓