Elizabeth's navy created the first ever set of uniform cannon, capable of firing the same size shot in a deadly barrage
Posted on 02/20/2009 9:31:37 AM PST by JoeProBono
The English navy at around the time of the Armada was evolving revolutionary new tactics, according to new research.Tests on cannon recovered from an Elizabethan warship suggest it carried powerful cast iron guns, of uniform size, firing standard ammunition."This marked the beginning of a kind of mechanisation of war," says naval historian Professor Eric Grove of Salford University. "The ship is now a gun platform in a way that it wasn't before."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Elizabeth's navy created the first ever set of uniform cannon, capable of firing the same size shot in a deadly barrage
Thanks for posting.
Standardized ammunition is what won it for the English. Any cannonball could be fired from any cannon. Not so for the Spanish. When a cannon was lost, its cannonballs became useless.
Not when you consider that metalworking was done by guilds that jealously guarded their secrets thus preventing any kind of standardization. For years gunsmiths made their own ammo molds.
The gun carriage on these English guns allowed for easier reloading. Not much easier, but they were headed in the right direction.
Aah... Now it makes perfect sense. Screwed by the precursor to our modern unions. Also proof positive that the concept of a patent did more for innovation than virtually any other factor.
Exactly what I was about to say. The cannon maker’s art was rather tightly controlled within families and the guild system.
So was the making of small arms.
Here’s a little factoid for y’all: Eli Whitney gets all this credit for the cotton gin. I don’t know why, it was such a minor achievement of his.
What was Eli Whitney’s MAJOR achievement?
Interchangeable, uniform parts manufacturing. For what? (drum roll please)
Small arms.
http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/ct1763_1818/whitney.htm
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No one loves me anymore.Tests on cannon recovered from an Elizabethan warship suggest it carried powerful cast iron guns, of uniform size, firing standard ammunition.This was begun under Henry VIIIth, Lizzies dad, and laid the way for eventual British naval superiority. Hank wanted it done, and German ironworkers and miners were recruited and brought to England. |
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Uh, that sentence is a bit, well, never mind. ;’)
Interesting.
I read somewhere that Tudor warships also had primitive breech-loading guns. Guess that was before this period in her reign.
This is actually more of an example of emergency measures on the part of the Brits.
Cast iron guns were actually a step down from bronze guns. They were cheaper and had a tendency to to burst; cast iron guns inevitably burst, the question was when... the great Mons Meg lasted centuries, then blew up during a ceremonial salute; the “Swamp Angel” a huge Parrot Rifle being fired at Charleston SC during the Civil War, burst after only seven shots.
Standardization of shot was a good idea, though not original to the English. More likely they were making a bunch of identical guns.
It ain't so Civ...I wov you
D*mn, I’m touched! ;’)
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