Byng and What is Wrong with the Royal Navy

William Lind writes an interesting article on Admiral Byng and the HMS Cornwall incident:

... Byng was executed not for what he did, but for what he did not do ... Without Byng, I doubt there would have been a Nelson.

Byng's execution points directly to what went wrong in the Royal Navy in the Shatt. It is not so much what people did as what they did not do. Neither the fleet commander nor the commander of HMS Cornwall prepared for such a situation. When it happened, Cornwall did not react. The captured sailors and Marines did not think about anything except their own skins. The Royal Navy, as represented by Admiral Band, seems decided to do nothing about its disgrace except pretend it did not happen.

That pretty well sums it up.