My theory is that more Royalist naval officers stay loyal to France and don't flee. Your opinion?
My theory is that more Royalist naval officers stay loyal to France and don't flee. Your opinion?
My theory is that more Royalist naval officers stay loyal to France and don't flee. Your opinion?
In addition, it needs to construct more shipyards and train more workers for those. As things stood IOTL Britain could significantly outbuild France.In addition, France needs to secure access to naval stores, to build ships.
Hard to do because Napoleonic Wars means France has already gone through much of its Republican phase, including a purge among its Etat Major of all generals and admirals judged too loyal to the Monarchy.RandomWriterGuy said:My theory is that more Royalist naval officers stay loyal to France and don't flee.
Well, it could give Napoleon a fleet big enough to try invading Britain. But honestly, the Royal Navy was the first naval power at the time so it's still incredibly risky. Besides, with the timing, Napoleon would probably already be doing the Austerlitz Campaign and would have to face Prussia soon after... Which basically could throw his whole plans for invading Britain through the window, as it's likely the British would do everything to protect the home islands.RandomWriterGuy said:Assuming France does win Trafalgar, does that change much?
Hard to do because Napoleonic Wars means France has already gone through much of its Republican phase, including a purge among its Etat Major of all generals and admirals judged too loyal to the Monarchy.
I think the French navy would be better off if it had the chance of discovering skilled Captains and Admirals like the land army did with its generals. Think of Napoleon and his Marshals but on sea.
Well, it could give Napoleon a fleet big enough to try invading Britain. But honestly, the Royal Navy was the first naval power at the time so it's still incredibly risky. Besides, with the timing, Napoleon would probably already be doing the Austerlitz Campaign and would have to face Prussia soon after... Which basically could throw his whole plans for invading Britain through the window, as it's likely the British would do everything to protect the home islands.
The best it would probably do would be that France and Spain wouldn't lose as much ships as they did in Trafalgar. Which might still not be enough for France to have a navy able to rival with Britain: the battle of Aboukir had also been a pretty huge blow to the French fleet.
The Danish navy had been badly damaged at Copenhagen (for which keeping that fleet from helping Napoleon had been the main reason), and the Dutch were defeated at Camperdown.But is it still possible for Napoleon to destroy Britain? What if other French allies helped out with their navies?
The Danish navy had been badly damaged at Copenhagen (for which keeping that fleet from helping Napoleon had been the main reason), and the Dutch were defeated at Camperdown.
Assuming France does win Trafalgar, does that change much?
I think the French navy would be better off if it had the chance of discovering skilled Captains and Admirals like the land army did with its generals. Think of Napoleon and his Marshals but on sea.
Aboukir Bay was a total disaster for the French, particularly since the captured ships were repaired and put into service against their former owners.Maybe not having a squadron being destroyed at Aboukir would have helped.
I can see that being quite true. A land general would probably not understand naval operations. A domineering leader like Napoleon would just ignore contrary advice.Also it is often said that Napoleon couldn't comprehend the special requirements of naval momements and kept ordering his admirals and captains around like he would do with his generals. Thus they often received "impossible" orders, couldn't fulfill them and thus were despised by the Emperor.
Thus press-ganging/shanghaiing.This was however also a liability, as England needed many seamen to keep her merchant fleets going.