The counterfactual returns to the missing squadrons and identifies the ships that might have joined the action. Louis's detachment included Queen, Canopus, Spencer, Zealous, and Tigre, while Calder had taken his second-rate flagship Prince of Wales home. Restoring those six ships would have created equal 33-ship lines of battle and given Nelson enough senior officers for a third column. Calder, seeking to recover his reputation after Cape Finisterre, is presented as its likely commander, with Louis reinforcing another column. The exercise is valuable not as a claim that the alternative battle was inevitable, but as a demonstration that reputation, orders, and a few days of timing could reshape an entire order of battle.
Notable Point · 1:17:05-1:19:26
A possible third British column
Had Louis and Calder arrived with their ships, Nelson could plausibly have had a third column and an equal 33-ship line-of-battle force.