Subject:
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Re: John E. Doolittle
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.pirates
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Date:
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Sat, 29 Jan 2000 11:51:28 GMT
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Viewed:
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4634 times
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On Sat, 29 Jan 2000, Richard Parsons (<Fp2xL2.D31@lugnet.com>) wrote at
04:23:36
>
> So what's the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century equivalent of a
> missile system - a carronade? ;-)
I don't think so - carronades were only good a short range.
You might be able to put a very large cannon on a very small, fast ship,
but even so, you'd probably only get a few shots off before you were hit
or shaken to bits.
You *could* use rockets. Someone on the British army (Congreve) was
experimenting with them round about this time, or earlier.
Ooh!
'At the battle of Bladensburg (Aug 24 1814) the use of rockets assisted
British forces to turn the flank of the American troops defending
Washington DC. As a result, the British were able to capture the city.'
(Brittanica)
Plus other references, including a naval bombardment of Boulogne in
1806, but the Washington one was more fun :-)
Actually, there's loads of good stuff here.
Later, the British attempted to take Ft McHenry in Baltimore Harbour
using a specially designed ship, the Erebus.
The night attack inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled
Banner.
Woo hoo! I'm going to build me a rocket-ship!
--
Tony Priestman
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: John E. Doolittle
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| In lugnet.pirates, Tony Priestman writes: (major snippage) (...) Hmmmmmmm. Wood. Hmmm...mmm. Canvas. So which ship are you planning to sink? The target or your own? :-) Bruce (25 years ago, 29-Jan-00, to lugnet.pirates)
| | | Re: John E. Doolittle
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| (...) Yeah, but if you need *guidance*, you need the only sort of guidance system available in the age of sail: Well-liquored sailin' wretches and Greek Fire. I'm thinking of the destruction of the USS Philadelphia at Tripoli by a small party after (...) (25 years ago, 1-Feb-00, to lugnet.pirates)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: John E. Doolittle
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| Dave Schuler wrote in message ... (...) only (...) from (...) Ok, sounds good. So what's the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century equivalent of a missile system - a carronade? ;-) Richard Still baldly going... Check out Port Block at (URL) the (...) (25 years ago, 29-Jan-00, to lugnet.pirates)
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