Great Turkish Bombard

infobox weapon


caption = Diagram of the weapon barrel
origin = Edirne
type = Cannon
is_ranged = yes
is_bladed = no
is_explosive = no
is_artillery = yes
is_vehicle = no
is_missile = no
is_UK =
service =
used_by = Ottoman Empire
wars = Fall of Constantinople
Dardanelles Operation
designer = Orban
design_date = ~1450
manufacturer =
unit_cost =
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number =
variants =
spec_label =
weight = ~18,000 kg (~40,000 lb)
length = ~8 m (~27 ft)
part_length =
width =
height =
diameter =
crew =
cartridge =
caliber = ~750 mm (~30 in)
action =
rate =
velocity =
range =
max_range =
feed =
sights =
breech =
recoil =
carriage =
elevation = none
traverse = none

The Great Turkish Bombard, also known as the Basilic, the Dardanelles Gun, the Hungarian Cannon, Muhammed's Great Gun and The Royal Gun was the world's first supergun.

The Great Turkish Bombard saw action in the Fall of Constantinople and the Dardanelles Operation. In the 1400s, so soon after the fundamentals of gunpowder warfare had been established, artillery was extremely effective.

Fall of Constantinople

Mehmed II attacked Constantinople in April 1453 using a force of massive siege cannons. Cast in bronze by a Transylvanian Romanian named Orban, these tubes were 8 m (27 ft) long and 18 tonnes in weight. Each gun fired 700 kg (1,500 lb) granite stones with a diameter of 750 mm (30 in). [ [http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/basilic/ Basilic] ]

These superguns played a crucial role in the Fall of Constantinople. Each gun was moved into position by 60 oxen and 400 men: half the force of men prepared a roadway for the guns while the others pulled on ropes to keep the huge weapons from falling over as they were moved along the road. Mehmed's men took seven days to prepare the guns before they opened fire. [ [http://www.historynet.com/magazines/military_history/8806982.html?featured=y&c=y Historynet.com: The Guns of Constantinople] ]

Seven times a day, the guns fired a granite stone that crashed into the walls of Constantinople. After about 90 days, on May 29, 1453, the guns breached the walls and the infantry attacked through the breach, storming the city and capturing it.

Dardanelles Operation

In 1464, Mehmed II commissioned 42 of the monster cannons to guard the Dardanelles. Each weighed 18 tonnes with a 750 mm (30 in) bore.

These huge cannons were still present for duty more than 300 years later in 1807, when a Royal Navy force appeared and commenced the Dardanelles Operation. Turkish forces loaded the ancient relics with propellant and projectiles, then fired them at the British ships. Instead of exploding, the cannon worked just as well as when they were new. Two shots on a single British ship killed 60 sailors. [ [http://www.trivia-library.com/b/military-and-war-weapons-the-cannon.htm Trivia-Library.com: Military and War Weapons the Cannon] ]

In 1867, Abdülâziz gave Queen Victoria one of these impressive and historic weapons. It became a part of the Royal Armouries collection and was displayed to visitors at the Tower of London [ [http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/~mathelmr/gem-projects/maa/Geometry_of_War.pdf Geometry of War - Pg. 6] ] and was then moved to Fort Nelson at Portsmouth.

In popular culture

The cannon is mentioned in Chapter XIV of The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe, known mainly in the adaptation by Gottfried August Bürger, where the Baron, "determined not to be outdone by a Frenchman" (he means François Baron de Tott who doesn't fear to fire from it) puts the cannon on his shoulder and swims with it to the opposite shore. When he reaches the shore, he tries to throw the weapon back to its place, but it slips in his hand and falls to the sea which enrages the Sultan. [ [http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/baron/Baron.html Baron Münchhausen] ]

It is also mentioned by Impey Barbicane in Chapter VII of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (1865): "At the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II., in 1453, they hurled stone bullets that weighed" convert|1900|lb|abbr=on. [ [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12901/12901-8.txt From the Earth to the Moon] ]

The cannon is a weapon in Ensemble Studios' PC strategy game, Age of Empires III and in Big Huge Games' PC strategy game, Rise of Nations, as well as a siege weapon for the Turks in .

See also

* Project Babylon - contemporary sectional super gun.

References

Further reading

* Crowley, R. (2005). "1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West". Hyperion. ISBN 1401301916
* Feldman, R. T. (2008). "The Fall of Constantinople". Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0822559188
* Nicolle, D. (2007). "The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman conquest of Byzantium". Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1846032008
* Runciman, S. (1990). "The Fall of Constantinople 1453". Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521398320
* Ffoulkes, C. (1930). "The 'Dardanelles' Gun at the Tower".

External links

* [http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Artillery%20Trade%20of%20the%20Ottoman%20Empire.doc2.pdf Artillery Trade of the Ottoman Empire]