Firing a 17th century gun

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:35 pm

They have built a replica of a gun from the 17th century ship Vasa. They use the same kind of gun powder and cannon ball as was used when Vasa sunk. Here is the result when they fire it against a reconstructed ships side built out of English Oak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGd5HLl3GwE

They have continued to fire the gun since then for scientific purposes.

Zap · Post by **Zap** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:45 pm

Hmmm, first they did a great job in manufacturing the gun, down to the emblems. When I saw what it did to the side of (what would be ship)I was surprised! Now I better understand why it would take many cannon hits to sink a ship. Glad you posted that Orm.

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:51 pm

Fun thing is that the cannon ball went a further 500 yards and then hit, and went through, a large tree.

----

What is not really shown in that video was the huge amount of tree splinters that could wound the crew.

Edit: Almost impossible to sink the ship by hits underwater since the cannon ball is likely to bounce on the water.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:51 pm

Thx that was interesting to watch. I remember seeing other similar videos where the balls just bounced off the oak shiphull, only leaving a small dent.

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:54 pm

This is a 24-pounder gun.

warspite1 · Post by **warspite1** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 4:02 pm

Thanks for sharing!

It's great to see something like that to bring home what naval warfare must have been like in those days....

Philippeatbay · Post by **Philippeatbay** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 4:20 pm

Is there somewhere where we can read the results of the study?

I'd really like to know what the rate of fire on one of those naval guns was, though I doubt that they could test that for safety reasons.

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 4:29 pm

ORIGINAL: Philippe at bay

Is there somewhere where we can read the results of the study?

I'd really like to know what the rate of fire on one of those naval guns was, though I doubt that they could test that for safety reasons.

They have just finished test shooting the gun and are now analysing the results. The study is expected to be published the coming winter.

Zap · Post by **Zap** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 4:45 pm

ORIGINAL: Orm

Fun thing is that the cannon ball went a further 500 yards and then hit, and went through, a large tree.

----

What is not really shown in that video was the huge amount of tree splinters that could wound the crew.

Edit: Almost impossible to sink the ship by hits underwater since the cannon ball is likely to bounce on the water.

So I would imagine that the distance between ships could be more then 500 yards. That could explain why some shots would only dent(distance slowed the velocity)

Twotribes · Post by **Twotribes** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 5:02 pm

Actually ship combat in the age of sail happened at a much lower range.

Zap · Post by **Zap** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 5:06 pm

That would make sense. Longer distance would be a waste of shot.

oldspec4 · Post by **oldspec4** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 12:16 am

At the Erie, Pa. naval museum (home of the Niagara) they have a display showing the effects of wood splinters on the ships' crews. Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. IIRC, most of the casualties were from wood splinters and not the actual cannon ball.

Ranger33 · Post by **Ranger33** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 1:59 am

Interesting about the wood splinters. I know on Mythbusters they tested it and found the opposite result, the wood splinters were more or less harmless in their experiment. Most of the splinters simply bounced off the pig carcass they used as a test dummy. They were surprised at the result as I recall. Of course, I would not be surprised to find that their methodology was lacking.

warspite1 · Post by **warspite1** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:24 am

That seems strange, and is inconsistent with everything I have ever read on the subject. Look at the video and the speed those jagged pieces of wood would have been travelling at - even if you didn't receive the pointy end somewhere about your person, its going to flippin' hurt when they smack into your face or elsewhere.

Also the recoil on that thing! You'd have to hope aboard ship that the guncrew opposite you had secured their gun properly! [X(]

Zap · Post by **Zap** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 4:10 am

Not sure but is pig skin thicker then human skin?

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:18 am

The mythbusters apparently used a lighter gun for their test. A nice discussion about that test can be found here.

http://mythbustersresults.com/episode71

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:20 am

ORIGINAL: Zap

Not sure but is pig skin thicker then human skin?

They use sometimes pig skin to simulate human skin, say for when testing arrows, bullets and swords and such.

I saw the Mythbusters episode about the woodsplinters as well. Maybe it really is a myth. All I've read about it is indeed that most of the casualties came from the splinters...then again I've read somewhere else that it's all a myth so maybe the Mythbusters were right.

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:25 am

ORIGINAL: Josh

ORIGINAL: Zap

Not sure but is pig skin thicker then human skin?

They use sometimes pig skin to simulate human skin, say for when testing arrows, bullets and swords and such.

I saw the Mythbusters episode about the woodsplinters as well. Maybe it really is a myth. All I've read about it is indeed that most of the casualties came from the splinters...then again I've read somewhere else that it's all a myth so maybe the Mythbusters were right.

The mythbusters used a peashooter compared to a gun that the real navies used at that time. Even frigates had heavier guns than they used.

Orm · Post by **Orm** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 2:18 am

Here is another video showing when they fire the Vasa cannon. 2 minutes into the video they show pictures of the effect that the cannon ball had on a couple of trees standing 500 yards away from the gun. Unfortunately, this video is in Swedish. The video also show the cannon-ball with a high-speed camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMM8BtpqGzE

warspite1 · Post by **warspite1** » Sun Apr 26, 2015 2:39 am

ORIGINAL: Orm

Here is another video showing when they fire the Vasa cannon. 2 minutes into the video they show pictures of the effect that the cannon ball had on a couple of trees standing 500 yards away from the gun. Unfortunately, this video is in Swedish. The video also show the cannon-ball with a high-speed camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMM8BtpqGzE

warspite1

Nice. Sorry but seeing that again, I simply fail to understand how those splinters could have been said to have been harmless. Look at the mess (and what happens to the wood) going in (1:24) let alone the much larger mess in 2:31 - when travelling out. Those sailors had no protection whatsoever, so the idea that those splinters would have simply bounced off human flesh is very difficult to believe.

By the way, why is Eddie Jordan in the video [:D]

Eddie Jordan - Ex F1 Team Owner

Alf Prytz - Militarhistoriker

Firing a 17th century gun

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