As featured in

Military Illustrated

A fine book, one that conveys not just the historical and technical details of Nelson’s battles but their very atmosphere. From St Vincent to Trafalgar, all Nelson’s battles are here. It’s a handsome, well-presented book, with many illustrations and maps to further explain the information within. Moreover, beyond Nelson’s victories at the Nile and Trafalgar, it also gives a great deal of background detail about the British Navy of Nelson’s day. For the enthusiast and scholar alike.

Hellbound - Steve Earles

This well written book considers not only the battles but also the great admiral himself, and with sympathetic descriptions of his captains and their crews, makes for interesting reading.

The Nautical Magazine - April 2009

Those interested in naval history have much to thank Nicholas Tracey for. Few historians can have a greater knowledge of sailing, naval tactics and the events in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Nelson's Battles is an updated version of the book he published in 1996 incorporating subsequently discovered material, in particular, Nelson's fascinating tactical Trafalgar sketch discovered by Colin White in the British Library. Four of the five chapters are specifically devoted to Nelson's Battles, his professionalism and leadership, and not surprisingly, the tactics involved. Whilst the narrative broadly follows well trodden paths, it is written with authority.
However the fifth, the most interesting and longest chapter makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of British naval philosophy and its implementation over the sailing navy years. It offers detailed explanations of the many aspects that comprise trade protection and power projection, and the art and development of tactics and signals as successive admirals amended, and improved, the fighting instructions continually adding additional signals until Home Pop-ham devised his master system which was used at Trafalgar making possible the most famous of all naval signals. If nothing else, this chapter is worth the price of the book and I cannot wait to read it again.

The Naval review - May 2009