- Carronade
The carronade was a short
smoothbore ,cast iron cannon , developed for theRoyal Navy by theCarron Company , anironworks inFalkirk ,Scotland ,UK used from the 1770s to the 1860s.The carronade was designed as a short-range naval weapon with a low
muzzle velocity , and is said to have been invented byLieutenant General Robert Melville in 1759 and developed byCharles Gascoigne , manager of the Carron Company from 1769 to 1779. It was adopted by the Royal Navy in 1779, and its early years was also known as a "gasconade" or "melvillade". The lower muzzle velocity of a carronade'sround shot was intended to create many more of the deadly wooden splinters when hitting the structure of an enemy vessel, leading to itsnickname , the smasher. However, the small powder charge of the carronade was only able to project a heavycannonball over a relatively limited distance. The short barrel, low muzzle velocity and short range also increased the risk that a carronade would eject burning wadding onto nearby combustible materials, increasing the risk of fire.A carronade was much shorter and a third to a quarter of the weight of an equivalent
long gun : for example, a 32 pounder carronade weighed less than aton , but a 32 pounder long gun weighed over 3 tons. Carronades were manufactured in the usual naval guncalibre s (12, 18, 24, 32 and 42 pounders, but 6 pdr and 68 pdr versions are known), but they were not counted in aship of the line 's rated number of guns. As a result, the classification of Royal Navy vessels in this period can mislead, since they would often be carrying more pieces of ordnance than they were described as carrying.Although the carronade, like other naval guns, was mounted with ropes to restrain the
recoil , the details of the gun mounting were usually quite different. The carronade was typically mounted on a sliding, rather than wheeled,gun carriage , and elevation was achieved with aturnscrew , likefield gun s, rather than thequoin s (wooden wedges) usual for naval guns. In addition, a carronade was usually mounted on alug underneath the barrel, rather than the usualtrunnion s to either side. As a result, the carronade had an unusually highcentre of gravity . Towards the end of the period of use, some carronades were fitted with trunnions to lower theircentre of gravity , to create a variant known as the gunnade.As a result of irregularities in the size of cannon balls and the difficulty of boring out
gun barrel s, there was usually a considerable gap (known as thewindage ) between the ball and the inside of the gun barrel. The windage of a cannon was often as much as a quarter of aninch and caused a considerable loss of projectile power. The manufacturing practices introduced by the Carron Company reduced the windage considerably. Despite the reduced windage, carronades had a much shorter range, typically a third to a half, than the equivalent long gun because they used a much smaller propellant charge (the chamber for the powder was smaller than the bore for the ball). However, typical naval tactics in the late18th Century emphasised short-rangebroadside s, so the short range was not thought to be a problem: indeed, their much lighter weight allowed a ship to carry more carronades, or carronades of a larger calibre, than long guns, and carronades could be mounted on the upper decks, where heavy long guns could cause the ship to be top-heavy and unstable. Carronades also required a smaller gun crew, were faster to reload, and were easier to aim. HMS "Victory" used the two 68 pdr carronades which she carried on herforecastle to great effect at theBattle of Trafalgar , clearing thegun deck of the "Bucentaure " by firing around shot and a keg of 500musket ball s through the "Bucentaure"'s stern windows.The carronade was initially very successful and widely adopted, and a few experimental ships (for example, HMS "Glatton") were fitted with a carronade-only armament. However, the lack of range against an opponent who could keep well clear and still use his long guns led to the demise of the carronade. In the 1810s and 1820s, greater emphasis was placed on the accuracy of long-range gunfire, and less on the weight of a broadside. Indeed, Captain David Porter of USS "Essex" complained when his 12 pounder long guns were replaced with 32 pounder carronades. The carronade disappeared from the Royal Navy from the 1850s after the development of steel, jacketed cannon by
William George Armstrong andJoseph Whitworth . Nevertheless, carronades were used in theAmerican Civil War in the 1860s.References
*"Originally from http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/gen1.htm, with the author's permission."
*1911
*cite book
last = Lavery
first = Brian
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 1989
title = Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793-1815
publisher = Conway Maritime Press
location = London
id = ISBN 1-59114-611-9[http://www.falkirk.gov.uk/services/community/cultural_services/museums/museums_and_archives.aspx]
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