Bomb cannon
Shell guns (after its inventor also Paixhans called) were guns large caliber smoothbore.
The usual calibers were around 23 to 28 cm, the length of the barrel mostly being ten times the caliber . The dimensions of the bomb cannons are between those of the cannons and those of the howitzers . The bomb cannons had conical chambers and were designed to fire bombs or grenades (i.e. heavy explosive projectiles) against ships and later also against masonry with strong charges and low vertical angles . Until then, such projectiles were only fired with mortars to combat land targets (cf. mortar ship ). The bomb cannons were first designed in 1822 by the French major Henri Joseph Paixhans and introduced around 1824 after trials near Brest in France, later also by other countries.
They were first used on a larger scale in the Crimean War (1853-1856). Explosive charges proved to be particularly effective against wooden ships (see also 1853 in the sea battle near Sinope and in 1864 in the sea battle near Helgoland ). In response to this armament, ironclad ships were developed.
Bomb cannons were taken over by the land artillery. There they should be used for indirect fire. However, they were soon displaced by guns with rifled barrels. Prussia had abolished the bomb cannons with the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Meyer's Large Conversational Lexicon. 6th edition 1905-1909. 1909, accessed May 31, 2016 .
- ↑ Bomb Cannons . In: Pierer's Universal Lexicon . tape 3 . Altenburg 1857, p. 59–60 (online version from Zeno.org ).
- ↑ Bomb Cannon . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 3, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 179.
- ^ Rolf Hobson : Maritimer Imperialismus Oldenbourg Verlag , 2004, ISBN 9783486596205 [1]
- ↑ Bomb Cannon . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 3, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 179.