Weaponry Moodle PDF

Question 1

1790s

Answer 1

widespread use of carronades by the Royal Navy

Question 2

1806

Answer 2

first use of Congreve Rockets

Question 3

1848

Answer 3

Dreyse Needle Gun (breech-loading rifle) first used by Prussian army

Question 4

1851

Answer 4

carronades phased out of Royal Navy service

Question 5

1854

Answer 5

service issue in British army of Lee-Enfield Rifled Musket

Question 6

1855

Answer 6

development of breech loading rifled artillery by William Armstrong

Question 7

1866

Answer 7

defeat of Austrians by Prussians using new technological weapons

Question 8

1884

Answer 8

Hiram Maxim invented the first self-powered machine gun

Question 9

1903

Answer 9

Orville and Wilbur Wright undertook the world’s first sustained, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air manned flight in North Carolina

Question 10

1915

Answer 10

development of ‘Mother’ - the world’s first tank

Question 11

discuss how rockets first came to be used by the British army

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

who was William Congreve and what was his hope

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

where the rockets a decisive weapon

Answer 13

• unwieldly in battle
• wholly inaccurate
• but did have a great psychological impact

Question 14

when did the British army use Congreve rockets

Answer 14

• after the Nap wars but inaccuracy problem never solved

- some success gained with them in colonial wars between 1824-1872

Question 15

when did the Royal Navy use Congreve Rockets

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

what was Britain the first nation to have and what was the effect of this

Answer 16

• first nation to have an industrial revolution

- one of key reasons why Britain had developed a worldwide empire

Question 17

what had the Royal Navy implemented before the French Wars, following its poor performance during the American war of independence

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

what was the effect of coppering

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

what is one thing the Royal Navy did to maintain naval superiority

Answer 19

• bought the latest steam engines and Ericsson Smith screw propellers

Question 20

discuss carronades

Answer 20

• shorter barrel and wider muzzle allowed broader angle of fire
• quick to reload
• used little gunpowder
• deadly at close range if loaded with grapeshot

Question 21

discuss Armstrong’s Cannons

Answer 21

• 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)

Question 22

discuss William Armstrong himself

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

what are artillery men

Answer 23

• 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

Question 24

how did war become mechanised

Answer 24

• 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