Caronade

A caronade is a part of short Artillerie developed by the Scottish foundry Carron starting from 1779. It is brought into service on all the Navire S of the Royal Navy three years after the tests on HMS Duke (vessel of 1st rank with 98 guns). The caronades were not counted in the number of guns of a vessel but could constitute the principal armament of a frigate.

By the means of technical espionage and exchanges, the France, which could see with its costs the effectiveness of this new weapon with fast shooting during the war of American independence, undertakes studies starting from 1786 (Perrier brothers, foundry of Chaillot) and develops its own models of caronade, starting from 1795.

Description

The caronade is characterized, compared to the guns in service at the time, by

a shorter tube ,
a very light room compared to the weight of the projectiles which it can have to draw, which limits it to shootings with weak load (1/9e of the weight of its full ball),
a brague fixes, without retreat, and easily directional on 360 °
a weight and a quite lower price,

It fires the same projectiles which the of the same gun gauges, but with limited range (<300m), which made a secondary armament of it.

This weapon draws from the balls full in cast iron weighing with 18 to 68 books (according to the gauges), from the hollow balls or from the Mitraille. The most current gauges in service in the fleet are those of 30,24 and 18 pounds.

Because of irregularity in the face of the balls of gun and the difficulty of boring of the barrels of the guns, there was often a broad space (often more than one half-centimetre) between the ball and the metal of the gun, the wind of ball ; with for consequence a loss of effectiveness. Finally, the Carron company adopted new methods which enabled him to reduce this space.

Use

Of form and completely different mounting compared to the other pieces of ordnance, the caronade has as an main advantage leaving more free space between the batteries, to be easier to operate, to be lighter (a caronade of 36 lbs. weigh as much as a gun of 32 lbs.), to draw more quickly and to employ for its service less men than the traditional long gun but which, compared to this last, is less precise, presents more danger in the event of shooting of projectiles flamers and less chance of damages in its service. Despite everything, the caronade remains an invaluable weapon on the light buildings and of small size, with weak crews, like for the batteries of strapping man on the larger ships.

The remarkable fact of this piece of artillery is the absence of retreat from its brague fixes, which makes it prompt to bring into service with the suppression of the time of handing-over out of battery, as it is the case on a traditional part. Other favors, and not the least, its brague fixed constitutes an axis around whose the part can swivel to be directed in shooting with 360°, operation impossible to carry out with a traditional gun, thus conferring to him a frightening effectiveness at the time of the close combats to type Abordage, as well to push back an attacker have suddenly taken foot on the strong where the part is located, that to support the boarding of an enemy vessel.

This brague fixed is also its weak point since the damages of operation generally occur on this part of the caronade, by the efforts which it supports during the shooting.

It also happened that the caronade is in charge of two types of projectiles at the same time: a normal ball, plus a box with grapeshot of a particular type, containing six to nine smaller balls.

The caronade gives to the last style an old naval tactic: the combat at short distance followed by the boarding (cf operates Nelson with Trafalgar, 1805), type of engagement which had disappeared following the adoption from the formation from combat known as of the “Ligne from battle”.

Decline

The caronade disappeared naturally in the middle of the 19th century, with the development of the power of the naval artillery which, on the one hand pushed with the shielding of the ships beyond the power of the caronade, on the other hand pushed back the combat at distances higher than the range of the caronade and again made disappear the boarding, therefore the most invaluable use of this weapon.

Sources

.
http://cborzeix.club.fr/GlossaireMarine/c.htm

See too

Charles Gascoigne

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