Weaponry Moodle PDF Flashcards
1790s
widespread use of carronades by the Royal Navy
1806
first use of Congreve Rockets
1848
Dreyse Needle Gun (breech-loading rifle) first used by Prussian army
1851
carronades phased out of Royal Navy service
1854
service issue in British army of Lee-Enfield Rifled Musket
1855
development of breech loading rifled artillery by William Armstrong
1866
defeat of Austrians by Prussians using new technological weapons
1884
Hiram Maxim invented the first self-powered machine gun
1903
Orville and Wilbur Wright undertook the world’s first sustained, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air manned flight in North Carolina
1915
development of ‘Mother’ - the world’s first tank
discuss how rockets first came to be used by the British army
- experimented with them while fighting in Southern India in the 1790s
- after the Mysore War, examples of British Rockets were brought back to Woolwich Arsenal in London
- variant developed by William Congreve
who was William Congreve and what was his hope
- a British engineer who believed that manufacturing rockets would be profitable if British armed forces used them en masse
- with his book he hoped to convince the government that the rocket was a weapon worthy of investment
where the rockets a decisive weapon
- unwieldly in battle
- wholly inaccurate
- but did have a great psychological impact
when did the British army use Congreve rockets
- after the Nap wars but inaccuracy problem never solved
- some success gained with them in colonial wars between 1824-1872
when did the Royal Navy use Congreve Rockets
- first used in Oct 1806 when some 2000 rockets were fired upon the port of Boulogne
- the damage the rockets caused was minimal but the psychological effect on the citizens was immense
- also used with the same effect in the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807
what was Britain the first nation to have and what was the effect of this
- first nation to have an industrial revolution
- one of key reasons why Britain had developed a worldwide empire
what had the Royal Navy implemented before the French Wars, following its poor performance during the American war of independence
- significant advancements
- Rear-Admiral Middleton introduced coppering
- improvements to guns made
- flintlock firing mechanisms added to the cannons
- carronades introduced from the 1770s following development by the Carron Ironworks in Falkirk
what was the effect of coppering
- sheets of copper to wooden hulls to reduce attack from ship worm and growth of marine weeds before wood replaced by iron then steel
- stop rotting
- more manoeuvrable to travel faster
what is one thing the Royal Navy did to maintain naval superiority
- bought the latest steam engines and Ericsson Smith screw propellers
discuss carronades
- shorter barrel and wider muzzle allowed broader angle of fire
- quick to reload
- used little gunpowder
- deadly at close range if loaded with grapeshot
discuss Armstrong’s Cannons
- Attaining a contract from the newly-formed war officer
- Armstrong’s supplied the British Army from 1858
- new shells were also developed/manufactured to improve efficiency of British artillery
- coated in led that slightly expanded when the gun was fired, the shell gripped the rifling and created more spin
- his canons had an immense impact on army and Navy
- breech loading guns could not be turret-mounted (near 360 fire effect)
discuss William Armstrong himself
- industrialist and inventor
- he founded his own engineering company near Newcastle in 1847
- his Elwick works was the first company to develop breech-loading cannons
what are artillery men
- required to ram gunpowder down barrel before projectile was placed
- having so much gunpowder ignite in the barrel also meant it became soiled and less effective over time
- explode after too much use
- this was solved with breech-loading cannons where the ammunition was loaded in a chamber at the back and sealed by a mechanical door
- the shell was a self-contained unit containing the gun power and the projectile
how did war become mechanised
- with the development of machine guns, more sophisticated artillery, and with motorised petrol engine vehicles
- technology was adapted to trench warfare and soldiering adapted to both
