At 11:45 AM Nelson ordered the famous signal to be hoisted to his entire fleet which stated, “England expects that every man will do his duty". Now that the British navy was in formation and sailing right at the combined fleet it was time for the battle to begin. Nelson led the windward column in the Victory while the leeward column was led by Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (1748 – 1810) in the HMS Royal Sovereign. It would be the Royal Sovereign that would be the first British ship to enter range of the combined fleet and it would be the French ship Fougueux that would fire the first shots of the battle. At noon the Royal Sovereign cut the combined fleets line and opened up with a double shot broadside that tore …show more content…
With the British ships now cutting the battle lines of the combined fleet the grand melee that Nelson was looking for was now joined with the British ships firing into the rear and fronts of the combined fleet. This major tactic of crossing the “T” gave the expert gunners of the Royal Navy the upper hand in the combat. The French tactic for gunner was to shoot high and into the mast of the British while the British fired into the hull of the enemy ships. Being in the closeness of the melee the French could not fire upward at the mast of the British so most of their shots were non-effective. During this time with the British ships piercing the combined fleet’s lines and raking them with broadsides the Victory got her mast tangled with the French ship Redoutable. The captain of the French ship knew that his crew could never match the British in gunnery trained his crew instead in marksmanship and boarding actions. This would prove to be the downfall of Nelson. A French sailor on the top mast shooting down on the deck of Victory hit Nelson with a musket bullet that would lodge into his spine and eventually kill him. Having Nelson taken out of the action had little effect on the rest of the battle due to the British captains knowing what their job was and executing them