Are you saying that Sidney Smith was the only British naval officer capable of undertaking the cutting out operation in Toulon harbor? I haven't found that to be true of the Royal Navy officers in general during the period. Cutting out operations were one of the skills at which Royal Navy officers excelled, both against the French and the US Navy. The US Navy was also skilled in that type of operation, witness Stephen Decator and the USS Intrepid in Tripoli harbor burning the captured frigate USS Philadelphia which earned praise from Nelson as 'the most daring act of the age.'