KANSAS NEWSPAPER
Britain marks 200th anniversary of its greatest sea victory with Battle of Trafalgar reenactment
THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer 
In this photo released by the Royal Mint of Lord Nelson's Great, Great, Great Granddaughter, Anna Tribe, who is pictured on board the prestigious HMS Victory (on which he died) in Portsmouth, England, Monday, June 27 2005. She holds the new 5 pound ($US 9.14) Trafalgar coin, issued by Britain's Royal Mint to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, ahead of Tuesday's international fleet review by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. The coin is not intended for everyday use but is, rather, a commemorative keepsake of an historic event. (AP Photo / Kiran Ridley, Royal Mint, HO)
PORTSMOUTH, England — An international fleet of warships — from high-tech aircraft carriers to an 18th-century frigate — moved into position ahead of a mock sea battle Tuesday to mark 200 years since the Battle of Trafalgar.
Nearly 170 ships crowded the waters off Portsmouth on England's south coast to commemorate Adm. Horatio Nelson's stunning victory over Napoleon Bonaparte's French and Spanish forces — regarded as a turning point in modern European history.
The rout contributed to Napoleon's eventual downfall and gave Britain naval supremacy for more than 100 years.
Ahead of the mock battle, Queen Elizabeth II, in her role as Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, reviewed the fleet from aboard the icebreaker HMS Endurance, along with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.
In a written message, the queen said the presence of such a large international fleet showed how highly other nations regarded Nelson, one of Britain's greatest military heroes.
"Admiral Lord Nelson's supreme qualities of seamanship, leadership with humanity and courage in the face of danger are shared among our maritime community today. He could wish for no greater legacy," the monarch said.
The fleet included 109 British vessels and 58 ships from 35 other countries. Three aircraft carriers — Britain's Invincible, France's Charles de Gaulle and America's Harry S. Truman — were among the warships gathered off Portsmouth, along with numerous historic tall ships. The event was also attended by 57 heads of foreign navies.
Thousands of spectators gathered to watch under bright, sunny skies.
"I'm amazed to see that so many countries sent ships to help us celebrate the victory," said Dave Pullen, 30, a refuse collector from a nearby town who took the day off work to see the celebration with his wife and 11-month-old daughter.
"Given all the fighting going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's nice to see so many warships from so many countries that don't intend to destroy one another," he said. "It's a great sign of good will and peace."
The mock sea battle Tuesday evening involves 10 tons of gunpowder, state-of-the-art pyrotechnics and the 17 tall ships, including a replica 18th-century frigate portraying HMS Victory, the flagship that Nelson commanded.
Tuesday's grand finale includes 10,000 fireworks fired from 35 pontoons and six barges in the waterway, and all the ships in the fleet illuminated with lights.
During the battle, a bullet entered Nelson's shoulder, pierced his lung and came to rest at the base of his spine. But the admiral didn't die until after the battle ended with a British victory during which the Franco-Spanish alliance lost 22 ships and the British none.
France and Britain have long forged an alliance since the Battle of Trafalgar, but British-French rivalry remains strong, as shown by their latest public feud over the European Union budget. Anniversary organizers worked hard to avoid touching it off.
They decided not to carry out a precise re-enactment of the famous battle with a victor and a loser, instead opting for a sea battle pitting an unidentified red navy against an unnamed blue one.
That irritated Anna Tribe, 75, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Nelson and his famous lover, Emma Hamilton, the wife of a British ambassador.
"I am sure the French and Spanish are adult enough to appreciate we did win that battle," Tribe said. "I am anti-political correctness. Very much against it. It makes fools of us."
However, Britain's most senior naval officer defended the event.
"I thought in the summer, when it's good weather, we would have a large fleet review and get a lot of nations in, because that is the way we are employed around the world now, fighting terrorism, working with our close allies," First Sea Lord Adm. Sir Alan West told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
"Nelson would have approved of that, to get the maritime back in the public eye."
French Vice Adm. Jacques Mazars, in charge of five vessels taking part, said the point of such a ceremony isn't to put British forces on one side, and French and Spanish ones on the other, or to rekindle a rivalry, but to have today's allies celebrate a historical moment when both camps showed bravery.
The mock battle kicks off a long season of festivities in Britain marking the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar, which took place Oct. 21, 1805, off Cape Trafalgar, a low headland in southwest Spain.
Nelson won a series of stunning naval successes against France and Spain that culminated in Trafalgar, during which he shattered the combined enemy fleet by taking it head-on. The victory arguably ended any hope of an invasion of Britain by Napoleon, enabling the British empire to grow. Napoleon's final defeat came on land at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
