Friday 2 September 2011

The home of the little mermaid, under rocket attack

On September the 2nd 1807 the Royal Navy destoryed the Danish navy while it sat at anchor in Copenhagen harbour, again. The first time that this had been done had been in 1801 by Lord Nelson (then a Vice-Admiral) under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. It was in this battle that Nelson used the fact that he was blind in one eye to claim that he had not seen the signal to withdraw, as Admiral Sir Hyde Parker had expected when he put it up. The signal had been given simply to give Nelson the option of withdrawing without the danger of being shot like Admiral Byng. However as Nelson was one of the best examples of the rabid dog levels of aggression that had trained into naval officers since the incompetent Byng, so Admiral Sir Hyde Parker would have known it was an order unlikely to be followed.

The 1807 raid was conducted under the command of Admiral Gambier who ordered the city to be bombarded by mortars and rockets, unlike Nelson who had sailed his fleet right into Copenhagen Harbour to 'engage the enemy more closely' as he always signaled while fighting. The British bombarded the city for 3 days destroying almost a third of the city and killing 2000 civilians before the Danes surrendered.

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