Josh The Lighthouse Guy
Major
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2012
- Location
- Jupiter, FL
There are reports of shells containing "Greek fire" being fired by the Union siege artillery during the Siege of Charleston.
"Greek fire" was a weapon used by the Byzantines that seems to have been similar to napalm. The recipe was carefully guarded and eventually lost. I think there have been modern attempts to replicate it for historical purposes, but it wouldn't have been in use during the 1860s.
Napalm was not invented until WW2, to my knowledge.
The most important commonality between Greek fire and napalm is not simply that it ignites easily, but that it cannot be extinguished by water. It has to be smothered by sand or some other non-flammable cover that cuts off the oxygen.
For a long time artillery incendiary projectiles were simply "hot shots" - normal solid shot heated in a furnace immediately before firing. They would be hot enough to ignite wooden ships and wooden buildings on impact. Clearly something more advanced had been invented by the 1860s.
What kind of incendiary projectiles would have been used during the Civil War? Where were they used besides the bombardment of Charleston?
"Greek fire" was a weapon used by the Byzantines that seems to have been similar to napalm. The recipe was carefully guarded and eventually lost. I think there have been modern attempts to replicate it for historical purposes, but it wouldn't have been in use during the 1860s.
Napalm was not invented until WW2, to my knowledge.
The most important commonality between Greek fire and napalm is not simply that it ignites easily, but that it cannot be extinguished by water. It has to be smothered by sand or some other non-flammable cover that cuts off the oxygen.
For a long time artillery incendiary projectiles were simply "hot shots" - normal solid shot heated in a furnace immediately before firing. They would be hot enough to ignite wooden ships and wooden buildings on impact. Clearly something more advanced had been invented by the 1860s.
What kind of incendiary projectiles would have been used during the Civil War? Where were they used besides the bombardment of Charleston?
Bringing the