Nelson’s decision endangered no one but himself. It made his subordinates safer by drawing fire away from them. He made the reasonable choice that keeping up morale was worth risking his life. (Or maybe he just had no fear of death: he had already lost vision in one eye and arm to combat wounds). Perhaps Britain would have been better off in a world where he fled belowdecks and survived to continue his leadership. (The United States, had he survived to serve in the War of 1812, might not have). But his victory at Trafalgar was more than enough to crush Napoleon’s hopes of invading England and seal Nelson’s victory.
But where Nelson only sacrificed himself, Cradock chose to sacrifice his whole command. Would the thousands of sailors he commanded have given their lives to save his honor? History was not kind to his decision. Today, Cradock is mainly remembered as the first Royal Navy officer to lose a major surface action since the Napoleonic Wars.
Cradock’s defeat had no material impact on World War I. The two ships he lost were obsolescent and expendable (Cradock’s only tactical achievement was the worst insult that can be applied to a commander: he made the enemy exhaust their ammunition). A few weeks later, a force of British battlecruisers annihilated Spee’s squadron as easily as it annihilated Cradock’s.
Nelson’s behavior may have inspired Cradock. Revered as Nelson’s sacrifice bought the peace the Victorian-Edwardian Royal Navy enjoyed.