u/stiF_staL

TLDR: Nelson and Napoleon unkowingly sailed past each other when Napoleon was heading to the Levant to begin his campaign in Egypt, as Nelson was sent to intercept the French fleet

Between the Wars of the First and Second Coalition, Britain stood alone at war with France. Charles IV sued for peace, subsequently binding the Spanish Navy to French service. As Napoleon liberated Lombardy and threatened Vienna, an Austria with no course of action capitulated. Nearly a dozen kingdoms made peace, thus the First Coalition collapsed, compelling Britain to cede the Mediterranean to Franco-Spanish dominance. Her control of the English channel remained, of course, making a French invasion impossible; however, a sea now void of British supremacy lent opportunity to the French.

The Levant lay open as an indirect path to peace for France, as Britain could not be struck directly. The French intended to cripple Britain’s economic ascendancy by seizing her strategic routes through Egypt, a geo-economic masterkey to British India. Besides, the Directoire was in need of ridding an overly ambitious Corsican from Paris. France proved equal to the task – 13 ships of the line, 13 frigates, and 300 transport vessels delivering Napoleon and his Armée d’Orient to Alexandria – its destination, however, remained clandestine by design.

While the invasion fleet’s presence was futile to conceal, France successfully secreted its intentions, to such a great extent its rank and file did not know their destination. The pacified Coalition entertained a notion of intrigue as Britain endured deep apprehension; this French enigma could not be tolerated. The Royal Navy tasked Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson with investigating the mysterious fleet at Toulon, which France put to sea shortly before his arrival. Despite a hampering of limited scouting vessels, Nelson deduced Egypt to be the French destination upon news from Malta. Napoleon secured the island as a forward base; a decision which later brought Tsar Paul I to the Second Coalition.

Their paths nearly converged on a moonless, opaque night after Napoleon departed Malta, each sailing unaware of the other’s presence just a few miles away. To Nelson's misfortune, Providence guided Napoleon safely from Lombardy to Alexandria, yet the Rear-Admiral’s efforts rendered him indispensable to Britain

Both fleets met at the Nile on the evening of 1 August 1798, when Nelson greeted the anchored French fleet with his 14 ships of the line and one sloop. The Armée d’Orient disembarked with relative safety. However, if successful, Napoleon would lie stranded as Britain seized the Mediterranean where Nelson’s wake may very well rejuvenate the Coalition. If unsuccessful, Revolutionary tides would produce rogue waves across Europe as Britain is forced to her knees, paving the way for a French hegemony.

Meme and info on Malta coming soon

meme and info on the Battle of the Nile.

https://history-maps.com/warmap/napoleonic-wars/event/battle-of-talavera

I know this sounds absurd and that napoleon had never been a naval officer at any time of his life. But, given he had already proven to be a military genius, what if he dedicated to the art of naval warfare, studying it and maybe learning from great commanders of the past?

I know it isnt that simple and that french success on land wasnt solely based on "napoleon is a genius" and had many other important factors.

It would also be considerably risker for him that land battles, thats true.

Anyway, thats just an idea I had, probably very unrealistic. I just noticed that France usually did poorly in some areas when he wasnt present in person (for example, Spain) and the naval theater was a place where he was never present, so perhaps his greatest fragility specially considering the navy was the main british strength

In order:

Jone Paul Jones (1747-1791)

John Barry (1745-1803)

John Adams (1797-1801)

"At the urging of General George Washington, the Second Continental Congress created the Continental Navy. In Philadelphia, the Congress commissioned the first Navy officers, including John Barry, regarded as the Father of the U.S. Navy, and John Paul Jones, who went on to fame by raiding the coasts of Britain itself.

On the Philadelphia bank of the Delaware River, the new Navy commissioned its first ship, the USS Alfred. On the Alfred, John Paul Jones was the first to hoist the original American national flag, the Grand Union Flag. Later, Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey signer of the Declaration, designed the first Navy flag, which became the pattern for the Stars and Stripes.

In Philadelphia's historic tavern called The Tun, John Adams wrote the Navy’s organizing document, the Articles of War. From the Delaware the navy’s first flotilla sailed, and escorted the Marines on their first amphibious operation to seize guns and gunpowder from the British in the Bahamas. The Navy’s efforts were organized in Philadelphia through most of the American Revolution, until the war ended and the Continental Navy was dissolved.

The U.S. Navy was reborn in Philadelphia after the Constitution was adopted there. A few years after Philadelphia became the Nation’s Capital, Congress met in Congress Hall and passed the Navy Act of 1794, creating the Department of the Navy. There President Washington nominated the first Secretary of the Navy, and Congress authorized construction of the famed six frigates, which were designed in Philadelphia. The first – USS United States – was launched on the Delaware and was the first U.S. Navy ship."

https://www.homecoming250.org/birthplace-of-the-navy-marine-corps/the-birth-of-the-navy/