Cannonball
A cannonball was originally a large-caliber stone bullet that was fired from the barrel of the stone rifle with the help of black powder . In the course of the 15th century , cast iron balls prevailed, but stone balls continued to be used as ammunition for ship cannons well into the early modern period . The cannons were originally not classified according to the caliber , but according to the weight of their bullets, from 6-pounders ("6-pfdg") to 32-pounders and more.
To the historical development
When people began to shoot with guns in the 14th century, stone or lead balls were primarily used, as the production of forged iron balls was very complex. Because of the relatively low specific weight of the stones, very large stone balls were needed to break thick walls, which is why the first stone boxes, as they were called, often had a caliber of up to 90 cm. This allowed a bullet weight of up to 450 kg to be achieved.
This situation only changed when the iron processing industry was finally able to cast iron balls that were as heavy as a stone ball several times larger. After the general introduction of cast iron cannonballs in the 16th century, they were (not only) usually weighed in Germany according to the Nuremberg pound . Therefore there was a firm connection between the weight and the diameter of a solid iron sphere. The caliber of a "six pounder cannon" was accordingly (about) 9 cm and that of a "12 pounder" was 12 cm (a certain amount of leeway had to be left between the bullet and the inner wall of the barrel; therefore the caliber was usually one-thirtieth to one Twentieth larger than the diameter of the cannonball). Printed tables were available for the use of lead, iron and stone balls and there were correspondingly calibrated measuring instruments (which originally came mainly from Nuremberg). Since stone balls were fired with mortars and howitzers for a long time afterwards, different dimensions applied to these until the caliber specification in inches finally prevailed for both types of gun. In the end, the Nuremberg system of measurements was valid in weapon construction until the rifled gun barrels and long grenades were introduced in the 19th century. In the course of the 18th century, however, the large armies that manufactured their own guns increasingly began to convert the Nuremberg dimensions into the regionally customary ones (but without changing the system; however, this drew a myriad of different figures in the artillery after himself).
In the field artillery, cannonballs were the main projectile, since after firing the bullets flew at a flat angle at man's height and touched the ground for the first time after 800 meters, then immediately continued to hop and after another 400 meters touched down again and closed another 200 meters jump (→ rikoschett shot ). In dense infantry formations, a bullet could kill three to four people and injure five to six others.
Since mid-19th century are in the artillery instead of balls ogival long grenades as projectiles used the three to six times heavier than the same caliber appropriate cannonballs. As a result, they have more mass (as a full projectile) on the one hand, which has a positive effect on the release of kinetic energy in the target (penetration performance) and, on the other hand, there is more space available for the active charge with hollow explosive projectiles. However, to fire long projectiles you need either rifled cannon barrels, which give them a twist so that they do not overturn in flight, or trajectory stabilization by means of small wings (tail unit).
Chain balls
The so-called chain balls, which consisted of two iron balls connected by a chain, sometimes also two hemispheres, were particularly devastating. When leaving the tube, the balls diverged along the length of a chain and flew unstably, rotating around themselves until they hit, causing a hole almost twice the size of a solid ball. Due to the flight behavior, however, the speed of the projectiles was impaired, so that their energy output in the target was significantly lower. During sieges in the 16th century, chain balls were often thrown from mortars , as they reached a higher speed than with a direct shot due to the steeper trajectory and therefore hit with more force. They also did more damage from above in uncovered targets such as roofs, streets, squares and gun emplacements. Chain and rod balls were very popular in ship combat, as their use could cause significantly greater damage when hitting the opposing rigging. If you shot at the hull, however, normal bullets were more effective. Since the chain balls rotated in flight, they caused extremely heavy losses even under dense formations. They came z. B. 1642 in the second battle near Breitenfeld used.
Rod ball
A variant of the chain ball was the rod ball, in which two whole or half cannon balls were connected by an iron rod. Both types of bullets were also used in naval battles for the targeted destruction of rigging and masts.
Heated ball
Red-hot bullets were also fired to fight ships and during sieges, which were supposed to cause fires in the target. However, this procedure was only practicable for stationary land batteries. On the ships themselves, the risk of fire was too great and there were usually no suitable ovens for field batteries. Further restrictions were that it was only possible to fire in volleys, because simultaneous handling of gunpowder and the glowing bullets was too dangerous. Furthermore, the fire had to be fired immediately after the loading was completed, because otherwise the propellant plug would burn through and the shot was triggered itself, which endangered the operating team. In addition, the size and heating power of the furnace had to be adapted in order to heat the balls to red heat quickly enough, but not above the deformation temperature. Because of this great effort and the many restrictions, this type of application was rarely used.
Hollow sphere
Most of the cannon balls used as hollow spheres contained an explosive charge. This was ignited with different ignition devices, u. a. with a fuse in a wooden socket. These hollow spheres were known as bombs or grenades , depending on whether they were thrown with a mortar or a howitzer . From the middle of the 17th century, hollow spheres (grenades) had a thicker wall on the floor. This was to ensure that the projectile, due to the different weight / mass distribution of the shell, aligns itself during its flight phase in such a way that it hit the target with the reinforced bottom first. This enabled the projectile to penetrate a fixed target object (e.g. a building) better and, on the other hand, to protect the still burning ignition tube from being destroyed on impact (in the case of an impact, "with the ignition tube first "). The bullet was able to penetrate a target better and the real charge only came into effect inside. This achieved an even more destructive effect.
Incendiary ball
The fire ball (also called fire ball) consists of a cage made of iron wire, which, similar to the carcass, is filled with saltpeter , sulfur , powdered flour , rosin , pitch (see incendiary composition ). This was then covered with fabric, usually drill , sewed the whole thing up and dipped it in liquid pitch. These incendiary balls were thrown from smaller mortars from shorter distances (see main article → Grenade ).
A fire bullets and casings very cognate of ammunition were the fire bales . These were not fired from cannons, however, but only thrown from mortars or thrown at the enemy using catapults or slings .
Varia
Cannonball (dated: August 20, 1615) in the east wall of Braunschweig Cathedral
Münchhausen's ride on the cannonball - drawing by August von Wille
Tsar cannon
Occasionally, cannon balls, which only caused slight damage to buildings, are still in the place where they hit, such as on Braunschweig Cathedral . They serve to a certain extent on the one hand as mementos of historical events, on the other hand as " decoration " of the house. Cannonballs were also hung up in churches to commemorate successful sieges, such as two churches in Copenhagen.
In addition, cannon balls were deliberately inserted into the masonry so that they could be seen from the outside when repairs were made to damage caused by sieges, in order to suggest the apparently high fortification value of the fortress to a possible opponent . There were even cannons for which bullets were cast but which never fired bullets. That was the case with the tsar cannon in the Moscow Kremlin . The spheres only had a decorative function from the start. The cannon itself could have been used to fire grapeshots .
Through the story of Baron Karl Friedrich Hieronymus von Münchhausen , known as the "Baron of Lies", published by Gottfried August Bürger , who is said to have flown into a besieged city on a cannonball, this object, which in itself served war purposes, found its way into entertainment literature . With Hans Albers in the lead role, this scene finally made it into entertainment films in 1943 in Münchhausen .
See also
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ Ortenburg, Weapons and the Use of Weapons in the Age of Landsknechte, 1984, 65
- ↑ 509.96 grams.
- ↑ Hoyer, General Dictionary of Artillery, 1802–1806, sv weight of the bullets, sv caliber, sv caliber measure; Ortenburg, Arms and the Use of Arms in the Age of Landsknechte, 1984, 69ff
- ↑ See also under Bola and Manriki Gusari as throwing weapons.
- ↑ Jürgen Beyer: Donations by strangers to Lutheran churches during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In: Journal of Social History 47 (2013–2014), pp. 196–221, here pp. 207f. ( Memento from January 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive )