Chain shot
In
When fired, after leaving the muzzle, the shot's components tumble in the air, and the connecting chain fully extends. In past use, as much as 1.8 m (6 ft) of chain would sweep through the target. However, the tumbling made both bar and chain shot less accurate, so they were used at shorter ranges.[2]
Chain shot was sometimes used on land as an anti-personnel load. It was used by the defenders of Magdeburg in May 1631 as an anti-personnel load, which, according to counselor Otto von Guericke, was one reason for the extreme violence of the victorious attackers.[3] It was also used against Parliamentarians in the first English Civil War,[4] and against Cromwell in Ireland at the siege of Clonmel in 1650, against the 76th Regiment of Foot in India in 1803,[5] and by the French against the Dutch at the Battle of Waterloo.[6]
The military usefulness of chain shot died out as wooden sail-powered ships were replaced with armored steam ships—first among navies, and then among commercial fleets—which do not have rigging to serve as proper targets for chain-shot. Additionally, the conversion of naval armament from
In modern times, the effect is replicated in shotguns with the use of bolo shells, a pair of slugs connected by a strong wire. They are banned in several jurisdictions, including Florida[7] and Illinois.[8]
See also
References
- ^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
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(help) - ^ "Pirate Tech". Modern Marvels. 2006-07-09.
- ^ Otto von Guericke: Geschichte der Belagerung, Eroberung und Zerstoerung von Magdeburg, 2. Auflage 1882, p. 16ff.
- ^ Anne Sacheverell, Daughters from London, 1643
- ^ John Clark Marshman: Abridgment of the History of India, 1873, p. 268
- ^ P. Wakker, Aanteekeningen van een Veteraan dato 16 Augustus 1815 (etc.), 1863, p. 14
- ^ Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine
- ^ Public Act 92-0423 of the 92nd General Assembly Archived March 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine