The Ships of Trafalgar : The British, French and Spanish Fleets, 21 October 1805

The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, remains one of the defining actions in naval history. The monumental nature of the clash, the death of Nelson and the national outpouring of grief and triumph in the aftermath have inspired a wealth of literature on the battle, and many narratives have retold this famous action. However, until now no work has attempted to provide an in-depth history of each of the British, French and Spanish vessels that took part in the engagement. Dividing the fleets into the relevant classes by their rating, this keystone work then proceeds to provide a history of each individual vessel, including specifications tables, lists of commanders, casualty details, sailing qualities, refit histories and much more.
Using a wide array of primary sources, including copious research into original ships' plans, logbooks and dockyard records, Peter Goodwin conveys a wealth of fresh insight into precisely what it meant in quantitative and qualitative terms to have 73 warships clashing off the coast of south-west Spain in October 1805.