Armstrong Gun captured at Fort Fisher

A period illustration of loading one of these babies:

Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 8.15.12 PM.jpg
 
Back to British Armstrong guns manufactured for the Confederacy.

The ocean-going Ironclad/Ram CSS Stonewall was outfitted with three Armstrongs. Including a 300 pound Armstrong mounted in the bow. (Note the man sitting in the gunport for the 300 pounder.)
098651603.jpg

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/098651603.jpg

"On the 30th. of June, Bulloch was told that the Confederate Congress had appropriated $2 Million for building iron-clad-ships-of-war, and Mallory instructed him to contract with Arman for a ship, 172 feet long, 33 feet in her beam, to steam at 13 knots, and have 4.5 inches iron plate amidships, tapering to 3.5 inches at her extremities, and carry a 300 pounder Armstrong rifle in a forward turret, and two 70 pounder Armstrongs in an after turret. The ship had a ram, and was designed so that she might enter the Mississippi River, then a second ship with the same specifications was also ordered."
http://www.ahoy.tk-jk.net/MaraudersCivilWar/CSSStonewall.html

I don’t believe this 300 lb Armstrong was ever fired in anger, but the fact that it was there made USN Captains hesitant to attack the CSS Stonewall during her only voyage in 1865.

Details at:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-rebel-ram-stonewall.83018/
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/c-s-s-stonewall.97298/

Edit:
The "turrets" mentioned above were not the same as the revolving turret on the USS Monitor, but rather armored casemates with the guns mounted on pivots.
 
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The 8" armstrong gun s weren't chambered at this time, That came towards the end of the muzzle loading era in the RN.
They were good weapons in the hands of a properly trained crew , but the 9" 250pdr was even better. HMS Bellerophon was recorded as having fired two aimed broadsides in two minutes Effective gun range at sea was reckoned at the time to be 800 to 1,000 yards. On the proving range at Woolwich the 8" indeed reached 5 miles, and the 9" just over 6. But it must be remembered this is trial firing with everything measured carefully.
It has been asked how these Armstrong guns got out of England, it should be noted that neither example is marked with the Government cypher, and at the time of purchase Armstrong were not the suppliers of ordnance to the RN, they could therefore sell guns to whoever wanted them and had the money. The two 8 " guns were a "gift" to the Confederacy through Fraser Trenholm. I have attempted to trace the journey of these gun, but unfortunately the Armstrong foundry records were lost in the blitz on Newcastle which all but destroyed Armstrong Whitworths works.
 
Mark, that infers they were using loose powder, why - these guns were designed for 30/35lb bagged charges.
Olmstead, Stark and Tucker do not indicate the guns were chambered, they also do not mention one gun being burst. They say the second gun of the pair went for scrap during WWII

Armstrong MLR which WERE chambered long after the ACW are:
12" 38ton for the RN but not ordered for use on shipboard
The following were all supplied to Scandinavian navies
10.5" 19cal, 16cal and 15 cal
7.8" 17 cal
6.5" 21 cal
6.1" 22 and 21 cal.
 
Perhaps I'm confusing them with another pair of guns? I'll need to look.
I was going to suggest the 12.75" Blekely, but have been beaten to it. John M Brooke, who did understand the purpose of the air space, or chamber was incensed, and blamed General Ripley. We will never know if that was unfair or not ,because we don't know if the gun manuals were sent with the weapons. Everyone seems to have assumed they were.

Brooke had drawings for a 12.25" piece which was to have been chambered . John Porter designed a vessel, known as Mr Porter's ironclad, to carry two of these pieces, carry four guns, as Brooke knew the big ones would not be completed ( were they ever started?), the ship was found burning when the USN entered Richmond.
 
The 8" armstrong gun s weren't chambered at this time, That came towards the end of the muzzle loading era in the RN.
They were good weapons in the hands of a properly trained crew , but the 9" 250pdr was even better. HMS Bellerophon was recorded as having fired two aimed broadsides in two minutes Effective gun range at sea was reckoned at the time to be 800 to 1,000 yards. On the proving range at Woolwich the 8" indeed reached 5 miles, and the 9" just over 6. But it must be remembered this is trial firing with everything measured carefully.
It has been asked how these Armstrong guns got out of England, it should be noted that neither example is marked with the Government cypher, and at the time of purchase Armstrong were not the suppliers of ordnance to the RN, they could therefore sell guns to whoever wanted them and had the money. The two 8 " guns were a "gift" to the Confederacy through Fraser Trenholm. I have attempted to trace the journey of these gun, but unfortunately the Armstrong foundry records were lost in the blitz on Newcastle which all but destroyed Armstrong Whitworths works.


I would like to add some information to John's entry concerning these two 8" Armstrong MLRs brought through the blockade to Wilmington. The first, No. 1207, was the one installed at Fort Fisher and now resides at the USMA, West Point, New York. It is illustrated and discussed above. The second, No. 1208, was installed at Fort Caswell, in the defenses of the Old Inlet, the western outlet of the Cape Fear River into the Atlantic Ocean. It was taken as a trophy by the U.S. Navy and was emplaced in the “Practice Battery” at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland in the 1870’s/1880’s which was used in the instruction of the Midshipmen there. (See photograph.)

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The “Practice Battery” was actually located across the Severn River from the Naval Academy, at the Naval Station, North Severn.

At some undetermined date (after the 1870’s), the“Practice Battery” was moved to Carderock, Maryland and then to the Navy’s Proving Ground at Dahlgren, Virginia (now Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division). It isn’t known (to me, at least) which guns (if any) made which transition, and so, at what point the 8” Armstrong MLR was sold off or otherwise disposed of. I have been unable to trace it through existing contacts at Caderock or Dahlgren. I very much doubt that the gun in question still exists in the Navy's inventory but perhaps records of it's disposition may be found. The search continues! All my best-

Charlie .
 
I have read that the Fort Caswell Armstrong gun that became a Navy trophy at the USNA was turned into scrap for the World War II war effort.

Great picture of the USNA Armstrong. I'd never seen a photo of it before.

RoadDog
 
A footnote to the 12.75" Brooke Rifle.
We now know that two were indeed cast, but the bore was more likely 13", 12.75" being measured over the lands.
Tredegar also cast two 12" Rodman Columbiad type smoothbores, one of which was photographed after capture slung under a transport carriage. I'm sure that Photo appeared somewhere in CWT, but can't find it.
 
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