Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: welty@lewis.crd.ge.com (richard welty)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: What is a 6-pounder gun?
Summary: a comment on carronades
Message-ID: <7291@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 9 Jun 89 03:28:25 GMT
References: <7030@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7127@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7195@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: New York State Institute for Sebastian Cabot Studies
Lines: 23
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: welty@lewis.crd.ge.com (richard welty)

In article <7195@cbnews.ATT.COM>, Dan Lance writes: 
=The term "carronade" refers to a short-barreled, large-caliber gun
=mounted on a more-or-less conventional naval carriage.  They posessed
=shorter range and lower muzzle velocity than the long-barrelled
=guns they replaced, and were quite devastating at short range.
=The name does come from Carron, Scotland;  they were first used in the
=late eighteenth century.   US frigates of the Revolutionary period
=typically carried a high proportion of these weapons.

and some went overboard, in extreme cases equipping ships
entirely with carronades.  this rendered them extremely
vulnerable to stand-off gunfire tactics when attacked by
ships armed with longer guns.

richard
-- 
richard welty          welty@lewis.crd.ge.com         welty@algol.crd.ge.com
           518-387-6346, GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York
``but officer, i was only speeding so i'd get home before i ran out of gas''