Artillery Through the Ages (2024)

Page 6 - Ammunition — mainly cast-iron round shot, the bomb (an iron shell filled with gunpowder), canister (a can filled with small projectiles), and grape shot (a cluster of iron balls) — was carried the primitive way, in wheelbarrows and carts or on a man's back. The gunner's pace was the measure of field artillery's speed: the gunner walked beside his gun! Furthermore, some of these experts were getting along in years. During Elizabeth's reign several of the gunners at the Tower of London were over...‎

Page 6 - Spanish Square of heavily armed pikemen and musketeers began to dominate the battlefield. In the face of musketry, field artillery declined. Although artillery had achieved some mobility, carriages were still cumbrous. To move a heavy English cannon, even over good ground, it took 23 horses; a culverin needed nine beasts. Ammunition — mainly cast-iron round shot, the bomb (an iron shell filled with gunpowder), canister (a can filled with small projectiles), and grape shot (a cluster of iron balls)—...‎

Page 65 - ... the early days it was commonly pronounced "bum." The modern equivalent of the "bum" is an HE shell. The first recorded use of explosive shells was by the Venetians in 1376. Their bombs were hemispheres of stone or bronze, joined together with hoops and exploded by means of a primitive powder fuze. Shells filled with explosive or incendiary mixtures were standard for mortars, after 1550, but they did not come into general use for flat-trajectory weapons until early in the nineteenth century, whereafter...‎

Page 1 - In the middle of the ropes 2 rises a wooden arm like a chariot pole . . . to the top of the arm hangs a sling . . . when battle is commenced a round stone is set in the sling . . . four soldiers on each side of the engine wind the arm down till it is almost level with the ground . . . when the arm is' set free it springs up and hurls forth from its sling the stone, which is certain to crush whatever it strikes. This engine was formerly called the ‎

Page 80 - ... soldiers, gun drills took on a more military aspect, as these seventeenth century commands show: 1. Put back your piece. 2. Order your piece to load. 3. Search your piece. 4. Sponge your piece. 5. Fill your ladle. 6. Put in your powder. 7. Empty your ladle. 8. Put up your powder. 9. Thrust home your wad. 10. Regard your shot. 11. Put home your shot gently. 12. Thrust home your wad with three strokes. 13. Gauge your piece. Gunners had no trouble finding work, as is singularly illustrated by the...‎

Page 8 - Revolution there was a dispute about whether a general officer whose service had been in the Royal Artillery was entitled to command troops of all arms.‎

Page 2 - ... the Romans appeared before Syracuse its citizens were filled with terror, for they imagined they could not possibly defend themselves against so numerous and fierce an enemy. But, Plutarch tells us, ' Archimedes soon began to play his engines upon the Romans and their ships, and shot against them stones of such an enormous size and with so incredible a noise and velocity that nothing could stand before them. The stones overturned and crushed whatever came in their way and spread terrible disorder...‎

Page 19 - It was in siege operations that the rifles forced a new era. As the smoke cleared after the historic bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861, military men were already speculating on the possibilities of the newfangled weapon.‎

Page 14 - Probably, rifling evolved from the early observation of the feathers on an arrow— and from the practical results of cutting channels in a musket, originally to reduce fouling, then because it was found to improve accuracy of the shot.‎

Page 80 - I mentioned on p. 53. 1 . Put back your Peece 2. Order your Peece to load 3. Search your Peece 4. Sponge your Peece 5. Fill your ladle 6. Put in your Powder 7. Empty your ladle 8. Put up your Powder 9.‎