Dilusions of Grandeur

No description would be adequate

[gypsyastronaut]

[ltwilliammowett]

The carronade

One major innovation of the American war was the introduction of the carronade into the Royal Navy.

The short barrelled carronade entered the fleet in the 1780’s  In the 1770s invented  General Robert Melville a gun for use on ship carriages which was only five feet (1,5m) long and fired a 68-pound ball, with a charge of only 5,5 pounds of powder. Later there were different carronades which had different pound classes like canons 

A model of a carronade on a pivoting sea-service sliding carriage (early 19th century)

The carronade was the first gun to be cast, in the Carron Iron Works in Scotland, with a dispart, i.e. raised spur of metal set on top oft he mid-lenght reinforcing ring which, when sighted from the top oft he breech ring, gave the true line of the bore. The angle of the barrel was governed by a screw thread elevating once it had been set than the woodne wedges oft he cannon, and unlike them, was not liable to fly out when the gun was fired. It was a short barrelled gun capable of firing a very heavy shot at close range, and was consequently known by contemporaries as the smasher.

The carriage was a block of timber with a bolt at its outboard end parallel tot he ship’s side which fitted through a carronade loop, cast beneath the gun about midway along ist length. The carriage ran on a stationary timber slide. However, it did present a fire risk tot he lowest ship’s rigging and the hammocks which lined the upper deck, because the mouth of its short barrel only just protruded through the bulwarks. But they were also much lighter than ordinary naval guns and this allowed them to be mounted on the forecastles and poopdecks of ships where normal guns could not be placed.

Description and illustrations of a 24-Pounder Carronade on a Carriage

This dramatically increased the firepower of a ship without endangering her stability. A ship of the line could mount up to 10 such guns on her poopdeck and forecastle. The gun’s lightness also allowed it to be mounted on a simple swivel and to be manned by a small number of men. French gun foundries were unable to construct similar carronades for 20 years and their ships were forced to rely on the much weaker brass obusier. Taken together, the introduction of copper sheating and the carronade represented the first impact of the Industrial Revolution on the design and operation of fighting ships.

[aarontaylorjohnson]

[histolines]

Lieutenant Commander Donald D. Sheppard, of Coronado, California, aims a flaming arrow at a bamboo hut concealing a fortified Viet Cong bunker on the banks of the Bassac River, South Vietnam, on December 8, 1967 [1500x1010] #HistoryPorn https://ift.tt/3b2FMid

[beyond-crusading]

King Arthur as one of the Nine Worthies, detail from the "Christian Heroes Tapestry" in The Cloisters, New York. Dated c. 1385.

Arthur among the Nine Worthies is always identified by three crowns, which signify regality, on his standard, his shield, or his robe.

[worldhistoryfacts]

A map from the Lewis and Clark expedition, 1803. Lewis’ annotations can be seen in brown ink near the top center of the map, marking previously unmapped rivers (like the Goose River in North Dakota) and other sites. {WHF} {HTE} {Medium}

[bantarleton]

British Army uniforms of the American Revolution. It’s from 1973 so it’s a bit dated, but it’s not horrendous. 

[yorksnapshots]

St. Leonard’s Hospital Ruins, York, England - A Winter View.

At one time the largest hospital in the North of England. Dissolved in 1540.

[folkcult]

[pattern-53-enfield]

Ethiopian woman armed with a French Lebel rifle, 1935.

[let-the-waters-roar-jack]

"In bayonet training throughout the world, the soldier who wields the bayonet is ordered to scream as he drives the blade through. Civilians assume that the cry is meant to terrify the opponent, but it isn't. It's meant to bridge your natural reluctance to push a long blade into a living human being, and to cover the sound of steel cutting into flesh and bone. As dreadful as is the task, should your enemy be coming at you, you accomplish it so readily and remorselessly that, how can I describe it? It seems no more difficult or disturbing than say, lighting a match."

Mark Helprin, 'A Soldier of the Great War'.

[femaleshits]

[historyarchaeologyartefacts]

The Throne of Charlemagne in the Cathedral of Aachen, Germany. 9th Century [4032x3024]

[theamericanparlor]

Osage 1875

John K. Hillers Photograph of an Osage man holding tomahawk. Probably taken at Okmulgee, Indian Territory, 1875 while Hillers photographed for the Powell Survey.

[grace--upon--grace]

Adam Firman

[southerncemetery]

Amelia White Gullah Cemetery, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

[peashooter85]

“In ancient times cats were once worshiped as gods. They have not forgotten this.”

— Terry Practchett