THERE IS NO WAY, that upon the first thunderous break of cannon shots, that the men below deck would not fire back upon the enemy. There in, what ludicrous admiral guides a (seemingly) Man-o-war class ship, with superior firepower to most everything on the seas, between to frigates, and not unleash hell upon both enemies BLOWING THEM OUT THE FOOKIN WATER!?
THIS MOVIE WAS TRASH, too much plot armor.
This is a military (navy) setting, and not a modern one but a classic one, where you would get flogged or hanged for disobeying orders. They are more afraid of their sergeant and their own marines than they are of the enemy. They could be experiencing friendly fire and firing back could seal the fate of the whole ship, there could be a more dangerous target coming up that the captain want's to fire back at, there are so many scenarios that would require discipline instead of "hurr durr screw the officers, I will win this fight by disobeying orders and fire my single cannon at whatever it is pointing at at the moment". If you had read any historical accounts of ship of the line warfare, you would now that you follow orders and don't step out of line because then you are on the shit list forever, on a ship at sea that you are not allowed to leave.
Many officers from that era were simply nobles who bought commissions and had their noble connections pull strings. An incompetent officer or captain is nothing new.
I agree that the movie is trash. I like Master and commander.
but in this scenario, the people could most likely see the enemy ship through the port holes, there's no reason not to fire. Also, discipline doesn't rip out your humanity, if you see the line of explosions ripping down the side of the ship, you'd fire, because it's you fire, or your dead. No seargant involved.
but in this scenario, the people could most likely see the enemy ship through the port holes, there's no reason not to fire.
I gave you several reasons, but you are too fucking retarded to comprehend my comment. During this era it was very common for ship of the lines to go in a line. If your captain deems it better to fire upon the second ship in the line you hold your fire. Since they are passing eachother there wont be enough time for the enemy to reload anyway. There is no way they can see what the next ship is without hanging out of the gun ports which is not allowed and not a very good idea anyway in case they are ordered to fire.
Also, discipline doesn't rip out your humanity, if you see the line of explosions ripping down the side of the ship, you'd fire, because it's you fire, or your dead. No seargant involved.
This is the fucking era of line infantry combat where opposing armies just lined up and orderly fired volleys after volleys at eachother. Here in Sweden we would march straight towards the enemy while taking volleys in plural until we could see the whites in their eyes before stopping to do well organized volley firing. This would not work if people pussied out and fired on their own. Hundreds of thousands stood and delivered. You WILL have seen people flogged, beaten, worked until they passed out, starved and probably even hanged for disobeying orders, every fucking naval diary talked about how this makes you rather die than disobey orders.
Can you name one time a naval ships gun crew fired without orders to do so? I have never read of a single instance outside of fiction.
Stop making up your own reality based upon your modern pussy ass "humanity".
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