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- Apr 21, 2013
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View attachment 88795View attachment 88796Currently residing at Trophy Point, West Point Military Academy.
I am absolutely no kind of expert but the interpreter on site mentioned that they could fire a round up to five miles away and with decent accuracy around three miles (I'm not even sure how you see a target at three miles) - it fired an elongated shell that fit the grooves of the bore which was where a lot of the accuracy came from. If memory serves, they had it placed on the Mound Battery - but I cant really remember.How did these guns compare to other ACW weapons with respect to reliability, accuracy and ability to do damage?
Five miles according to the folks at Fort Fisher.Good Lord....what kind of range did that thing have?
I’m sure it was similar to this block & tackle "lift".I've always wondered how they loaded large guns like the 20inch Rodman or the Dictator
Thanks! Another mystery solved. Btw didn't the rounds for a 20inch Rodman gun weigh something like half a ton?I’m sure it was similar to this block & tackle "lift".
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The 15-inch Rodman gun shown here was the Army's major coastal fortification artillery piece during and after the Civil War. Rodman guns of this and other sizes were produced using innovative manufacturing methods developed by Army officer Thomas J. Rodman.
http://www.goordnance.army.mil/history/ORDhistory.html
Thanks, they were monster guns. 40 pounds of black powder!I'm not sure about half a ton. They could fire a 400 pound projectile 3 .5 miles with a forty pound charge of powder:
"These beasts are the most common of all of the heavy Civil War era artillery. These giant coastal guns could be added to a simple wood and earth battery to give it the strength to sink even the most modern ironclad warship of the day. In terms of hardware, 40-pounds of cannon-grade black powder was exploded inside the breech to 25,000psi in the chamber and could send a 400-pound piece of steel shot some 20,000-feet (3.5-miles) with reasonable accuracy. The shells could penetrate up to 10-inches of iron railway type armor. These guns were the reason for the "3-mile limit" in claiming US coastal waters of the time. These amazing iron cannon weighed more than 25-tons or about the weight of 14 Jeep Wranglers and took a 12-man crew to operate. "
http://www.firearmstalk.com/Rodman-Heavy-Artillery.html
I'm not sure about half a ton. They could fire a 400 pound projectile 3 1/2 miles with a forty pound charge of powder:
"These beasts are the most common of all of the heavy Civil War era artillery. These giant coastal guns could be added to a simple wood and earth battery to give it the strength to sink even the most modern ironclad warship of the day. In terms of hardware, 40-pounds of cannon-grade black powder was exploded inside the breech to 25,000psi in the chamber and could send a 400-pound piece of steel shot some 20,000-feet (3.5-miles) with reasonable accuracy. The shells could penetrate up to 10-inches of iron railway type armor. These guns were the reason for the "3-mile limit" in claiming US coastal waters of the time. These amazing iron cannon weighed more than 25-tons or about the weight of 14 Jeep Wranglers and took a 12-man crew to operate. "
http://www.firearmstalk.com/Rodman-Heavy-Artillery.html