Camperdown and the third-rate battle line

Camperdown is a better guide to the normal composition of battlefleets than the famous presence of a few giant flagships. Of thirty-one ships of the line, twenty-five were third rates and the remaining six were fourth rates, with no first or second rates present. Admiral Adam Duncan had kept the respect of his sailors through the Nore mutiny by remaining steady rather than lurching between punishment and appeasement. His ability to forge that troubled force into an effective fleet makes leadership, rather than a giant flagship, the opening lesson of the battle. The modern Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan carries the admiral's name into the present Royal Navy.