Well, here I am again, once
more........zzztttt....zzzzttt....zt.zt.zt.zt.zt...
<pirate channel>
Hi all. I'm currently working on a Napoleonic Age of Sail variant on FT. I'm
trying to find out how fast gunners in that age could reload cannon of all the
various sizes, both long guns and carronades, as well as the reasonable ranges
for these weapons. I'm also interested on the reasonable speeds attainable by
ships from sloop size all the way to 1st Rate Ships of the Line.
Thankyou kindly
Jim (Captain, Dutch 74 Van Andel) Clem
Now back to your regularly scheduled discussions.
</pirate channel>
zt.zt.zt.zt.zzzt....zzzt......
.........anyway, thats what I thought you said. So there. =P
Me
In a message dated 7/20/99 2:34:10 PM EST, journeyman2000@juno.com
writes:
<<
Hi all. I'm currently working on a Napoleonic Age of Sail variant on FT. I'm
trying to find out how fast gunners in that age could reload cannon of all the
various sizes, both long guns and carronades, as well as the reasonable ranges
for these weapons. I'm also interested on the reasonable speeds attainable by
ships from sloop size all the way to 1st Rate Ships of the Line.
> [quoted text omitted]
2-3 minutes for a long gun depending on how good the crew is. 1/2 to 2/3
of that for a columbiad or carronade. Guns with lighter shot marginally
quicker, large shot marginally slower. As the guns get fired more and more
foulding makes it harder to swab and ram the shots. Not properly swabbing the
gun
could cause a burning ember to ignite the serge bag of powder and the gun
would go off whilee someone rammed shot or wad into the gun. Elevating
required a chock to be hammered in or pulled out to change azimuth and the gun
had to be trained 9side to side) with big long gunspikes (crowbars) It weighed
a lot guns were about ten feet apart regardles of the size of the gun to allow
the crews to work. Bigger guns larger crews (it was heavier and
required huge amounts of GRUNT power to move it around,
> In a message dated 7/20/99 2:34:10 PM EST, journeyman2000@juno.com
It all depends on the quality of the crew. I read somewhere that a "Crack"
British Frigate crew could fire 2-3 broadsides a minute. If you think
about it...60 seconds is an enterity duing combat.
> In a message dated 7/20/99 3:17:13 PM EST, jerrym@cvzoom.net writes:
<<
It all depends on the quality of the crew. I read somewhere that a "Crack"
British Frigate crew could fire 2-3 broadsides a minute. If you think
about it...60 seconds is an enterity duing combat.
> [quoted text omitted]
British INFANTRY firing clean muskets could fire volleys in one minute -
four if you counted the first shot out of the barrel before you started the
timing.... Three broadsides a minute on a long 12 pounder deck
carriage -
in your dreams, slightly mad man!
> ScottSaylo@aol.com wrote:
> 2-3 minutes for a long gun depending on how good the crew is. 1/2 to
While generally I agree with the comments Scott made, most of the time quoted
would have been spent by the powder monkey going down to the magazine
to got the powder and shot. (magazines were below the waterline) The
guns on the upper decks were smaller but the ammo was further away and
required more time to acquire. Also consider the ship fired broadsides and the
rate of fire was really determined by the slowest gun crew on that gun deck.
As the former training officer for the 3rd U.S. artillery, battery
L+M
the crews were trained to make 3 rounds per minute (quite easily, for a 6 gun
battery). This was accomplished using the complete drill and
(in actual combat) this could be increased by dropping the non-important
part of the drill. (Swabbing and draining the barrel). Our powder monkey had
only 10 yards to go for powder and had one round staged in his ammo bag. (10
Lb ordinance rifle)
Bye for now,
On Tue, 20 Jul 1999 13:53:51 -0700 John Leary
> <john_t_leary@pronetusa.net> writes:
Hmmm, I had not considered that. The 42 pounders on the lowest deck and the 12
pounders on the highest deck. Does seem that would tend to even out the times
based on throw weight. Assuming a good crew takes 3 minutes, the slowest may
take, oh say, 5 minutes? 5 minutes per broadside, that seems reasonable to me.
Anyone have any evidence to the contrary?
In a message dated 7/20/99 3:56:48 PM EST, john_t_leary@pronetusa.net
writes:
<< As the former training officer for the 3rd U.S. artillery, battery
L+M
the crews were trained to make 3 rounds per minute (quite easily, for a
6
gun battery). This was accomplished using the complete drill and (in actual
combat) this could be increased by dropping the
non-important
part of the drill. (Swabbing and draining the barrel). Our powder
monkey
had only 10 yards to go for powder and had one round staged in his ammo bag.
(10 Lb ordinance rifle) >>
Just one thing to note about field guns. They were on an entirely different
carriage. Under field conditions artillery pieces were aloowed to roll back
and then reloaded where they stopped - in other words there was not run
out time involved. There was no reason to drag the fieldpieces back up to the
line. Yes, powder monkeys determined the rate of fire for broadsides BUT
independent fire was quite common with each gun crew working as fast as it
could. The naval gun had to be dragged back to the port by men hauling on
ropes - even the block and tackle arrangement didn't relieve the time
required to haul those monsters (which were usually bigger than artillery
field pieces) back up to the gun port.
> On Tue, 20 Jul 1999 ScottSaylo@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 7/20/99 2:34:10 PM EST, journeyman2000@juno.com
this is a bit OT, but educational: could someone explain to me what a
'columbiad' is? i sort of assumed it was an epic journey to Columbia, probably
written in iambic pentameter:).
i note that there is a steampunk story by Stephen Baxter called 'Columbiad' in
which a bunch of yankee gun manufacturers build a
space-gun
and send a man to Mars. the name just acquired more meaning for me!
tom
In a message dated 7/21/99 5:17:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
> thomas.anderson@university-college.oxford.ac.uk writes:
<<
this is a bit OT, but educational: could someone explain to me what a
'columbiad' is? i sort of assumed it was an epic journey to Columbia, probably
written in iambic pentameter:).
> [quoted text omitted]
A Columbiad: Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean - a term for the United
States. The Columbiad was invented by the United States as a compromise naval
piece.
Not as short as a carronade, not as long as a long gun - a middlin'
thing. A compromise whose success is best noted by the fact that nobody else
built 'em.
My wife caught me. I promised her that I would not be doing this stuff any
more. I have been stealing from her to pay for my bad habits.
Would somebody please help me out financially/? I really need it
On Mon, 26 Jul 1999 21:26:41 -0400 james a clem
<journeyman2000@juno.com> writes:
> My wife caught me. I promised her that I would not be doing this