• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Sources on naval artillery ca. 1820-1860?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

hyuzu

40 Cal
Joined
Nov 13, 2018
Messages
126
Reaction score
45
I'd be curious to read any material on naval artillery during this period, of any nation. Trying to get some idea of a) what sorts of guns were around and b) how naval artillery evolved during the period after the Napoleonic Wars and before the American Civil War.

I've been able to find a few books on both Napoleonic and ACW naval arty, so thought it was worth asking for something to fill the gap...
 
In addition to the vast secondary literature, there is a lot of primary source material available, if you know where to look... Archives, maritime museums, naval and maritime history enthusiasts, archaeology, etc.

Don't know how your Spanish is, but the "laminas" or illustrations are universal. These from the Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de Defensa in Spain:
http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/..._referencia.cmd?campo=idtitulo&idValor=603216

http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/..._referencia.cmd?campo=idtitulo&idValor=582374

http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/BVMDefensa/i18n/consulta/registro.cmd?id=4678

Caruana, A. The History of English Sea Ordnance, 1523-1875, V. II (Boudriot Pubs, 1995)
Douglas, Naval Gunnery, 1855
James, Naval History of Great Britain, (Bentley, 1859)
Napier, Notebook of HMS Excellent (1839)
Tunstall, Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail (1990)

There are many others, some very technical...
 
Death of several cabinet members, and near miss for President John Tyler--six dead total--from the explosion of the so-called "Peacemaker" bow chaser cannon of the USS Princeton 29 February 1844 might allow a figurative "window" in terms of accessibility on the period of great changes in naval ordnance between the age of fighting sail and the age of steam:

http://web.mit.edu/~sgtist/Public/princeton.pdf

Kerry S. Walters, Explosion on the Potomac: The 1844 Calamity Aboard the USS Princeton (Charleston: History Press, 2013). https://www.worldcat.org/title/expl...amity-aboard-the-uss-princeton/oclc/854612689
 
I'd be curious to read any material on naval artillery during this period, of any nation. Trying to get some idea of a) what sorts of guns were around and b) how naval artillery evolved during the period after the Napoleonic Wars and before the American Civil War.

I've been able to find a few books on both Napoleonic and ACW naval arty, so thought it was worth asking for something to fill the gap...
Hyuzu,
Just was able to check the forums and saw your post. Here are a few title I would recommend:
(Already mentioned) Caruana, A. The History of English Sea Ordnance, 1523-1875, V. II (Boudriot Pubs, 1995)
Tucker, Spencer Arming the Fleet U.S. Navy Ordnance in the Muzzle Loading Era Naval Institute Press 1989 (an excellent book)
Naval Artillery French navy 1650-1850 Jean Boudriot - Hubert Berti Translated by François Fougerat Boudriot Pubs, 2017

Realize a survey book of all countries' naval ordnance wont go deep, so I recommend researching(in your time period of interest) US, British, and French in depth by country. I hope this helped.
R.C.
 
This subject has always fascinated me in the production of such ordnance. Ive seem many articles on the casting and boring , it is the scale that amazes me! Then scale it up more to the production of modern ordnance ie: 16" guns ! I read though the book about the "Peacemaker" , imagine proofing guns with 45lbs of powder and 212 lbs of shot !
 

Latest posts

Back
Top