A Hypothetical Napoleonic Invasion of Britain - Operation "Lion of the Sea"

This is where we have to make the first of our few small changes.

First is rather simple, the same storm that scatters Admiral Nelson’s Ships at Toulon also scatters Admiral Collingwood’s Ships at Brest. For this to be the case Collingwood would have to also be maintaining a loose blockade in an attempt to lure the French out to fight and with a bit of pressure from Nelson and the Admiralty this isn’t a far fetched idea.

So the Combined Spanish and French Fleet manage to escape but now how do they actually lure Admiral Cornwallis (Yes he’s the brother of that Cornwallis) out of his post guarding the Channel?

Well that’s where we come to our second Historical Change.

Well it’s not really a change, rather we’re going to not change something, stay with me this will make sense.

The French plan was to break out of Port. Head to the West Indies where they’d cause havoc and draw the British Fleets out to engage them.

Then before the British arrived the French would double back, fight their way past the Channel blockade and land forces in Ireland while Napoleon and his Invasion Army set sail from a few ports along the Continental Coast.

Well what happened was Nelson initially went to the Mediterranean and began searching there for the French before figuring out they had not gone to Egypt and turned around.

All we have to do is have Nelson be a tad more stubborn (which as anyone who’s read a book on Nelson knows is not a stretch in the slightest) and have him stay in the Mediterranean with Collingwood to force Admiral Cornwallis to leave Britain and defend the West Indies.

Well now the French Fleet sneaks back to Europe and ferries the French across the Channel and to Ireland but that’s the next few articles.

There will be some kind of Alternate Trafalgar at some point since the French are cut off from all friendly ports so either Napoleon is going to have to seize a British one or the Franco-Spanish Fleet are going to be in big trouble.