1.
Naval artillery
–
Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare, later also for naval gunfire support against targets on land, and for anti-aircraft use. The idea of artillery dates back to the classical era. Julius Caesar indicates the use of ship-borne catapults against Britons ashore in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico, the dromons of the Byzantine Empire carried catapults and fire-throwers. From the late Middle Ages onwards, warships began to carry cannon of various calibres, the Battle of Arnemuiden, fought between England and France in 1338 at the start of the Hundred Years War, was the first recorded European naval battle using artillery. The English ship Christopher was armed with three cannons and one hand gun, by the 15th century most Mediterranean powers were utilising heavy cannon mounted on the bow or stern of a vessel and designed to bombard fortresses on shore. By mid-century some vessels also carried smaller broadside cannons for bombarding other vessels immediately prior to an attempted boarding and these small guns were anti-personnel weapons and were fired at point blank range to accompany engagement with muskets or bows. From the 1470s both the Portuguese and Venetian navies were experimenting with cannons as anti-ship weapons, in 1489 John of Portugal further contributed to the development of naval artillery by establishing the first standardized teams of trained naval gunners. The 16th century was an era of transition in naval warfare, since ancient times, war at sea had been fought much like that on land, with melee weapons and bows and arrows, but on floating wooden platforms rather than battlefields. Though the introduction of guns was a significant change, it slowly changed the dynamics of ship-to-ship combat. As guns became heavier and able to more powerful gunpowder charges, they needed to be placed lower in the ship. Although some 16th-century galleys mounted broadside cannon, they did so at the expense of rowing positions which sacrificed speed, most early cannon were still placed in the forecastle and aftercastle of a ship where they might be conveniently pointed in any direction. Early naval artillery was a weapon to deter boarders, because cannon powerful enough to damage ships were heavy enough to destabilize any ship mounting them in an elevated castle. Being a crown industry, cost considerations did not curb the pursuit of the best quality, best innovations, the crown paid wage premiums and bonuses to lure the best European artisans and gunners to advance the industry in Portugal. This made broadsides, coordinated volleys from all the guns on one side of a ship, possible for the first time in history, at least in theory. Ships, such as Mary Rose, carried a mixture of cannon of different types and sizes, many designed for land use, and using incompatible ammunition at different ranges and rates of fire. The Mary Rose, like other ships of the time, was built during a period of development of heavy artillery. The heavy armament was a mix of older-type wrought iron and cast bronze guns, the bronze guns were cast in one piece and rested on four-wheel carriages which were essentially the same as those used until the 19th century. The breech-loaders were cheaper to produce and both easier and faster to reload, but could take less powerful charges than cast bronze guns, the majority of the guns were small iron guns with short range that could be aimed and fired by a single person
2.
Coastal artillery
–
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. The advent of 20th-century technologies, especially aviation, naval aviation, jet aircraft, and guided missiles, reduced the primacy of cannon, battleships. In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquired amphibious capabilities, in littoral warfare, mobile coastal artillery armed with surface-to-surface missiles still can be used to deny the use of sea lanes. Land-based guns also benefited in most cases from the protection of walls or earth mounds. The Martello tower is an excellent example of a widely used coastal fort which mounted defensive artillery, during the 19th century China also built hundreds of coastal fortresses in an attempt to counter Western naval threats. Coastal artillery could be part of the Navy, or part of the Army, in English-speaking countries, certain coastal artillery positions were sometimes referred to as Land Batteries, distinguishing this form of artillery battery from for example floating batteries. In the United Kingdom, in the later 19th and earlier 20th Centuries, then, following the Spanish–American War and the report of the Endicott Board, U. S. harbor defenses were greatly strengthened and provided with new, rifled artillery and minefield defenses. Shortly thereafter, in 1907, Congress split the field artillery, the first decade of the 20th Century, the United States Marine Corps established the Advanced Base Force. The force was used for setting up and defending advanced bases, during the Siege of Port Arthur, Japanese forces had captured the vantage point on 203 Meter Hill overlooking Port Arthur harbor. The battleship Sevastopol, although hit 5 times by 11-inch shells, after 3 weeks, the Sevastopol was still afloat, having survived 124 torpedoes fired at her while sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging six other vessels. The Japanese had meanwhile lost the cruiser Takasago to a mine outside the harbor, the Blücher had entered the narrow waters of the Oslofjord, carrying 1,000 soldiers and leading a German invasion fleet. The first salvo from the Norwegian defenders, fired from Oscarsborg Fortress about 1 mile distant, disabled Blüchers main battery, fire from the smaller guns swept her decks and disabled her steering, and she received several torpedo hits before the fires reached her magazines and doomed her. Singapore was defended by its famous large-caliber coastal guns, which included one battery of three 15-inch guns and one with two 15-inch guns, AP shells were designed to penetrate the hulls of heavily armoured warships and were ineffective against personnel. The Japanese defended the island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll with numerous 203 mm coastal guns, in 1943, these were knocked out early in the battle with a combined USN naval and aerial bombardment. Nazi Germany fortified its conquered territories with the Atlantic Wall, the intent was to destroy the Allied landing craft before they could unload. During the Normandy Landings in 1944, shore bombardment was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers, for example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had for the Dieppe Raid in 1942. In addition, there were modified landing-craft, eight Landing Craft Gun, twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried Priest self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches, on June 25,1944 the American battleship Texas engaged German shore batteries on the Cotentin Peninsula
3.
Railway gun
–
A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best known are the large Krupp-built pieces used by Germany in World War I, smaller guns were often part of an armoured train. Railway guns have been rendered obsolete by advances in technology and their large size and limited mobility make them vulnerable to attack, and similar payloads can be delivered by aircraft, rocket, or missile. The design of a gun has three issues over and above those of an ordinary artillery piece to consider. The first method of traverse is to rely entirely on movement along a section of track or on a turntable with no provision to traverse the gun on its mount. The second is to traverse the rail car body on its trucks, generally this is limited to a few degrees of traverse to either side unless an elaborate foundation is built with a centre pivot and traversing rollers. The design of the foundation is the limit to the amount of traverse allowed in this latter case. The third choice is to allow the gun mount to rotate with respect to the rail car body. This usually requires the gun to be mounted on a pivot which. There are four methods to absorb the recoil force for railway guns, cradle recoil, top-carriage recoil, sliding recoil. Cradle recoil means that the gun recoils backward in its cradle and it is returned to battery, or the firing position, by either helical springs or by air in a pneumatic recuperator cylinder that is compressed by the force of recoil. This is the most common used for lighter railroad guns. Top-carriage recoil is where the gun is mounted in a carriage that moves on wheels on fixed rails. The gun and upper carriage recoil together, restrained by the hydraulic buffers. Return to battery is effected either by gravity, through the use of inclined rails and it is not well-suited to firing at high elevations because it cannot absorb much of the vertical component of the recoil force. The gun, car body and trucks all recoil together with the friction generated by the sliding on the girders absorbing the recoil force after moving only about 1 to 2 metres to the rear. The sleepers must be jacked up again to allow the gun to roll forward to its firing position and this was often done by handwheels driving gear trains attached to the wheels, or even by electric motors on more modern mounts. Almost all of type of mounts were of the non-traversing type and had to be fired from a curved section of track or turntable
4.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
5.
Russian Civil War
–
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire immediately after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, as many factions vied to determine Russias political future. In addition, rival militant socialists and nonideological Green armies fought against both the Bolsheviks and the Whites, eight foreign nations intervened against the Red Army, notably the Allied Forces and the pro-German armies. The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia in Ukraine, the remains of the White forces commanded by Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in Crimea and evacuated in late 1920. Lesser battles of the war continued on the periphery for two years, and minor skirmishes with the remnants of the White forces in the Far East continued well into 1923. Armed national resistance in Central Asia was not completely crushed until 1934, there were an estimated 7,000, 000–12,000,000 casualties during the war, mostly civilians. The Russian Civil War has been described by some as the greatest national catastrophe that Europe had yet seen, many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Russian Empire and fought in the war. Several parts of the former Russian Empire—Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the rest of the former Russian Empire was consolidated into the Soviet Union shortly afterwards. After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the Russian Provisional Government was established during the February Revolution of 1917, Political commissars were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale and ensure loyalty. In June 1918, when it became apparent that an army composed solely of workers would be far too small. Former Tsarist officers were utilized as military specialists, sometimes their families were taken hostage in order to ensure their loyalty, at the start of the war three-quarters of the Red Army officer corps was composed of former Tsarist officers. By its end, 83% of all Red Army divisional and corps commanders were ex-Tsarist soldiers, a Ukrainian nationalist movement was active in Ukraine during the war. More significant was the emergence of an anarchist political and military movement known as the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine or the Anarchist Black Army led by Nestor Makhno, some of the military forces were set up on the basis of clandestine officers organizations in the cities. The Czechoslovak Legions had been part of the Russian army and numbered around 30,000 troops by October 1917 and they had an agreement with the new Bolshevik government to be evacuated from the Eastern Front via the port of Vladivostok to France. The transport from the Eastern Front to Vladivostok slowed down in the chaos, under pressure from the Central Powers, Trotsky ordered the disarming and arrest of the legionaries, which created tensions with the Bolsheviks. The Western Allies armed and supported opponents of the Bolsheviks, hence, many of these countries expressed their support for the Whites, including the provision of troops and supplies. Winston Churchill declared that Bolshevism must be strangled in its cradle, the British and French had supported Russia during World War I on a massive scale with war materials. After the treaty, it looked like much of material would fall into the hands of the Germans. Under this pretext began allied intervention in the Russian Civil War with the United Kingdom, there were violent clashes with troops loyal to the Bolsheviks
6.
Winter War
–
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939–1940. It began with the Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, the League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the League on 14 December 1939. Finland refused and the USSR invaded the country, the Soviets possessed more than three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, had been crippled by Soviet leader Joseph Stalins Great Purge of 1937. With more than 30,000 of its officers executed or imprisoned, including most of those of the highest ranks, because of these factors, and high morale in the Finnish forces, Finland repelled Soviet attacks for several months, much longer than the Soviets expected. However, after reorganization and adoption of different tactics, the renewed Soviet offensive overcame Finnish defenses at the borders, hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded territory representing 11% of its area and 13% of its economy to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the international reputation suffered. While the Soviet Union did not conquer all Finland, Soviet gains exceeded their pre-war demands and they gained substantial territory along Lake Ladoga, providing a buffer for Leningrad, and territory in northern Finland. Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation, the end of the war cancelled the Franco-British plan to send troops to Finland through northern Scandinavia. One of the goals of the projected Franco-British operation had been to take control of northern Swedens iron ore. For this reason it was also a factor in the launching of Operation Weserübung, Nazi Germanys invasion of Denmark. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged Hitler to think that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful, until the beginning of the 19th century, Finland constituted the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden. In 1809, to protect their capital, Saint Petersburg. While abortive because of Russias internal strife, these attempts ruined Russias relations with the Finns, the new Bolshevik Russian government was weak, and with the threat of civil war looming Soviet Russia recognized the new Finnish government just three weeks after the declaration of independence. Sovereignty was fully achieved in May 1918 after a civil war. Finland joined the League of Nations in 1920, from which it sought security guarantees, nevertheless, the government of Sweden carefully avoided committing itself to Finnish foreign policy. Another Finnish military policy was the top secret military cooperation between Finland and Estonia, the 1920s and early 1930s were a politically unstable time in Finland
7.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
8.
Vickers
–
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999. Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a foundry by the miller Edward Vickers. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers brother William owned a steel rolling operation, edwards investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company, based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company. It began life making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells and its great architects, the historian Clive Trebilcock writes, Colonel T. E. and Albert Vickers. Both men were autocrats by temperament, but neither shunned advice or avoided delegation, each, in 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside. The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, in 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a forging press. Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890, Vickers bought out the Barrow-in-Furness shipbuilder The Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897, acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company. At the same time, to become Vickers, Sons & Maxim, Ordnance and ammunition made during this period, including World War I, was stamped V. S. M. The yard at Barrow became the Naval Construction Yard, with these acquisitions, Vickers could now produce a complete selection of products, from ships and marine fittings to armour plate and a whole suite of ordnance. In 1901 the Royal Navys first submarine, Holland 1, was launched at the Naval Construction Yard, in 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous Clyde shipyard John Brown and Company. In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company, in 1919, the British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company, Metrovick. At the same time came into Metropolitans railway interests. In 1927, Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth, founded by W. G. Armstrong, to become Vickers-Armstrongs, armstrongs shipbuilding interests became the Naval Yard, those of Vickers on the west coast the Naval Construction Yard. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was not absorbed by the new company, in 1928 the Aviation Department became Vickers Ltd and soon after acquired Supermarine, which became the Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. In 1938, both companies were re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names. 1929 saw the merger of the railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon. In 1960 the aircraft interests were merged with those of the Bristol, English Electric Company and this was owned by Vickers, English Electric and Bristol. BAC in turn owned 70% of Hunting, the Supermarine operation was closed in 1963 and the Vickers name for aircraft was dropped in 1965
9.
Obukhov State Plant
–
Obukhov State Plant is a major Russian metallurgy and heavy machine-building plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1863 to produce naval artillery based on German designs by Krupp and it has since been a major producer of artillery and other military equipment. V. Volodarsky was assassinated when making his way to a meeting relating to industrial unrest in the factory, from 1922 to 1992 it was renamed Bolshevik Plant no.232. In the late 1920s, it one of the two main Soviet tank factories, and produced the first indigenous tank, the T-18. It later became home to the AVO-5 tank design bureau, soon renamed OKMO, in 1932, the tank department of the Bolshevik factory, became the new Factory No.174. This new, independent enterprise was dedicated to the production of T-26, janusz Magnuski says that in 1935 one of the former departments of the Bolshevik factory became a base for the new independent Factory No.185. The OKMO, for a few months a part of Factory No,174, moved at the same time to Factory No.185. The new enterprise was dedicated to the production of tanks. The main part of Bolshevik Factory remained focused on production of heavy artillery, on the other hand, Zaloga says that in 1935, after the assassination of Sergey Kirov, the whole Bolshevik Factory No.232 was renamed Factory No. 185, yet Leningrad inhabitants continued to refer to it as the Bolshevik Factory, the Leningrad factorys historical name was restored in 1992 by the formation of a unitary enterprise, FSUE Obukhov State Plant. In 2002 it became part of the Almaz-Antey military industrial concern, official webpage of the OJSC GOZ Obukhov Plant Description of 305 mm naval guns manufactured by Obukhov
10.
Gun barrel
–
A gun barrel is a part of firearms and artillery pieces. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, a gun barrel must be able to hold in the expanding gas produced by the propellants to ensure that optimum muzzle velocity is attained by the projectile as it is being pushed out by the expanding gas. Modern small arms barrels are made of known and tested to withstand the pressures involved. Artillery pieces are made by various techniques providing reliably sufficient strength, early firearms were muzzle-loading, with powder, and then shot loaded from the muzzle, capable of only a low rate of fire. During the 19th century effective mechanical locks were invented that sealed a breech-loading weapon against the escape of propellant gases, the early Chinese, the inventors of gunpowder, used bamboo, a naturally tubular stalk, as the first barrels in gunpowder projectile weapons. Early European guns were made of iron, usually with several strengthening bands of the metal wrapped around circular wrought iron rings. The Chinese were the first to master cast-iron cannon barrels, early cannon barrels were very thick for their caliber. Bore evacuator Bore snake Cannon Muzzle Polygonal rifling Rifling Slug barrel Smoothbore
11.
Shell (projectile)
–
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used, originally, it was called a bombshell, but shell has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages, shells are usually large-calibre projectiles fired by artillery, combat vehicles, and warships. Shells usually have the shape of a cylinder topped by a nose for good aerodynamic performance, possibly with a tapering base. Solid cannonballs did not need a fuse, but hollow munitions filled with something such as gunpowder to fragment the ball, needed a fuse, percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented a challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism hit the target. Therefore, shells needed a fuse that was ignited before or during firing. The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376, shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop, as described in their book, these hollow, gunpowder-packed shells were made of cast iron. At least since the 16th Century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe, a hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt, Germany dated to the 17th Century. Lots of the grenades obtained their orignal blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. Early powder burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire put down the barrel to light the fuse, other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into use in the 16th Century. By the 18th Century, it was known that the fuse towards the muzzle could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel, the use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in the 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder and they were usually made of cast iron, but bronze, lead, brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter and they were about two thirds the weight of solid shot of the same calibre. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses towards the muzzle, in 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognised that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardised sabot thickness as a half inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading, despite the use of exploding shell, the use of smoothbore cannons, firing spherical projectiles of shot, remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. By the late 18th century, artillery could use canister shot to defend itself from infantry or cavalry attack and this involved loading a tin or canvas container filled with small iron or lead balls instead of the usual cannonball
12.
Glossary of British ordnance terms
–
This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces ordnance and also ammunition. The terms may have different meanings in the military of other countries. Between decks, applies to a gun mounting in which part of the rotating mass is below the deck. This allows for a profile of turret, meaning that turrets need not be superfiring The term BL, in its general sense, stood for breech loading. The shell was loaded via the breech followed by the propellant charge, sealing the chamber to prevent escape of the propellant gases. The term BL was first used to refer to the Armstrong breechloaders, following the discontinuation of Armstrong breechloaders and the period of British rifled muzzle-loaders, British breechloaders were re-introduced in 1880. Early British Elswick breechloaders in the 1880s used a steel cup obturation method and this was quickly superseded in guns designed by the Royal Gun Factory by the French de Bange method, the basic principle of which is still in use today. In British service this became a Crossley pad with an interrupted thread screw block e. g. a Welin screw, the shell was loaded via the breech, followed by the propellant charge in a cloth bag. A single-use vent sealing tube, a type of primer not dissimilar in appearance to a rifle round, was inserted into the breech for firing the gun. For instance, Britain before World War I had both QF and BL6 inch guns and this presented difficulties for BL guns at high angles. A special cartridge was developed for BL9.2 inch guns on H. A. mountings, using multiple small fabric bags also allows the gunners to use a reduced charge if need be. The term BLC stood for BL converted and referred to a breech and breech mechanism modified from an early long-screw three- or four-motion to modern short-screw single-motion, an example is the conversion of the BL15 pounder to BLC15 pounder. Calibre radius head, the radius of a circle with the curve of the nose on its circumference. The longer and more pointed the nose, the higher the C. R. H. Typical C. R. H. for British shells leading up to World War I was two, e. g. the curve of the nose of a two C. R. H. Six-inch shell was equivalent to the curve of a circle with a radius of 12 inches, shells of four C. R. H. were soon developed in World War I, identified by an A following the shell mark number, B for six and so on. For modern streamlined shells post-World War I, two numbers were necessary to more correctly denote a shells C. R. H, for instance, the World War I6 inch 26 cwt howitzer shell was two C. R. H. The World War II Mk 2D shell was correctly described as 5/10 C. R. H, in this use it is synonymous with round
13.
Caliber
–
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires, in hundredths or sometimes thousandths of an inch. For example, a 45 caliber firearm has a diameter of.45 of an inch. Barrel diameters can also be expressed using metric dimensions, as in 9mm pistol, when the barrel diameter is given in inches, the abbreviation cal can be used. Good performance requires a bullet to closely match the diameter of a barrel to ensure a good seal. While modern cartridges and cartridge firearms are referred to by the cartridge name. Firearm calibers outside the range of 17 to 50 exist, but are rarely encountered. Larger calibers, such as.577.585.600.700, the.950 JDJ is the only known cartridge beyond 79 caliber used in a rifle. Referring to artillery, caliber is used to describe the length as multiples of the bore diameter. A 5-inch 50 calibre gun has a diameter of 5 in. The main guns of the USS Missouri are 1650 caliber, makers of early cartridge arms had to invent methods of naming the cartridges, since no established convention existed then. One of the early established cartridge arms was the Spencer repeating rifle, later various derivatives were created using the same basic cartridge, but with smaller-diameter bullets, these were named by the cartridge diameter at the base and mouth. The original No.56 became the. 56-56, and the smaller versions. 56-52. 56-50, the. 56-52, the most common of the new calibers, used a 50-cal bullet. Optionally, the weight in grains was designated, e. g. 45-70-405. Variations on these methods persist today, with new cartridges such as the.204 Ruger, metric diameters for small arms refer to cartridge dimensions and are expressed with an × between the bore diameter and the length of the cartridge case, for example,7. 62×51 NATO. This indicates that the diameter is 7. 62mm, loaded in a case 51mm long. Similarly, the 6. 5×55 Swedish cartridge has a diameter of 6.5 mm. An exception to rule is the proprietary cartridge used by U. S. maker Lazzeroni. The following table lists commonly used calibers where both metric and imperial are used as equivalents
14.
Gun laying
–
Gun laying is the process of aiming an artillery piece, such as a gun, howitzer or mortar on land, or at sea, against surface or air targets. It may be laying for direct fire, where the gun is aimed similarly to a rifle, or indirect fire, the term includes automated aiming using, for example, radar-derived target data and computer-controlled guns. Gun laying means moving the axis of the bore of the barrel in two planes, horizontal and vertical. A gun is traversed – rotated in a horizontal plane – to align it with the target, Gun laying is a set of actions to align the axis of a gun barrel so that it points in the required direction. This alignment is in the horizontal and vertical planes, Gun laying may be for direct fire, where the layer sees the target, or indirect fire, where the target may not be visible from the gun. Gun laying has sometimes called training the gun. Laying in the vertical plane uses data derived from trials or empirical experience, for any given gun and projectile types, it reflects the distance to the target and the size of the propellant charge. It also incorporates any differences in height between gun and target, with indirect fire, it may allow for other variables as well. With indirect fire the horizontal angle is relative to something, typically the guns aiming point, depending on the gun mount, there is usually a choice of two trajectories. The dividing angle between the trajectories is about 45 degrees, it varies due to gun dependent factors. Below 45 degrees the trajectory is called low angle, above is high angle, the differences are that low angle fire has a shorter time of flight, a lower vertex and flatter angle of descent. All guns have carriages or mountings that support the barrel assembly, early guns could only be traversed by moving their entire carriage or mounting, and this lasted with heavy artillery into World War II. Mountings could be fitted into traversing turrets on ships, coast defences or tanks, from circa 1900 field artillery carriages provided traverse without moving the wheels and trail. The carriage, or mounting, also enabled the barrel to be set at the elevation angle. With some gun mounts it is possible to depress the gun, some guns require a near-horizontal elevation for loading. An essential capability for any elevation mechanism is to prevent the weight of the barrel forcing its heavier end downward and this is greatly helped by having trunnions at the centre of gravity, although a counterbalance mechanism can be used. It also means the elevation gear has to be enough to resist considerable downward pressure. However, mortars, where the forces were transferred directly into the ground
15.
Imperial Russian Navy
–
It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century had reached its peak strength, only behind the British and French fleets in terms of size. The First World War was mixed for the navy, with the Germans generally gaining the upper hand in the Baltic but the Black Sea falling under Russian control. The Russian Revolution marked the end of the Imperial Navy with its sailors fighting on both sides and its surviving ships forming the core of the Soviet Navy upon its creation in 1918. Under Tsar Mikhail I, construction of the first three-masted ship actually built within Russia was completed in 1636 and it was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein according to European design and was christened Frederick. During its maiden voyage on the Caspian Sea, Frederick sailed into a storm and was lost at sea. A boyar named Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin founded a shipyard at Tsarevich-Dmitriev fortress, in 1661, however, Russia was once again forced to abide by the harsh terms of a treaty, this time the Peace of Cardis. Russia agreed to surrender to Sweden all captured territories, and all constructed at Tsarevich-Dmitriev were ordered destroyed. Boyar Ordin-Nashchyokin, not grieving long over defeat, turned his attention to the Volga River, with the Tsars approval, the boyar brought Dutch shipbuilding experts to the town of Dedinovo near the confluence of the Oka and Volga Rivers. Shipbuilding commenced in the winter of 1667, within two years, four vessels had been completed, one 22-gun galley, christened Орёл, and three smaller ships. The ill-fated Frederick had been a Holstein vessel, Орёл became Russias first own three-masted, European-designed sailing ship, the ship was captured in Astrakhan by rebellious Cossacks led by Stepan Razin. The Cossacks ransacked Орёл and abandoned it, half-submerged, in an estuary of the Volga, unquestionably, the most celebrated Russian explorer was Semyon Dezhnev, who, in 1648, sailed the entire length of present-day Russia by way of the Arctic Ocean. Rounding the Chukotsk Peninsula, Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea, the creation of the regular Russian Navy took place during the reign of Peter the Great. During the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against Turkey, the Russians employed for the first time 2 warships,4 fireships,23 galleys and 1300 strugs, built on the Voronezh River. After the occupation of the Azov fortress, the Boyar Duma looked into Peters report of military campaign. This date is considered the birthday of the regular Russian Navy. During the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, the Russians built the Baltic Fleet, the construction of the oared fleet took place in 1702-1704 at several shipyards. From 1703-1723, the base of the Baltic Fleet was located in Saint Petersburg. The bases were created in Reval and in Vyborg after it was ceded from Sweden after the war of 1741-43
16.
River monitor
–
River monitors are military craft designed to patrol rivers. They are normally the largest of all warships in river flotillas. The name originated from the US Navys USS Monitor, which made her first appearance in the American Civil War, and being distinguished by the use of revolving gun turrets. On 18 December 1965, the US Navy, for the time in one hundred years. In July 1966, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara authorized the formation of a Mobile Riverine Force, River monitors were used on inland waterways such as rivers, estuaries, deltas and lakes. Usually they had a draft which was necessary for them to be able to operate in enclosed waters. Most river monitors were lightly armored although this varied, with some carrying more armor, typically, however, river monitors displayed a mixture of gun sizes from 3-inch to 6-inch, plus machine guns. This type of vessel overlaps with the river gunboat and they were up to 1,000 tons displacement, armed with 130 mm guns. Some of these Russian monitors, such as the recommissioned Sverdlov, were still in use by the Soviet Navy in the 1945 Soviet invasion of Manchuria, referred to as River Battleships by their men, they provided the firepower of the Brown-water navy. On the Danube, river monitors were employed during World War I by Austria-Hungary, another river monitor, Körös, was also heavily damaged by Romanian artillery, taking 12 hits and ran aground after her steam lines were severed. On 22 September 1917, the Enns-class river monitor Inn was sunk by a Romanian mine near Brăila and she was refloated but her repairs were not completed before the War ended, and she was eventually handed over to Romania as war reparation, being renamed Basarabia. They were built in sections at Triest in Austria-Hungary, transported to Romania by rail, during the Interwar period, the Romanian Danube Flotilla was the most powerful riverine fleet in the world. In 1924, the Romanian river monitors helped suppress the Tatarbunary uprising, along with the entire Romanian Danube Flotilla, in 1944, the Romanian river monitors were captured by the Soviets and commissioned as the Azov-class. Czechoslovakia had one monitor, the President Masaryk, of about 200 tons displacement and she was captured by the Germans in 1939 and commissioned as Bechelaren. She was capitally rebuilt in 1943 and her armament was modified in February 1945. She supported German troops during Operation Spring Awakening and later fought in Austria, yugoslav river monitors were former Austro-Hungarian warships received as reparations. They were renamed Vardar, Sava, Drava and Morava, after the fall of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Morava and Sava were commissioned by the newly created Independent State of Croatia. Smaller monitors were used by Poland in 1939 on the Pripyat River and by the Soviet Union in 1941 on the Pripyat, the Soviet Union also had five Zheleznyakov class monitors of 263 tons, which served with the Danube Flotilla and Dnieper Flotilla in World War II
17.
Soviet Navy
–
The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. The influence of the Soviet Navy played a role in the Cold War. The Soviet Navy was divided into four major fleets, the Northern, Pacific, Black Sea, the Caspian Flotilla was a smaller force operating in the land-locked Caspian Sea. Main components of the Soviet Navy included Soviet Naval Aviation, Naval Infantry, most of the Soviet Navy was reformed into the Russian Navy after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, while some elements became the basis of the Ukrainian, Azerbaijani and Georgian navies. During the revolution, sailors deserted their ships at will and generally neglected their duties, the officers were dispersed and most of the sailors left their ships. Work stopped in the shipyards, where uncompleted ships deteriorated rapidly, the Black Sea Fleet fared no better than the Baltic. The Bolshevik revolution entirely disrupted its personnel, with murders of officers. At the end of April 1918, German troops entered Crimea, the more effective ships were moved from Sevastopol to Novorossiysk where, after an ultimatum from Germany, they were scuttled by Vladimir Lenins order. The ships remaining in Sevastopol were captured by the Germans and then, after November 1918, on 1 April 1919, when Red Army forces captured Crimea, the British squadron had to withdraw, but before leaving they damaged all the remaining battleships and sank thirteen new submarines. When the White Army captured Crimea in 1919, it rescued and reconditioned a few units, at the end of the civil war, Wrangels fleet, a White fleet, moved to Bizerta in French Tunisia, where it was interned. The first ship of the navy could be considered the rebellious Imperial Russian cruiser Aurora. Sailors of the Baltic fleet supplied the fighting force of the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution, some imperial vessels continued to serve after the revolution, albeit with different names. The Soviet Navy, established as the Workers and Peasants Red Fleet by a 1918 decree of the Soviet government, was less than service-ready during the interwar years, as the countrys attentions were largely directed internally, the Navy did not have much funding or training. The greater part of the old fleet was sold by the Soviet government to Germany for scrap, in the Baltic Sea there remained only three much-neglected battleships, two cruisers, some ten destroyers, and a few submarines. Despite this state of affairs, the Baltic Fleet remained a significant naval formation, there also existed some thirty minor-waterways combat flotillas. During the 1930s, as the industrialization of the Soviet Union proceeded, approved by the Labour and Defence Council in 1926, the Naval Shipbuilding Program included plans to construct twelve submarines, the first six were to become known as the Dekabrist class. Beginning 4 November 1926, Technical Bureau Nº4, under the leadership of B. M, malinin, managed the submarine construction works at the Baltic Shipyard. In subsequent years,133 submarines were built to designs developed during Malinins management, additional developments included the formation of the Pacific Fleet in 1932 and the Northern Fleet in 1933
18.
Baltic Fleet
–
The Baltic Fleet is the Russian Federation Navys presence in the Baltic Sea. In previous historical periods, it has been part of the navy of Imperial Russia, the Fleet gained the Twice Red Banner appellation during the Soviet period, indicating two awards of the Order of the Red Banner. It is headquartered in Kaliningrad, with its base in Baltiysk and another base at Kronshtadt. Established 18 May 1703, under Czar Peter the Great, the Fleet is the oldest Russian Navy formation, the first commander was a recruited Dutch admiral, Cornelius Cruys, who in 1723 was succeeded by Count Fyodor Apraksin. In 1703, the base of the fleet was established in Kronshtadt. One of the fleets first actions was the taking of Shlisselburg, in 1701 Peter the Great established a special school, the School of Mathematics and Navigation, situated in the Sukharev Tower in Moscow. The Fleets base was moved to St. Petersburg and in 1752 it was renamed the Naval Cadet Corps, today it is the St. Petersburg Naval Institute – Peter the Great Naval Corps. The Baltic Fleet began to receive new vessels in 1703, the first vessel, the 24-gun three-masted frigate Shtandart, is considered to flagship of the fleet and an example of a newly popular design of warship, the frigate. By 1724, the fleet boasted 141 sail warships and hundreds of oar-propelled ships, during the Great Northern War, the Baltic Fleet assisted in taking Viborg, Tallinn, Riga, the West Estonian archipelago, Helsinki, and Turku. The first claimed victories of the new Imperial Russian Navy were the Gangut in 1714 and, arguably, from 1715, the English Royal Navy intervened in the Baltic Sea on behalf of the German principality of Hanover, and more or less in a tacit alliance with Russia. During the concluding stages of the war, the Russian fleet would land troops along the Swedish coast to devastate coastal settlements. However, after the death of King Charles XII, the Royal Navy would rather protect Swedish interests after a rapprochement between the Kingdom of Sweden and King George I, a Russian attempt to reach the Swedish capital of Stockholm was checked at the Battle of Stäket in 1719. During the Seven Years War, the Russian Baltic Sea fleet was active on the Pomeranian coast of northern Germany and Prussia, helping the infantry to take Memel in 1757, the Oresund was blockaded in order to prevent the British Navy from entering the Baltic sea. During the Russo-Swedish War the fleet, commanded by Samuel Greig, checked the Swedes at Hogland, the Russian defeat in this battle effectively ended the war. In the Crimean War, the fleet – although stymied in its operations by the absence of steamships – prevented the British and French Allies from occupying Hangö, Sveaborg, and Saint Petersburg. Despite being greatly outnumbered by the technologically superior Allies, it was the Russian Fleet that introduced into naval warfare such novelties as torpedo mines, other outstanding inventors who served in the Baltic Fleet were Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Stepan Makarov, Alexei Krylov, and Alexander Mozhaiski. As early as 1861, the first armor-clad ships were built for the Baltic Fleet, in 1863, during the American Civil War, most of the Fleets ocean-going ships, including the flagship Alexander Nevsky were sent to New York City. At the same time ten Uragan-class monitors based on an American-designed Passaic monitor were launched, here it was the policy of the Czar and his government to show support for the Northern Union Army in the United States during their Civil War, observing and exchanging naval tactics and cooperation
19.
Black Sea Fleet
–
The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic command of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. Its ships are based in various harbors of the Black Sea and it is considered to have been founded by Prince Potemkin on May 13,1783, together with its principal base, the city of Sevastopol. Russia struggled for a time against its main rival in the region. The Black Sea Fleet defeated the Turks in 1790, and fought the Ottomans during World War I, the Romanians during World War II, the division of the fleet in 1997 became the basis of the Ukrainian Navy. The Black Sea Fleet is considered to have founded by Prince Potemkin on May 13,1783, together with its principal base. Formerly commanded by such legendary admirals as Dmitriy Senyavin and Pavel Nakhimov, in 1790, Russian naval forces under the command of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Kerch Strait. From 1841 onward, the fleet was confined to the Black Sea by the London Straits Convention, the crew of the battleship Potemkin revolted in 1905 soon after the Navys defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. Lenin wrote that the Potemkin uprising had had an importance in terms of being the first attempt at creating the nucleus of a revolutionary army. During World War I, there were a number of encounters between the Russian and Ottoman navies in the Black Sea, german submarines of the Constantinople Flotilla and Turkish light forces would continue to raid and harass Russian shipping until the wars end. During the Russian Civil War, the vast majority of the Black Sea Fleet was scuttled by Bolsheviks in Novorossiysk, most of the ships became part of the Russian Squadron of Wrangls armed forces and after the evacuation sailed to Tunisia. Out of those ships, some were passed to the French Navy, few ships that did stay in Black Sea were salvaged in the 1920s, while a large scale new construction programme began in the 1930s. Over 500 new ships were built during that period as well as expansion of coastal infrastructure took place. The Fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral F. S, oktyabrskiy on the outbreak of war with Germany in June 1941. The Fleet gave an account of itself as it fought alongside the Red Army during the Siege of Odessa. In 1952, Turkey decided to join NATO, placing the Bosporus Strait in the Western sphere of influence, together with the advent of long-range nuclear weapons, this dramatically decreased the strategic value of any naval activity in the Black Sea.11.94. 124th Maritime Missile Aviation Regiment - disbanded 1993, 943rd Maritime Missile Aviation Regiment - disbanded 1996. The military importance of the fleet has degraded since the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to significant funding cuts and, to a degree, the loss of its major missions. In 1992, the part of the personnel, armaments
20.
Pacific Fleet (Russia)
–
The Pacific Fleet is the part of the Russian Navy that is stationed in the Pacific Ocean, which formerly secured the Far Eastern borders of the Soviet Union. The fleet headquarters is located in Vladivostok and a number of bases are located in the Vladivostok area. Another important fleet base in the Russian Far East area is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Avacha Bay on the Kamchatka Peninsula, in 1731, the Imperial Russian Navy created the Okhotsk Military Flotilla under its first commander, Grigoriy Skornyakov-Pisarev, to patrol and transport government goods to and from Kamchatka. In 1799,3 frigates and 3 smaller ships were sent to Okhotsk under the command of Rear-Admiral I, fomin to form a functioning military flotilla. In 1849, Petropavlovsk-na-Kamchatke became the Flotillas principal base, which a year later would be transferred to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, in 1854, the men of the Flotilla distinguished themselves in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy during the Crimean War. In 1856, the Okhotsk Military Flotilla changed its name to the Siberian Military Flotilla, in 1860, the provisions of the Convention of Peking ceded parts of Outer Manchuria in northeastern China, including the modern day Primorsky Krai to the Russian Empire. A large squadron under Rear Admiral A. A. Popov was sent from the Baltic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean, during the American Civil War ships of the squadron visited San Francisco while the Baltic Fleet visited New York City. Parts of the squadron, including the Finnish corvette Kalevala, returned to the Baltic in 1865, at the turn of the 19th century, the Flotilla was still small in numbers. Other ships of the Siberian Military Flotilla were stationed in Vladivostok, during the Russo-Japanese War, most of the Russian Navy in the Pacific was destroyed. The Russian Baltic Fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky, renamed the Second Pacific Squadron, was defeated at the Battle of Tsushima, during the Russian Civil War, almost all of the ships of the Pacific Fleet were seized by the White army and the Japanese. In 1926, these were disbanded, the Vladivostok unit was transferred to the command of the troops in the Far East. Owing to Japanese aggression in Manchuria in 1931, the Central Committee, in January 1935, they were renamed the Pacific Fleet, under commander M. Viktorov. The creation of the fleet entailed great difficulties, the first units were formed with small ships delivered by railroad. In 1932, the torpedo boat squadron and eight submarines were put into service, in 1934, the Pacific Fleet received 26 small submarines. The creation of the aviation and coastal artillery was underway. In 1937, they opened the Pacific Military School, at the same time, the Soviets transferred 1 destroyer leader,2 destroyers, and 5 submarines from the Pacific Fleet to the Northern Fleet. More than 140,000 sailors from the Pacific Fleet were incorporated in the rifle brigades, thousands of sailors and officers were awarded orders and medals for outstanding military service, more than fifty men received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Eighteen ships and fleet units received the title of the Soviet Guards, on 5 May 1965, the Pacific Fleet itself was awarded with the Order of the Red Banner
21.
Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy
–
Under Commodore Witold Zajączkowski, it was active in the invasion of Poland and fought against both German and Soviet forces. During the Polish-Bolshevik War the Pinsk Marshes proved to be almost impassable to troops of both sides, lack of roads and railways posed a serious danger to infantry and cavalry that could easily be cut off both by the enemy and the weather. Because of that, a number of monitors were either constructed or acquired from private owners. They were used on the Pripyat River, as well as its river basin. After the war, some of the ships were returned to their owners, in peace-time the Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy, as it was officially called, operated on the Pina River, as well as on the Pripyat and the Strumień rivers. It served as a reserve of the Border Defense Corps and was to support the front in case of a war with the Soviet Union. Prior to the invasion of Poland, a number of ships of the Riverine Flotilla were moved to the Vistula as a detachment and became Oddział Wydzielony Rzeki Wisły, however the Invasion of Poland on September 17,1939 made the plans obsolete. During actions against the Soviets and the Germans, most of the ships were scuttled by their crews to avoid capture, in 1939-40 most of them were refloated, repaired, rearmed and included in the Soviet Pinsk Naval Flotilla. They took a part in battles of World War II but were mostly destroyed in 1941. Polish Navy Order of Battle of the Riverine Flotilla of the Polish Navy Vessels of Polish Riverine Flotilla Cristino Castroviejo Vicente, the Baltic in Flames, the 1939 naval campaign. Interesting and detailed polish page about the Pinsk River Fleet Map of the Pinsk River Fleet area during the 20s
22.
Built-up gun
–
A built-up gun is artillery with a specially reinforced barrel. An inner tube of metal stretches within its elastic limit under the pressure of confined powder gases to transmit stress to outer cylinders that are under tension. Concentric metal cylinders or wire windings are assembled to minimize the required to resist the pressure of powder gases pushing a projectile out of the barrel. Built-up construction was the norm for guns mounted aboard 20th century Dreadnoughts and contemporary railway guns, coastal artillery, velocity and range of artillery vary directly with pressure of gunpowder or smokeless powder gasses pushing the shell out of a gun barrel. A gun will deform if chamber pressure strain a gun barrel beyond the limit of the metal from which the barrel is made. Thickness of homogeneous cast metal gun barrels reached a limit at approximately one-half caliber. Claverinos 1876 treatise on the Resistance of Hollow Cylinders was published in Giornale dArtigliera, the innermost cylinder forming the chamber and rifled bore is called a tube or, with certain construction techniques, a liner. A second layer cylinder called the jacket extends rearward past the chamber to house the breechblock, the jacket usually extends forward through the areas of highest pressure, through the recoil slide, and may extend all the way to the muzzle. The forward part of the barrel may be tapered toward the muzzle because less strength is required for reduced pressures as the approaches it. This tapered portion of barrel is called the chase, very large guns sometimes use shorter outer cylinders called hoops when manufacturing limitations make full length jackets impractical. Hoops forward of the slide are called chase hoops, the jacket or forward chase hoop may be flared outward in the form of a bell at the muzzle for extra strength to reduce splitting because the metal at that point is not supported on the forward end. As many as four or five layers, or hoop courses, layers are designated alphabetically as the A tube enclosed by the B jacket and chase hoops, enclosed by the C hoop course, enclosed by the D hoop course, etc. Individual hoops within a course are numbered from the forward as the B1 jacket, the B2 chase hoop, and then the C1 jacket hoop. Successive hoop course joints are staggered and individual hoop courses use lap joints in preference to butt joints to minimize the weakness of joint locations. Cylinder diameter may be varied by including machined shoulders to prevent forward longitudinal movement of an inner cylinder within an outer cylinder during firing, shoulder locations are similarly staggered to minimize weakness. When the jacket is in position, it is cooled to form a tensioned shrink fit over the tube, then the next hoop is similarly heated so the assembled A tube and B1 jacket can be lowered into position for a successive shrink fit. The assembled unit may be machined prior to fitting a new hoop, the process continues as remaining tubes are heated sequentially and cooled onto the built-up unit until all elements have been assembled. When tensioned wire winding is used in place of a hoop course, burning powder gases melt part of the bore each time a gun is fired
23.
Armored cruiser
–
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Varying in size, it was distinguished from other types of cruiser by its belt armor—thick iron plating on much of the hull to protect the ship from shellfire much like that on battleships. The first armored cruiser, the Imperial Russian Navys General-Admiral, was launched in 1873 and combined sail, by the 1890s cruisers had abandoned sail and took on a modern appearance. The invention of face-hardened armor in the mid-1890s offered effective protection with less weight than previously, at around the same time, the term light cruiser came into use for small cruisers with armored belts. Despite the fact they were now considered second-class ships, armored cruisers were used in World War I. A handful survived in one form or another until World War II, the armored cruiser was developed in the 1870s as an attempt to combine the virtues of the armored ironclad warship and the fast and long-ranged, but unarmored, cruisers of the time. Such a ship was desirable to protect trade and, especially for the French and British. Concern over obsolescence in official circles was fueled by the race between the increasing size of naval guns and of armor strong enough to withstand such fire. In 1860, one of the largest naval cannons in use had a bore of 8 inches. By 1884, guns with as wide a bore as 16.25 inches, firing an 1 and this gun could penetrate up to 34 inches of wrought iron, the earliest form of naval armor. These were muzzle-loading guns, as had been used on ships from the 1500s, breech-loading cannon, which were readopted into naval use in the 1870s, were more destructive than muzzle loaders due to their higher rate of fire. The development of rifled cannon, which improved accuracy, and advancements in shells were other factors, the adoption of rolled iron armor in 1865 and sandwich armor in 1870 gave ships a chance to withstand fire from larger guns. Both these protective schemes used wood as an important component, which made them heavy and limited speed. Powered by both sail and steam but without the weight of armor, these ships could reach speeds of up to 16 or 17 knots. The most powerful among them were the British Inconstant, the U. S. Navys Wampanoag, the British especially had hoped to rely on these vessels to serve the more distant reaches of its empire. Ship propulsion was improving but was taking time to develop. Naval engines in the 1860s were single-expansion types, in which steam was expanded into a cylinder, with greater efficiency came increasingly complex machinery and the larger potential for breakdown. By the 1870s, compound engines had become standard for warships, compounding by itself did not increase power or speed significantly, although it allowed for a much greater operating range
24.
Pre-dreadnought battleship
–
Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late 1880s and 1905, before the launch of HMS Dreadnought. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s and they were powered by coal-fuelled triple-expansion steam engines. The similarity in appearance of battleships in the 1890s was underlined by the number of ships being built. The decisive clash of pre-dreadnought fleets was between the Imperial Russian Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Battle of Tsushima on 27 May 1905 and these battleships were abruptly made obsolete by the arrival of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Dreadnought followed the trend in design to heavier, longer-ranged guns by adopting an all-big-gun armament scheme of ten 12-inch guns. Her innovative steam turbine engines also made her faster, the pre-dreadnought developed from the ironclad battleship. The first ironclads — the French Gloire and HMS Warrior — looked much like sailing frigates, only eight years later HMVS Cerberus, the first breastwork monitor, was launched. Only three years later followed HMS Devastation, a turreted ironclad which more resembled a pre-dreadnought than previous, each ship lacked masts and carried four heavy guns in two turrets fore and aft. Navies worldwide continued to build masted, turretless battleships which had sufficient freeboard and were enough to fight on the high seas. The distinction between battleship and cruising battleship became blurred with the Admiral class, ordered in 1880. These ships reflected developments in design, being protected by iron-and-steel compound armour rather than wrought iron. Equipped with breech-loading guns of between 12-inch and 16 ¼-inch calibre, the Admirals continued the trend of ironclad warships towards gigantic weapons, the guns were mounted in open barbettes to save weight. Some historians see these ships as a step towards pre-dreadnoughts, others view them as a confused. The subsequent Royal Sovereign class of 1889 retained barbettes but were armed with 13. 5-inch guns. Just as importantly, the Royal Sovereigns had a higher freeboard, the pre-dreadnought design reached maturity in 1895 with the Majestic class. These ships were built and armoured entirely of steel, and their guns were mounted in fully enclosed barbettes and they also adopted a 12-inch main gun, which, due to advances in casting and propellant, was lighter and more powerful than the previous guns of larger calibre. The Majestics provided the model for building in the Royal Navy. Pre-dreadnoughts carried guns of different calibres, for different roles in ship-to-ship combat
25.
Battleship
–
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the battleship was the most powerful type of warship, the word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a contraction of the phrase line-of-battle ship, the dominant wooden warship during the Age of Sail. The term came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ironclad warship. In 1906, the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought heralded a revolution in battleship design, subsequent battleship designs, influenced by HMS Dreadnought, were referred to as dreadnoughts. Battleships were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, the launch of Dreadnought in 1906 commenced a new naval arms race. Jutland was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war, the Naval Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s limited the number of battleships, though technical innovation in battleship design continued. The value of the battleship has been questioned, even during their heyday, there were few of the decisive fleet battles that battleship proponents expected, and used to justify the vast resources spent on building battlefleets. Battleships were retained by the United States Navy into the Cold War for fire support purposes before being stricken from the U. S. Naval Vessel Register in the 2000s. A ship of the line was a large, unarmored wooden sailing ship which mounted a battery of up to 120 smoothbore guns, from 1794, the alternative term line of battle ship was contracted to battle ship or battleship. The sheer number of guns fired broadside meant a sail battleship could wreck any wooden enemy, holing her hull, knocking down masts, wrecking her rigging, and killing her crew. However, the range of the guns was as little as a few hundred yards. The first major change to the ship of the concept was the introduction of steam power as an auxiliary propulsion system. Steam power was introduced to the navy in the first half of the 19th century, initially for small craft. The French Navy introduced steam to the line of battle with the 90-gun Napoléon in 1850—the first true steam battleship, Napoléon was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12 knots, regardless of the wind condition. This was a decisive advantage in a naval engagement. The introduction of steam accelerated the growth in size of battleships, the adoption of steam power was only one of a number of technological advances which revolutionized warship design in the 19th century. The ship of the line was overtaken by the ironclad, powered by steam, protected by metal armor, and armed with guns firing high-explosive shells. In the Crimean War, six ships and two frigates of the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed seven Turkish frigates and three corvettes with explosive shells at the Battle of Sinop in 1853
26.
Gunboat
–
In the age of sail, a gunboat was usually a small undecked vessel carrying a single smoothbore cannon in the bow, or just two or three such cannons. A gunboat could carry one or two masts or be oar-powered only, but the version of about 15 m length was most typical. Some types of gunboat carried two cannons, or else mounted a number of guns on the railings. The gun that such boats carried could be heavy, a 32-pounder for instance. For example, in the Battle of Alvøen during the Gunboat War of 1807-1814, Gunboats used in the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain during the American Revolutionary War were mostly built on the spot, attesting to the speed of their construction. All navies of the era kept a number of gunboats on hand. Gunboats saw extensive use in the Baltic Sea during the late 18th century as they were well-suited for the extensive coastal skerries and archipelagoes of Sweden, Finland and Russia. The rivalry between Sweden and Russia in particular led to an expansion of gunboat fleets and the development of new gunboat types. The majority of these were developed from the 1770s and onwards by the naval architect Fredrik Henrik af Chapman for the Swedish archipelago fleet. The designs, copied and refined by the rival Danish and Russian navies, spread to the Mediterranean, British ships engaged larger 22 m Russian gunboats off Turku in southeast Finland in 1854 during the Crimean War. The Russian vessels had the distinction of being the last oared vessels of war in history to fire their guns in anger, Gunboats played a key role in Napoleon Bonapartes plan for the invasion of England in 1804. Denmark-Norway used them heavily in the Gunboat War, between 1803 and 1812 the United States Navy had a policy of basing its navy on coastal gunboats, experimenting with a variety of designs. President Thomas Jefferson and his Democratic-Republican Party opposed a strong navy and they proved useless against the British blockade during the War of 1812. With the introduction of power in the early 19th century. Initially, these vessels retained full sailing rigs and used steam engines for auxiliary propulsion, the British Royal Navy deployed two wooden paddle-gunboats in the Lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River during the Rebellions of 1837 in Upper and Lower Canada. The United States Navy deployed an iron-hulled paddle gunboat, the USS Michigan, the Von der Tann became the first propeller-driven gunboat in the world. Conradi shipyards in Kiel built the steam-powered 120 long tons gunboat in 1849 for the navy of Schleswig-Holstein. 1, Von der Tann was the most modern ship in the navy and she participated successfully in the First Schleswig War of 1848-1851
27.
Icebreaker
–
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels. For a ship to be considered an icebreaker, it requires three traits most normal ships lack, a hull, an ice-clearing shape, and the power to push through sea ice. Icebreakers clear paths by pushing straight into ice pockets, the bending strength of sea ice is so low that usually the ice breaks without noticeable change in the vessels trim. In cases of very thick ice, an icebreaker can drive its bow onto the ice to break it under the weight of the ship, even in the earliest days of polar exploration, ice-strengthened ships were used. These were originally wooden and based on existing designs, but reinforced, particularly around the waterline with double planking to the hull, bands of iron were wrapped around the outside. Sometimes metal sheeting was placed at the bows, stern and along the keel, such strengthening was designed to help the ship push through ice and also to protect the ship in case it was nipped by the ice. Nipping occurs when ice floes around a ship are pushed against the ship, trapping it as if in a vise and this vise-like action is caused by the force of winds and tides on ice formations. Although such wind and tidal forces may be exerted many miles away, the first boats to be used in the polar waters were those of the indigenous Arctic people. Their kayaks are small human-powered boats with a deck, and one or more cockpits. Such boats, of course, have no icebreaking capabilities, but they are light, in the 9th and 10th centuries, the Viking expansion reached the North Atlantic, and eventually Greenland and Svalbard in the Arctic. Vikings, however, operated their ships in the waters that were ice-free for most of the year, in the 11th century, in North-Russia started settling the coasts of the White Sea, named so for being ice-covered for over half of a year. The mixed ethnic group of the Karelians and the Russians in the North-Russia that lived on the shores of the Arctic Ocean became known as Pomors. Gradually they developed a type of small one- or two-mast wooden sailing ships, used for voyages in the ice conditions of the Arctic seas. These earliest icebreakers were called kochi, the kochs hull was protected by a belt of ice-floe resistant flush skin-planking along the variable water-line, and had a false keel for on-ice portage. If a koch became squeezed by the ice-fields, its rounded bodylines below the water-line would allow for the ship to be pushed up out of the water, in the 19th century, similar protective measures were adopted to modern steam-powered icebreakers. Fram is said to be the ship to have sailed farthest north and farthest south. An early ship designed to operate in icy conditions was a 51-metre wooden paddle steamer,1, that was built for the city of Philadelphia by Vandusen & Birelyn in 1837
28.
Russian cruiser Rurik (1906)
–
Rurik was an armoured cruiser built for the Imperial Russian Navy in 1906. During World War I, the ship saw service with the Baltic Fleet, Rurik is unusual in that she was built by Vickers in Barrow in Furness, England. She was laid down in August 1905, launched on 4 November 1906, the Russian Navy was not usually a customer of British shipyards. She was named in honour of Rurik, the founder of ancient Russia. Unlike her previous namesake, Rurik, she has described as one of the best armoured cruisers built. She was designed by KA Tennison and AP Titov, and the contract was arranged by Basil Zaharoff, the ship had a prolonged work-up while defects were rectified. There was a plan to build two ships in Russia, but this was cancelled after the first battlecruiser, HMS Invincible. The main armament consisted of four 10-inch guns in two turrets, and the armament consisted of eight 8-inch guns in four twin turrets located at the corners of the superstructure. These guns were built by Vickers, the anti-torpedo boat armament comprised twenty 4. 7-inch guns in casemates. There were also four 1. 85-inch guns and two 18-inch torpedo tubes, gunnery trials revealed that the fastenings on the 10-inch and 8-inch barbettes were insufficiently strong and were deformed during firing. Vickers was forced to reinforce the turrets, the work was done in Kronstadt after delivery. All plate was Krupp armour made by Vickers, the 10-inch gun turrets were protected by 8-inch plate, and the 8-inch gun turrets were protected by 7-inch plate. The main belt was 500 feet long and extended to 5 feet below mean water line, there was also an upper belt,3 inches thick, which extended to the 4. 7-inch gun battery. Each 4. 7-inch gun had 1-inch armour screens and was separated by 1-inch armour from neighbouring guns, the forward conning tower was protected by 8-inch armour, and the after conning tower was protected by 5-inch armour. The power plant consisted of two four-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines and twenty-eight Belleville type boilers, on trials at the Skelmorlie mile she reached 21.43 knots, developing 20,580 hp. She carried out a deployment to the Mediterranean in company with the battleships Tsesarevich and Slava and she was the flagship of the Baltic Fleet during World War I and saw much action, being damaged by mines on several occasions. On 19 November 1916, she was damaged after striking a mine in the Baltic Sea off Hochland and her crew survived, and she was refloated, repaired, and returned to service. The ship was out by 1918
29.
Torpedo boat
–
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and they were created to counter battleships and other slow and heavily armed ships by using speed, agility, and the power of their torpedo weapons. A number of torpedo boats attacking en masse could overwhelm a larger ships ability to fight them off using its large. The introduction of fast torpedo boats in the late 19th century was a concern to the eras naval strategists. In response, navies operating large ships introduced smaller ships to torpedo boats. The destroyer eventually became the predominant type of warship in the guided missile age. In the modern era, the old concept of a small, fast. The American Civil War saw a number of innovations in warfare, including an early type of torpedo boat. In 1861 President Lincoln instituted a blockade of Southern ports. The South also lacked the means to construct a fleet capable of taking on the Union Navy on even terms. One strategy to counter the blockade saw the development of torpedo boats, the David class of torpedo boats were steam powered with a partially enclosed hull. They were not true submarines but were semi-submersible, when ballasted, only the smokestack, the CSS Midge and CSS St. Patrick were David-class torpedo boats. The CSS Squib and CSS Scorpion represented another class of boats that were also low built but had open decks. The Confederate torpedo boats were armed with spar torpedoes and this was a charge of powder in a waterproof case, mounted to the bow of the torpedo boat below the water line on a long spar. The torpedo boat attacked by ramming her intended target, which stuck the torpedo to the ship by means of a barb on the front of the torpedo. The torpedo boat would back away to a distance and detonate the torpedo. In general, the Confederate torpedo boats were not very successful and their low sides made them susceptible to swamping in high seas, and even to having their boiler fires extinguished by spray from their own torpedo explosions. Torpedo misfires and duds were common, in 1864 Union Naval Lieutenant Cushing fitted a steam launch with a spar torpedo to attack the Confederate ironclad Albemarle
30.
Casemate
–
A casemate, sometimes erroneously rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. Originally, the referred to a vaulted chamber in a fortress. In armoured fighting vehicles that do not have a turret for the main gun, the word comes from the Italian casamatta, the etymology of which is uncertain. Others think that it comes from the Arabic word kasaba, transliterated to kasbah, menagio speculated that it came from the Greek word for pit, khasma, the plural of which is khasmata. Hensleigh Wedgwood thought that it came from the Spanish casa and matar, others take matto in its archaic Italian meaning of dark, equivalent to the English matt, as in opaque, making a casamatta a dark house. Casematte were also used as prisons, making use of their lack of light to add to the punishment. This explanation seems to be the most agreed upon, a casemate was originally a vaulted chamber usually constructed underneath the rampart. It was intended to be impenetrable and could be used for sheltering troops or stores, with the addition of an embrasure through the scarp face of the rampart, it could be used as a protected gun position. In the early 19th century, French military engineer Baron Haxo designed a free-standing casemate that could be built on the top of the rampart, casemates built in concrete were used in the Second World War to protect coastal artillery from air attack. In warship design the term casemate has been used in a number of ways, the most famous naval battle of the war was the duel at Hampton Roads between the Union turretted ironclad USS Monitor and the Confederate casemate ironclad CSS Virginia. Casemate ship was a term for central battery ship or center battery ship. The casemate was a box that extended the full width of the ship protecting many guns. The armoured sides of the box were the sides of hull of the ship, there was an armoured bulkhead at the front and rear of the casemate, and a thick deck protecting the top. The lower edge of the casemate sat on top of ships belt armour, some ships, such as the Alexandra, had a two-storey casemate. A casemate was a room in the side of a warship. A typical casemate held a 6-in gun, and had a 6 front plate, with armour plates on the sides and rear, with a protected top and floor. Casemates were similar in size to turrets, ships carrying them had them in pairs, the first battleships to carry them were the British Royal Sovereign class laid down in 1889. They were adopted as a result of live-firing trials against HMS Resistance in 1888, the use of casemates enabled the 6-in guns to be dispersed, so that a single hit would not knock out all of them
31.
Gangut-class battleship
–
The Gangut-class battleships, also known as the Sevastopol class, were the first dreadnoughts begun for the Imperial Russian Navy before World War I. They had a design history involving several British companies, evolving requirements, an international design competition. Four ships were ordered in 1909, two were named after battles of Peter the Great in the Great Northern War and the other two were named after battles in the Crimean War. Three ships of the class used names of pre-dreadnought battleships of the Petropavlovsk-class lost in the Russo-Japanese War, construction was delayed by financing problems until the Duma formally authorized the ships in 1911. They were delivered from December 1914 through January 1915, although they still needed work on the turrets and fire-control systems until mid-1915. Their role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans and their crews participated in the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution in 1917, and joined the Bolsheviks the following year. The Russians were forced to evacuate their base at Helsinki after Finland became independent in December 1917. The Gangut-class ships led the first contingent of ships to Kronstadt even though the Gulf of Finland was still frozen, All of the dreadnoughts except for Petropavlovsk were laid up in October–November 1918 for lack of manpower. Poltava was severely damaged by a fire while laid up in 1919 and her crew, and that of the Sevastopol, joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of March 1921. After it was crushed, those ships were given proper revolutionary names. The other two vessels were recommissioned and renamed in 1925–26 while some work was done to repair Frunze, as Poltava was now known. This proved to be the first of a series of modernizations where each ship of the class was reconstructed and improved. The two ships of the Baltic Fleet did not play a prominent role in the Winter War, however this did not help either ship as they attempted to provide fire support for the defenders of Leningrad. Marat had her bow blown off and Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya was badly damaged by bomb hits in September. Both ships bombarded German and Finnish troops so long as they remained within reach, parizhskaya Kommuna remained in Sevastopol until forced to evacuate by advancing German troops. She made one trip to besieged Sevastopol in December 1941 and made a number of bombardments in support of the Kerch Offensive during January–March 1942 and she was withdrawn from combat in April as German aerial supremacy had made it too risky to risk such a large target. Sevastopol and Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya remained on the active list after the end of the war little is known of their activities. Both were reclassified as school battleships in 1954 and stricken in 1956 after which they were slowly scrapped, there were several plans to reconstruct Petropavlovsk using the bow of Frunze, but they were not accepted and were formally cancelled on 29 June 1948
32.
Sampo (1898 icebreaker)
–
Sampo was a Finnish state-owned steam-powered icebreaker. Built in 1898 by Sir W. G, when Sampo was decommissioned and broken up in 1960, she was also the second last steam-powered icebreaker in the Finnish icebreaker fleet. Prior to building Sampo, Finland had only one state-owned icebreaker, Murtaja, a committee, appointed by the Senate of Finland in 1895 to find a solution to the problem, came to a conclusion that a second state-owned icebreaker would be needed. Unlike the European icebreakers, the 1888-built train ferry St Ignace had two propellers, one at end of the ship. Convinced about the superiority of the new design, the winter navigation committee recommended that the new icebreaker should be of the so-called American type, in February 1897 the Senate sent a request for tender to eight shipbuilders for the construction of a new icebreaker. On 6 June 1897 the contract was signed with Sir W. G. Armstrong, while not the cheapest, the shipyard had the shortest delivery time — only seven months — for an icebreaker with bow propellers. While the initial date was 18 January 1898, Sampo was not delivered until October of the same year due to problems with material deliveries and strikes among the shipyards workers. She was launched in the spring of 1898 and left for the first sea trials on 23 August, however, the bow propeller shaft seized shortly after leaving the dock and the icebreaker returned to the shipyard. The coal consumption was also 11% greater than what was specified in the contract, the second sea trial on 21 September was successful and Sampo left for Finland on 25 October 1898 and arrived to Helsinki four days later. Sampo was officially commissioned on 15 November 1898 and began assisting ships outside the port of Hanko while the smaller Murtaja was stationed closer to the harbour. However, on the way back to the port Sampo, followed by Murtaja, encountered a thick ice ridge, the smaller icebreaker could not stop in time and collided with Sampo, causing damage to her stern structures but fortunately no injuries to the passengers. Sampo ended her first winter season on 16 May 1899, during which she had assisted 128 ships, the first decade of Sampo passed without major incidents. In 1907, another icebreaker with a bow propeller, Tarmo, was ordered from the builders of Sampo, in August 1914 Russia joined the First World War and navigating in the Baltic Sea became dangerous due to naval mines and German U-boats. The Finnish icebreakers were placed under the command of the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy and given the task of assisting naval ships, unlike Tarmo, Sampo was not armed with a deck gun. Icebreaker assistance to merchant ships was largely neglected, Sampo survived the war without damage. However, already in early January 1918 the ship was seized by the Russian revolutionary fleet, the White Guards in Korppoo and Nauvo attempted to retake Sampo later in January but failed. On 27 January 1918 the Red Guard took over Helsinki and the Finnish Civil War began, however, on the same day Sampo managed to escape to Sweden and join the Whites. The Russian commissar who was on board at the time was taken into custody, Sampo had a significant effect on the outcome of the Civil War when it assisted three convoys to the White-controlled ports in northern Finland
33.
Tarmo (1907 icebreaker)
–
Tarmo is a Finnish steam-powered icebreaker preserved in the Maritime Museum of Finland in Kotka. When Tarmo was decommissioned in 1970, a decision was made to preserve the vessel as a museum ship, after a long wait in Helsinki, Tarmo was towed to Kotka and completely restored in the early 1990s. In 1902 General Nikolai Sjöman, the director of the Finnish Pilot and Lighthouse Authority, while reluctant at first, in May 1906 the Senate announced that the old Murtaja could be replaced with a new icebreaker and a call for bids was sent to a number of suitable shipyards. On 4 September 1906 a decision was made to order a new icebreaker even though no buyer had been found for the old Murtaja. By 1 November 1906 tenders for the construction of a new icebreaker, similar to, the most expensive tender,1,608,900 Finnish markkas, was given by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft from Germany. It was followed by Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd from England, Gourlay Brothers Ship Builders of Dundee from Scotland, and Burmeister & Wain from Denmark. The tenders were evaluated by a committee appointed by the Senate and, after careful consideration. The shipbuilding contract was signed on 15 February 1907, and with the changes the price of the vessel was 1,631,548.81 Finnish markkas. The new icebreaker was launched on 9 September 1907 and given the name Tarmo, meaning vigour, Tarmo was officially commissioned on 4 January 1908. Leonard Melán was replaced by Captain Johan Rosqvist, an experienced winter navigator known for his ability to predict the movements of ice fields with almost supernatural accuracy, however, the winter of 1908 was relatively mild and there was hardly any ice to break before the end of February. However, despite the shortcomings Tarmo was still an addition to the state-owned icebreaker fleet. In May 1908, Tarmo was sent for the first time to the Bothnian Bay to open the harbors and fairways for the spring. On 2 June, she was run aground near Raahe due to an error by a pilot when navigating by sight, resulting in extensive damage to the bottom plating. Kept afloat by her own pumps, she returned to Raahe for emergency repairs and continued to Helsinki, in 1912 she was again run aground near Hanko, but the damage was not as extensive as on the first time. During the 1910s, Tarmo assisted ships to the port of Helsinki, as the spring approached, she was sent first to the Gulf of Bothnia and finally to the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland to open the ports for the spring. However, during the months the icebreakers were not sent beyond Vaasa. In August 1914 Russia joined the First World War and navigating in the Baltic Sea became dangerous due to naval mines and German U-boats. The Finnish icebreakers were placed under the command of the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy and given the task of assisting naval ships, despite the harsh winters, icebreaker assistance to merchant vessels was largely neglected, and several ships were destroyed by ice
34.
Voima (1924 icebreaker)
–
Voima was a Finnish and later Soviet steam-powered icebreaker. After two decades of successful service Voima was handed over to the Soviet Union as war reparation in 1945 and she remained in service until 1970 and was broken up in 1971. Voima was the first state-owned icebreaker acquired by the independent Finland and she can also be considered as the first state-owned icebreaker designed by Finnish naval architects and delivered by a Finnish shipyard. When Finland signed the Treaty of Tartu on 14 October 1920, as a result, the Wäinämöinen, the largest and most powerful state-owned icebreaker of Finland at that time, was handed over to Estonia and the smaller Ilmarinen to the Soviet Union in 1922. When the forest industry owners voiced their concerns, the Finnish shipowner John Nurminen stepped in, the partially completed icebreaker he was offering was one of the two icebreakers ordered by the Russian Baltic Fleet from Werft Böcker & Co. in Tallinn, Estonia, in 1916. However, the German Revolution of 1918–1919 stopped the construction of the ship, now known as Hansa, Nurminen bought the unfinished icebreaker in 1920 and had her towed to Helsinki. Her rusted hull was seen as a pile of scrap, not worth the governments scarce funds, as a result, the Finnish Board of Navigation reserved FIM17 million for the purchase and completion of Hansa. The rebuilding of Hansa was awarded to Sandvikens Skeppsdocka och Mekaniska Verkstads Ab in Helsinki, Voima had also cost considerably less than a new icebreaker with similar characteristics and performance. Commissioned in March 1924, Voima was usually sent to the Gulf of Bothnia where she assisted ships to the port of Vaasa until late December. As the ice conditions got worse, she moved south until, from February on, in 1927, after the loss of the Finnish torpedo boat S2, Voima was used as a gunnery training ship by the Finnish Navy. As a result, she already had deck gun mounts when the Winter War began on 30 November 1939, during the war Voima assisted ships in the Bothnian Sea and stayed outside major conflicts. When the Moscow Armistice was signed on 19 September 1944, Finland was ordered to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union, one of the first payments included the newest and most powerful state-owned steam-powered icebreakers. Voima was handed over along with the enormous Jääkarhu on 24 February 1945 and she was renamed Malygin, becoming the second Soviet icebreaker named after the Russian 18th century arctic explorer Stepan Malygin. The old Malygin, built in 1912, had been lost in a storm near Kamchatka in 1940, in 1950 she was modernized and her boilers were converted to oil. The name Voima was later given to the first Finnish post-war icebreaker, Malygin remained in service until 1970. She was broken up in the following year, Voima was 64.20 metres long overall and 61.25 metres at the waterline. Her moulded breadth was 14.20 metres and breadth at the slightly smaller,14.00 metres. To improve her icebreaking characteristics Voima was built with considerable stern trim, meaning that her draft was greater in the stern than in the bow
35.
Gun turret
–
A gun turret is a location from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility, and some cone of fire. Rotating gun turrets have the protection, the weapon, and its crew rotate, when this meaning of the word turret started being used at the beginning of the 1860s, turrets were normally cylindrical. Barbettes were an alternative to turrets, with a barbette the protection was fixed, in the 1890s, armoured hoods were added to barbettes, these rotated with the platform. By the early 20th Century, these hoods were known as turrets, modern warships have gun-mountings described as turrets, though the protection on them is limited to protection from the weather. They may be manned or remotely controlled and are most often protected to some degree, the protection provided by the turret may be against battle damage, the weather conditions, general environment in which the weapon or its crew will be operating. A small turret, or sub-turret set on top of a one, is called a cupola. The term cupola is used for a rotating turret that carries a sighting device rather than weaponry. Before the development of large-calibre, long-range guns in the mid-19th century, firepower was provided by a large number of guns, each of which could traverse only in a limited arc. Additionally casemate mounts had to be recessed into the side of a vessel to afford a wide arc of fire, designs for a rotating gun turret date back to the late 18th century. The Lady Nancy proved a success and Coles patenting his rotating turret design after the war. Coless aim was to create a ship with the greatest possible all round arc of fire, the Admiralty accepted the principle of the turret gun as a useful innovation, and incorporated it into other new designs. Coles submitted a design for a ship having ten domed turrets each housing two large guns, the design was rejected as impractical, although the Admiralty remained interested in turret ships and instructed its own designers to create better designs. Coles enlisted the support of Prince Albert, who wrote to the first Lord of the Admiralty, in January 1862, the Admiralty agreed to construct a ship, the HMS Prince Albert which had four turrets and a low freeboard, intended only for coastal defence. While Coles designed the turrets the ship was the responsibility of the chief Constructor Isaac Watts, another ship using Coles turret designs, HMS Royal Sovereign, was completed in August 1864. Its existing broadside guns were replaced with four turrets on a flat deck, early ships like the Royal Sovereign had little sea-keeping qualities being limited to coastal waters. Sir Edward James Reed, went on to design and build HMS Monarch, laid down in 1866 and completed in June 1869, it carried two turrets, although the inclusion of a forecastle and poop prevented the turret guns firing fore and aft. The gun turret was independently invented by the Swedish inventor John Ericsson in America, Ericsson designed the USS Monitor in 1861, its most prominent feature being a large cylindrical gun turret mounted amidships above the low-freeboard upper hull, also called the raft. This extended well past the sides of the lower, more traditionally shaped hull, a small armoured pilot house was fitted on the upper deck towards the bow, however, its position prevented Monitor from firing her guns straight forward
36.
Incendiary ammunition
–
Incendiary ammunition is a type of firearm ammunition containing a compound that burns rapidly and causes fires. The first time incendiary ammunition was used was in World War I. At the time, phosphorus was the primary ingredient in the incendiary charge and these early forms were also known as smoke tracers because of this. Though deadly, the range of these bullets was only 350 yards. Incendiary bullets called Buckingham ammunition were supplied to early British night fighters for use against military zeppelins threatening the British Isles, the flammable hydrogen gas of the zeppelins made incendiary bullets much more deadly than standard ones which would pass through the outer skin without igniting the gas. Similarly, incendiary ammunition was used against non-rigid observation balloons, pilots were permitted to deploy them against only zeppelins and balloons, and they were additionally restricted to shooting the gas chamber itself rather than the crew. Furthermore, they were required to carry written orders on their person when engaging these targets, during World War II, incendiary bullets found a new use, they became one of the preferred types of ammunition for use in interceptor fighters. Belgian inventor de Wilde, who was living in Switzerland, invented a new bullet in 1938, in December of that year the British Air Ministry purchased the design. However, as the bullet had to be made by hand rather than mass-produced, aubrey Dixon of the British Royal Arsenal at Woolwich developed a greatly improved bullet with similar incendiary capabilities. This was adopted by British forces as the 0.303 Incendiary B Mark VI, for security reasons, and to confuse the enemy, it was initially called de Wilde ammunition, even though the design was almost entirely different from the original version. The B Mark VI incendiary bullet was packed with nitrocellulose, as opposed to earlier designs, the B Mark VI was a true incendiary rather than tracer ammunition. The B Mark VI incendiary bullets were first issued in June 1940, the explosive power, coupled with the flash on impact which guided their aim, was much appreciated by pilots. The bullets were at first scarce, as a result a mix of ball, AP, Mk IV incendiary tracer, by 1942 the standard loading for fixed. 303s was half loaded with AP and half with incendiary bullets.30 and.50 aircraft bullets. The British then adopted the design as the Mk VII bullet. Incendiary projectiles, in particular those intended for armor penetration, are effective if they explode after penetrating a surface layer. Additionally, targets with onboard electronics or computers can be damaged by metal fragments when they explode on the surface, ignition is often delayed by varying means until after impact. Some explosive projectiles, such as high-explosive incendiary bullets, contain an incendiary charge intended to ignite explosives within the shell, tracer ammunition Dragons Breath Williams, Anthony G. Gustin, Emmanuel. Flying Guns World War II - Development of Aircraft Guns, Ammunition and Installations 1933-45
37.
Shrapnel shell
–
They relied almost entirely on the shells velocity for their lethality. The munition has been obsolete since the end of World War I for anti-personnel use, the functioning and principles behind Shrapnel shells are fundamentally different from high-explosive shell fragmentation. In 1784, Lieutenant Shrapnel of the Royal Artillery began developing an anti-personnel weapon, when fired, the container burst open during passage through the bore or at the muzzle, giving the effect of an oversized shotgun shell. At ranges of up to 300 m canister shot was still highly lethal, though at this range the shots’ density was much lower and his shell was a hollow cast-iron sphere filled with a mixture of balls and powder, with a crude time fuze. If the fuze was set correctly then the shell would break open, either in front or above the intended target, the shrapnel balls would carry on with the remaining velocity of the shell. The explosive charge in the shell was to be just enough to break the casing rather than scatter the shot in all directions, as such his invention increased the effective range of canister shot from 300 to about 1100 m. He called his device spherical case shot, but in time it came to be called after him, Various solutions were tried, with limited if any success. However, in 1852 Colonel Boxer proposed using a diaphragm to separate the bullets from the bursting charge, as a buffer to prevent lead shot deforming, a resin was used as a packing material between the shot. A useful side effect of using the resin was that the combustion also gave a visual reference upon the shell bursting and it took until 1803 for the British artillery to adopt the shrapnel shell, albeit with great enthusiasm when it did. Henry Shrapnel was promoted to major in the same year, the first recorded use of shrapnel by the British was in 1804 against the Dutch at Fort Nieuw-Amsterdam in Surinam. The Duke of Wellingtons armies used it from 1808 in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo, the design was improved by Captain E. M. Boxer of the Royal Arsenal around 1852 and crossed over when cylindrical shells for rifled guns were introduced. The powder charge both shattered the cast iron wall and liberated the bullets. The broken shell wall continued mainly forward but had little destructive effect, in the 1870s William Armstrong provided a design with the bursting charge in the head and the shell wall made of steel and hence much thinner than previous cast-iron shrapnel shell walls. Britain adopted this solution for several smaller calibres but by World War I few if any such shells remained, the final shrapnel shell design, adopted in the 1880s, bore little similarity to Henry Shrapnels original design other than its spherical bullets and time fuze. It used a much thinner forged steel shell case with a fuze in the nose. The use of steel allowed the wall to be made much thinner. It also withstood the force of the charge without shattering, so that the bullets were fired forward out of the shell case with increased velocity. This is the design came to be adopted by all countries and was in standard use when World War I began in 1914
38.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
39.
OCLC
–
The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
