The Honor Harrington series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_Harrington
Honor Stephanie Harrington is a fictional character, the eponymous heroine of a series of science fiction books set in the "Honorverse", written by David Weber and published by Baen Books.
An officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy, the space navy of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Harrington bears a striking professional resemblance to both the real life Admiral Lord Nelson, Captain Thomas Cochrane, and the fictional (composite) character Horatio Hornblower. Like Nelson, she loses an eye and an arm in combat; her initials are the same as Hornblower's, and like all three officers, she has a genius for tactical command throughout the series and becomes a living legend by using those skills in several major engagements—battles for which the press dubs her The Salamander— for always seeming to be "where the fire is hottest". By the tenth main-line novel (Ashes of Victory) Honor has emerged as a strategist of note as well, and has been promoted to Admiral in both the Manticoran and Grayson space navies.
Other parallels with real history include the political situation. During much of Harrington's career her native Star Kingdom of Manticore is at war with the neighboring People's Republic of Haven, a conflict that bears more than passing resemblance to the antagonism between the British Empire and France during the Napoleonic Wars. Last but not least, Weber references the author of Hornblower within the series on at least one occasion, a minor instance of 'breaking the fourth wall', as an homage.