The 18-pounder short gun was an intermediary calibre piece of artillery mounted on warships and merchantmen of the Age of sail. It was a lighter version of the 18-pounder long gun, compromising power and range for weight.
In his discussion of the single-ship action in which the French frigate Piémontaise captured the East Indiaman Warren Hastings on 11 June 1805, the naval historian William James compared the 18-pounder medium guns on Warren Hastings with the 18-pounder long guns that the British Royal Navy used. The medium 18-pounder was 6 ft (1.8 m) long, and weighed 26+3⁄4 long cwt (3,000 lb; 1,360 kg); the Royal Navy's long 18-pounder was 9 ft (2.7 m) and weighed 42+1⁄2 long cwt (4,760 lb; 2,160 kg).[2]
Citations and references
- Citations
- References
- James, William; Chamier, Frederick (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain: From the Declaration of War by France In 1793 to the Accession of George IV. London, UK: R. Bentley. OCLC 656581450.
External links
- (in French) Jean Boudriot et Hubert Berti, L'Artillerie de mer : marine française 1650-1850, Paris, éditions Ancre, 1992 (ISBN 2-903179-12-3) (notice BNF no FRBNF355550752).
- (in French) Jean Peter, L'artillerie et les fonderies de la marine sous Louis XIV, Paris, Economica, 1995, 213 p. (ISBN 2-7178-2885-0).