When was heavy artillery invented

Artillery dominated the First World War battlefield and inflicted the majority of casualties. Armies used both field and siege guns during the war. The field guns were of smaller calibre, lighter, and easier to transport. The work-horse of the British and Canadian armies was the pounder.

This gun fired high explosive and shrapnel shells and, later in the war, smoke, incendiary, and gas shells. The artillery used different shells for different purposes. Shrapnel shells were timed to explode over enemy lines, sending down hundreds of tiny metal balls. Another photo inside the issue shows the same gun ready to fire. The gun in question is almost certainly a inch howitzer, emplaced in Englebelmer Wood on the Somme and serviced by the British Royal Garrison Artillery.

The gun is one of only 12 of that caliber manufactured by the Coventry Ordnance Works. The inch guns had a limited range, and were extremely heavy 94 tons and difficult to move, but in the limited movement of trench warfare shifting the gun around was not too important and the large high-explosive shells fired—1, pounds—were considered to be useful. According to www. It is available for purchase at www. Dan Schlenoff was a contributing editor at Scientific American and edited the 50, and Years Ago column for one seventh of the magazine's history.

Credit: Nick Higgins. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. Fact Many Civil War Battlefields feature original guns mounted on replica carriages. Battlefield visitors today can often see real guns from the 's on display. By closely examining a gun, you can often see things like which side deployed it, which factory created it and when it was cast, when the design was patented, an even the initials of the inspector that examined it.

With this information, we know that many guns on display may have been at the battlefields where they are now held. Transporting and distributing supplies required depots at various ports. These Union troops gathered near a massive artillery park at Yorktown.

Note the ships at the dock in the background. Fact 1: You need a team of ten to shoot a cannon. Fact 2: Artillery pieces were extraordinarily heavy. Fact 3: Horses were also important to the use of artillery in battle.

View of the earth and sandbag position from where the rifled artillery piece named "The Swamp Angel" was operated from. Built upon marshy ground, the Swamp Angel was able to fire upon the city of Charleston.

The enormous pounder Parrott Rifle was one of the largest artillery pieces used in the war, and fired 36 rounds on Charleston before exploding, inspiring the Herman Melville poem of the same name. Topic s :. Quick Facts. Related Articles. Civil War Article.