Paixhans gun
Videos
The Paixhans gun was the first naval gun designed to fire explosive shells. It was developed by the French general Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1822–1823. The design furthered the evolution of naval artil
Paixhans naval shell gun. Musée de la Marine.
Paixhans shell with sabot
Paixhans 80lbs (22cm)
The Dahlgren gun was developed as an improvement of the Paixhans gun. View on deck of USS Kearsarge showing aft 11-inch Dahlgren shell gun.
Bomb vessel
Videos
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but
Paixhans gun
…Rodman improved the weapon for both solid shot and shell use. Explosive shells had long been in use in ground warfare (in howitzers and mortars) and on bomb vessels against stationary targets, but they were fired only at high angles and with relatively low velocities. The shells of that time were inherently dangerous…
Model of a mortar aboard Foudroyante, a French bomb vessel of the 1800s
British bomb vessels attacking Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814
Model of a 'Granado' bomb vessel, launched in 1742. It has two mortars inline. National Maritime Museum, London.
Fort Pulaski under fire. 1 May 1862.