Editing Edward Codrington (section)

==Service in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812==
On the renewal of hostilities with France he remained in [[frigate]]s for some time before being given the [[ship of the line]] {{HMS|Orion|1787|6}} in the spring of 1805 which was attached to [[Horatio Nelson|Admiral Nelson's]] fleet off [[Cadiz]] in the blockade of the combined fleet. Codrington and ''Orion'' were engaged at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] on 21 October 1805, where ''Orion'' was stationed to the rear of the northern division and therefore took two hours to reach battle. Once there, Codrington ignored all other ships and focused entirely on closing with a hitherto unengaged French ship, the {{ship|French ship|Swiftsure||2}}, forcing her to surrender. He then attacked but failed to capture the Spanish flagship {{ship|Spanish ship|Principe de Asturias|1794|2}} before moving on to the {{ship|French ship|Intrepide||2}}, the only ship of the northern division to return. ''Orion'', with other ships, dismasted and then sailed round her, firing continually until she surrendered.

For the next several years, Codrington fought alongside the Spanish against the French in the Mediterranean Sea, commanding a squadron that harried French shipping and made numerous coastal raids. During this time also participated in the disastrous [[Walcheren expedition]] in 1809.

The two months of May and June in 1811 were to prove his most testing time while stationed on Spain's eastern seaboard. He went to great lengths to help the Spanish [[Siege of Tarragona (1811)|besieged at Tarragona]] by the [[First French Empire|French]] Army of Aragon under [[Louis Gabriel Suchet]]. Convinced that the [[Marquis of Campoverde|Marquis de Campoverde]],<ref>memoir of Sir Edward Codrington page 211</ref> the Spanish general in charge of Tarragona, was not up to the task, Codrington, who had a clearer understanding of the situation, helped the British military agent Charles William Doyle to contrive a plan of succour. Through his own personal efforts Codrington brought to Tarragona 6,300 Spanish infantry and 291 artillerymen as reinforcements. He spent many nights in the port area guiding cannon launches against the enemy. When the city fell, he rescued over 600 people from the beach in a Dunkirk-style operation under fire from enemy cannon and personally undertook to reunite mothers and babies who had been separated during the evacuation. Afterwards, he intervened on a political level to stop Captain General [[Luis de Lacy|de Lacy]] disarming the local Catalan [[Somatén]]s (militias).

Codrington was promoted to the rank of [[Rear-Admiral of the Blue]] on 4 June 1814, while he was serving off the coast of North America as captain of the fleet to Vice Admiral [[Alexander Cochrane|Sir Alexander Cochrane]] during the operations against [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], [[Baltimore]] and [[New Orleans]] during the [[War of 1812]].{{sfn|Hannay|1911}} In recognition of this service, he was made a Knight Commander of the [[Order of the Bath]] in 1815. He became a [[Rear-Admiral of the Red]] on 12 August 1819, and then a [[vice admiral]] on 10 July 1821. He was also elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in February 1822.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}