At the end of the 18th century, Great Britain came face to face with great difficulties. Its rich American colonies declared their independence, and England's attempts to subjugate them came to nothing. The revolution that broke out in neighboring France led to a series of wars, during which the young general Napoleon Bonaparte emerged, who soon declared himself emperor. Having launched campaigns of conquest, he sought to undermine the power of England, and, ultimately, conquer it. Only the English fleet, famous not only for its power, but also, above all, for the skill of its sailors - both sailors and admirals, could prevent this. The best of them was Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), who did not lose a single naval battle in his life. The glory of a national hero came to Nelson after the battle on February 14 1797 at Cape St. Vincent. On his own initiative, he took his ship out of the squadron's line formation and carried out a maneuver that was decisive for the defeat of the Spanish fleet. Two of the four Spanish ships captured by the British were boarded under the personal command of Nelson, who received the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Bath and the rank of rear admiral for this battle. In July 1797, during an unsuccessful attempt to capture the port of Santa Cruz on Tenerife, Nelson lost his right arm. In May 1798, a storm that scattered his squadron did not allow the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte to be prevented from sailing from Toulon. Setting off in pursuit, Nelson discovered the enemy fleet in the Gulf of Abukir at the mouth of the Nile. Here he successfully applied the advanced naval combat tactics of that time, which consisted in the desire to attack part of the enemy ships with superior forces, and then fall on the rest and destroy them. On August 1, at sunset, he threw 10 battleships against 13 French, anchored under the cover of coastal artillery, and in a battle that lasted all night, he captured and destroyed 11 of them, without losing a single one of his own. Bonaparte's army, blocked in Egypt, was doomed. As a reward, George III of England made Nelson a peer - Baron Neale and Burnham-Thorpe. In Naples, where Nelson brought the ships for repairs after Abukir, his famous affair with the wife of the English ambassador, Lady Emma Hamilton, began, which lasted until the death of the admiral and was subsequently repeatedly described in fiction. Upon his return to England, Nelson was promoted to vice admirals (1801) and appointed to the post of second flagship of the Baltic squadron, heading against the powers of “armed neutrality”. On April 2, 1801, he burned the Danish fleet in the harbor of Copenhagen - for this victory Nelson received the title of Viscount. In 1803, after the renewal of war with France, Nelson led the British Mediterranean squadron. For two years he chased the enemy, who was avoiding a general battle. Only on October 21, 1805, at Cape Trafalgar, he met with the combined forces of the Spanish-French fleet and, again abandoning outdated linear tactics, completely defeated them. In this battle Nelson was mortally wounded. The victory at Trafalgar forced Napoleon to abandon plans to invade England. After the defeat of Napoleonic France, Great Britain entered into its "golden age".