Horatio Nelson by Angus Konstam

Author:Angus Konstam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horatio Nelson
ISBN: 9781849088220
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

The battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801

As dawn broke on the morning of 2 April Nelson must have been relieved that no such bombardment had taken place, and that the brisk wind was from the south-south-east – the perfect direction for the attack. He called his captains to the Elephant for breakfast – a typical Nelson gesture as it gave him the chance to issue his orders in person, and to make sure that all his captains knew exactly what he expected of them. It was just what he had done before the battle of the Nile – a gathering that allowed him as much to enthuse his commanders with his own aggressive spirit as to make sure they all knew what to do once the shooting started.

Nelson suspected that the Danes had anchored their hulks and floating batteries along the western edge of the channel, leaving him no room to pass ships between them and the shore, as he had done at the Nile. Instead, he would have to overwhelm them with firepower from the seaward side. He divided his ships into three groups. Five ships-of-the-line – Edgar (74), Ardent (64), Glatton (56), Isis (50) and Agamemnon (64) would anchor in front of the lower half of the line, and begin a gun duel with their Danish opponents. A second more powerful group – Bellona, Russell, Elephant, Ganges, Monarch and Defiance (all 74s) would fire on the same targets as they sailed past, but their task was to engage the northern portion of the line.

Once the first group had overwhelmed their opponents they would move to support them. Finally Captain Riou’s frigate squadron would divert the fire of the Trekroner Fort, and act as a link between Nelson and Parker. Once the line was overwhelmed, Parker would bring the rest of the fleet forward to support Riou. The plan was bold, ambitious and relied on the superiority of British gunnery to win the day. Nelson was also counting on his pilots to guide the fleet towards their targets. Their initial hesitation was overcome by the master of the Bellona, who offered to lead the fleet into the Konigs-tief. In the end Bellona, Russell and Agamemnon ran aground, but at least the first two were in range of the enemy and able to play their part in the coming battle. The rest of the fleet made it through the tricky passage, and by 10am the two lines of ships had began unleashing crippling broadsides at each other, fired at a range of just under 400 yards (365m).

The second group of British ships fired into the Danish hulks as they majestically sailed past them, although with two of their number aground their close-range firepower was somewhat reduced. The Elephant was in the thick of the fighting, and was cheered by the men of the Bellona as she sailed past them, heading for the northern part of the Danish line. Throughout the battle Nelson again flew signal 16 – ‘Engage the enemy more closely’.

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