Utility of French naval balloons during Napoleonic War?

[Admiral Beez]

The French Aerostatic Corps was the world's first balloon unit, founded in 1794 to use balloons, primarily for reconnaissance.

"In 1798, the company joined the Napoleonic Campaign in Egypt. On arrival, they decided to initially leave the ballooning equipment on their ship. This was destroyed in the Battle of the Nile, and the company was assigned to other duties. They were able to conduct a few demonstrations of more basic balloons for entertainment purposes. On 15 January 1799, the Directory passed an act disbanding the balloon corps. The second company was immediately disbanded, but the first was still in action in Egypt and remained in existence until its return to France in 1802."

Instead, the French Admiral asks the army to launch and maintain an observational balloon over the fleet to watch for Nelson's approaching fleet. Battle of the Nile - Wikipedia
And what about addressing British blockades of French ports. Such as when the French-Spanish fleet sailed from Cadiz, Battle of Trafalgar - Wikipedia

 

[SaparotRob]

Maybe the French Admiral could use an aircraft carrier.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Maybe the French Admiral could use an aircraft carrier.

I think that may be too ambitious by 50 years or so. BTW, you can shrink images by grabbing the corner, so they don't takeover the reader's page.

 

[SaparotRob]

BTW, you can shrink images by grabbing the corner, so they don't takeover the reader's page.

Could you expand on how I can contract?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Could you expand on how I can contract?

Click Edit on your email with the photo, click once on the photo, scroll up to the top right corner of the photo, hold down the corner and reduce the image size. Then click Save. If anyone wants to still see the full size image, when they click on it in your email the image will expand. I do this on most of my posts. Note, you cannot reliably reduce the size when you first post, as the system seems to ignore image size reductions until the post is opened a second time for editing.

 

[SaparotRob]

Aha! That explains my previous futile attempts.