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The Nazi Scheme to Bombard New York City With Rockets and Other Unfinished Military Plans

Khalid Elhassan January 16, 2020 32 min

South Vietnam - United States — American troops in South Vietnam. USA Today

29. Plans on Paper vs Plans in Practice

An engagement during the British Royal Navy’s blockade of the French port of Toulon. Royal Museums Greenwich

Unfortunately for Napoleon, the kinds of elaborate maneuvers for juking the British Royal Navy out of position were easier done on land than on sea. On land, a general could estimate marching times over known distances, with enough accuracy to concentrate at an opportune time and place. It was not the same at sea during the age of sail, because the vagaries of wind and weather made it difficult to time a concentration of fleets with precision.

The French Toulon fleet broke out of its blockade in March, 1805, eluded the British fleet commanded by Horatio Nelson, and raced to the Caribbean. There, it managed to lose and ditch the pursuing Nelson, then sailed to the rendezvous off Martinique to link up with the Brest fleet. However, it was stood up: the other fleet failed to breakout and was still blockaded in Brest. So the Toulon fleet sailed back to Europe.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.