Rosily and the Cádiz surrender

Rosily reached Cádiz to take charge of the French ships that had survived Trafalgar. His command then became entangled in the political crisis and French invasion of Spain. The harbour offered no escape once hostile forces controlled its forts, while the ships themselves were short of supplies and the Royal Navy remained close by. Rosily consequently had little operational room to solve the crisis at sea. His surrender transferred the ships to forces fighting France and shows how control of a fortified harbour and its land approaches could decide the fate of a fleet without a conventional naval battle.