Swivel gun

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Three examples of 18th century swivel guns

A swivel gun (or simply swivel)[1] is a small cannon mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to switch between either the rifled or the smoothbore barrels.[2]

Swivel guns should not be confused with

screw guns, which are a mountain gun
with a segmented barrel.

An older term for the type is peterero (alternative spellings include "paterero" and "pederero"). The name was taken from the Spanish name for the gun, pedrero, a combination of the word piedra (stone) and the suffix -ero (-er), because stone was the first type of ammunition fired.

It had a high rate of fire, as several chambers could be prepared in advance and quickly fired in succession and was especially effective in

anti-personnel roles. It was used for centuries in Europe, Asia and Africa
.

History

Breech-loading swivel gun with mug-shaped chamber, and wedge to hold it in place.

Although

breech-loading is often considered a modern innovation which facilitated the loading of cannons,[3] breech-loading swivel guns were invented in the 14th century,[4] and used worldwide from the 16th century onward by numerous countries, many of them non-European. They have been called by many names, sometimes "Murderer", "Base", "Sling", "Port-Piece", "Serpentine", "Culverin", "Pierrier", "Stock Fowler", and "Patterero" in English;[5][6]: 368–369 [7] "Pierrier à boîte" in French; "Berço" in Portuguese; "Verso" in Spanish;[8] "Prangi" in Turkish;[9]: 143  "Kammerschlange" (lit. "chamber snake", properly means "breech-loading falconet") in German; "Folangji" (佛郎机, from Turkish "Prangi" or Turkic "Farangi"),[9]: 143  "Folangji chong"[10]: 348–349  (佛郎机铳, Prangi or Farangi gun),[9]: 143  "Fo-lang-chi p'ao" (佛朗机炮 or 佛朗機砲, Portuguese cannon)[11] in Chinese; "Bulang-kipo" ("불랑기포[佛郞機砲]") in Korean;[12] "Furanki" (仏郎機砲, "Frankish gun") or 子砲 ("Child cannon") in Japanese;[13][14] and "Bedil" or "bḍil" (ꦧꦣꦶꦭ) in Javanese.[15]: 238 and 247  Some of them were used until the 20th century.[14]

Swivel guns were developed and used from 1364 onward.[6]: 366  The guns were loaded with mug-shaped chambers, in which gunpowder and projectile had been filled in advance. The chamber was then put in place, blocked with a wedge, and then fired. As the loading was made in advance and separately, breech-loading swivel guns were quick-firing guns for their time.[16] An early description of a swivel gun puts the weight of the gun at 118 kilograms (260 lb), equipped with three chambers for rotations, each 18 kilograms (40 lb) in weight, and firing a 280 grams (9.9 oz) lead shot.[17] The guns had a disadvantage: they leaked and lost power around the chambers, but this was compensated by the high rate of fire as multiple chambers could be prepared in advance.[18] A swivel gun could fire either cannonballs against obstacles, or grapeshot against troops.[19]

A Japanese breech-loading swivel gun of the time of the 16th century, obtained by Ōtomo Sōrin. This gun is thought to have been cast in Goa, Portuguese India. Caliber: 95 mm (3.7 in), length: 2.88 m (9.4 ft).
Ming bronze
cannon with open breech.

During the Middle-Ages, breech-loading swivel guns were developed by the Europeans also partly as a cheaper alternative to the very expensive

muzzle-loading cannons, as bronze was many times more expensive than iron. As cast iron was not yet technologically feasible for the Europeans, the only possibility was to use wrought iron bars hammered together and held with hoops like barrels. With this method, a one piece design was very difficult, and a fragmental structure, with separated chamber and barrel was then selected.[19][20]

Gustavus Adolphus at Munich
, 1632.

Around 1500, Europeans learnt how to cast iron, and shifted their cannon productions to one-piece iron muzzle-loaders. China started to adopt European swivel guns from 1500 onward, limiting at the same time the production of their own muzzle-loaders, because of the high effectiveness of the swivel gun as an

anti-personnel gun, which to them was more interesting than the sheer power of a cannonball.[19]

Usage of breech-loading swivel guns continued in Europe however, with, as early as the 17th century, characteristics very similar to the modern

machine-gun or mitrailleuse.[21]

Use

Bali Museum breech-loading swivel gun (Cetbang). Length: 1833 mm. Bore: 43 mm. Length of tiller: 315 mm. Widest part: 190 mm (at the base ring).
rifled breech-loading swivel gun, brought from Madagascar
to France in 1898. Length 230 cm.

Breech-loading swivel guns were used to advantage at the bow and stern on

warships, but were also used in fortifications.[16]

Breech-loading guns were used by Burgundians as early as 1364. The Portuguese had versos (Berços) in ca. 1410, while England has a picture of port-pieces of 1417, although the picture itself was made ca. 1485.[6]: 366  The Ottomans used the prangi from the mid-15th century onwards in field battles, aboard their ships, and in their forts, where prangis often comprised the majority of the ordnance.[22]: 100  These weapons would spread eastward to Indian ocean, eventually reaching Southeast Asia in ca. 1460 AD.[23]: 95 

In China and Japan, breech-loading swivel guns were brought after China defeated the Portuguese in the 16th century. At the

Zhengtong (1436–1449) China got hold of Fu-Lang-Ji cannons, the most important magic instrument of foreign people". He mentioned the cannons some 60 or 70 years prior to the first reference about Portuguese. It was impossible for the Chinese to get hold of the Portuguese cannons prior to their arrival.[26] Pelliot viewed that the folangji gun reached China before Portuguese did, possibly by anonymous carriers from Malaya.[27]: 199–207  Needham noted that breech-loading guns were already familiar in Southern China in 1510, as a rebellion in Huang Kuan was destroyed by more than 100 folangji.[6]: 372  It may even be earlier, brought to Fujian by a man named Wei Sheng and used in quelling a pirate incident in 1507.[10]
: 348 

In Japan, Ōtomo Sōrin seems to have been the first recipient of the guns, possibly as early as 1551. In 1561 the Portuguese, allied with Otomo in the Siege of Moji, bombarded rival Japanese position, possibly with swivel guns.[3] In the Battle of Takajō in 1587, Ōtomo Sōrin used two swivel guns obtained from the Portuguese. The guns were nicknamed Kunikuzushi (国崩し, "Destroyer of Provinces").[17]

In the later portions of the Ming dynasty (mid 16th century onward) it appears that these type of guns were the most common and numerous type of artillery used by the Ming forces. a great deal of variation of such cannons were produced, and it appeared in pretty much all of the conflicts of this time, including the

Imjin War
. Until the introduction of heavy Dutch cannons in the early 17th century, there were even attempts by the Ming to make large heavy versions of such guns.

Other countries also used swivel guns. In

Northern Africa by Algerian rebels in their resistance to French forces.[14]

Breech-loading swivel guns were also used extensively in

trepanger in Northern Australia, in particular the bronze breechloader with 2 inches (5.08 cm) bore.[30]

Steel

rifled breech-loading swivel guns are known which were manufactured by the United States towards the end of the 19th century, and used in colonial theaters such as in Madagascar.[31]

Configuration

Swivel guns are among the smallest types of cannon, typically measuring less than 1 m (3.3 ft) in length and with a bore diameter of up to 3.8 cm (1+1⁄2 in). They can fire a variety of ammunition but were generally used to fire

breech
of the weapon.

Most swivel guns were muzzleloaders, but there were some breech-loading swivel guns as early as the 1410, making them among the first such examples of this type of weapon (see berços).[34]: 366  Breech-loading swivel guns had a breech shaped like a beer mug, which the gunner would take by the handle and insert into the body of the swivel gun with the breech's opening facing forwards. The gunpowder and projectiles were loaded into the breech before it was inserted into the gun. If a number of breeches were prepared beforehand, the gunner could maintain a high rate of fire for a brief period simply by swapping out the used breech and replacing it with a freshly loaded one.[35]

Applications

A swivel gun mounted on the American topsail schooner Lynx

Swivel guns were used principally aboard sailing ships, serving as short-range anti-personnel ordnance. They were not ship-sinking weapons, due to their small caliber and short range, but could do considerable damage to anyone caught in their line of fire. They were especially useful against deck-to-deck boarders, against approaching longboats bearing boarding parties, and against deck gun crews when ships were hull-to-hull.

Due to their relatively small size, swivel guns were highly portable and could be moved around the deck of a ship quite easily (and certainly much more easily than other types of cannon). They could be mounted on vertical timbers (pillars) which were either part of the ship's structure or were firmly bolted to that structure along either side, which provided the gunner with a reasonably steady platform from which to fire. Their portability enabled them to be installed wherever they were most needed; whereas larger cannon were useless if they were on the wrong side of the ship, swivel guns could be carried across the deck to face the enemy.

The small size of swivel guns enabled them to be used by a wide variety of vessels, including those too small to accommodate larger cannons, and also permitted their use on land; they were commonly issued to forts in

waterfowl (see also punt gun
).

Swivel guns were extensively used by the kingdoms and empires of Asia, particularly

Nusantara. The Ottomans used the prangi from the mid-15th century onwards in field battles, aboard their ships, and in their forts, where prangis often comprised the majority of the ordnance.[22]: 100  These weapons would spread eastward to Indian ocean, eventually reaching Southeast Asia in ca. 1460 AD.[37]
: 95 

The Chinese knew breech-loading swivel guns since at least 1507, when it was brought to Fujian by a man named Wei Sheng and used in quelling a pirate incident in 1507.[10]: 348  Needham noted that breech-loading guns were already familiar in Southern China in 1510, as a rebellion in Huang Kuan was destroyed by more than 100 folangji.[34]: 372  Korea followed suit by the 1560s. During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), Korean naval forces used swivel guns and larger cannon to great effect in interdicting the invading Japanese forces.[38]

See also

References

  1. ^ Keppel, Sir Henry (1847). The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the Suppression of Piracy: With Extracts from the Journal of James Brooke, Esq. of Sarawak. Chapman and Hall. pp. 36, 47, 226, 265.
  2. ISBN 9781473383746
    .
  3. ^ a b Turnbull, p. 105
  4. ^ Samurai - The World of the Warrior Stephen Turnbull p. 105
  5. ISBN 978-0-9544029-2-1
    .
  6. ^ a b c d Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. ^ Grose, Francis (1801). Military antiquities respecting a history of the English army, from the conquest to the present time. London: T. Egerton Whitehall & G. Kearsley. p. 402-403.
  8. ^ Spanish Galleon 1530-1690 by Angus Konstam p.15 [1]
  9. ^
    ISBN 9780521822749
    .
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-691-13597-7
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 9789047406921
    .
  12. ^ ko:불랑기포
  13. ^ Samurai - The World of the Warrior Stephen Turnbull p. 106
  14. ^ a b c Musée de l'Armée, Paris.
  15. S2CID 191565174
    .
  16. ^ a b Perrin, p. 29
  17. ^ a b c Turnbull p. 106
  18. ^ Turnbull p. 105-106
  19. ^ a b c Firearms: a global history to 1700 by Kenneth Warren Chase p.143
  20. ^ Tudor Warships (1): Henry VIII's Navy Angus Konstam p.34
  21. ^ HISTORY AND DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE OF THE U.S. NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON COMPILED BY F. E. Farnham and J. Mundell. WASHINGTON, D.C.: GIBSON BROS, PRINTERS AND BOOKBINDERS. 1894 p.19 [2]
  22. ^ a b Agoston, Gabor (2019). Firangi, Zarbzan, and Rum Dasturi: The Ottomans and the Diffusion of Firearms in Asia. In Pál Fodor, Nándor E. Kovács and Benedek Péri eds., Şerefe. Studies in Honour of Prof. Géza Dávid on His Seventieth Birthday, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest: Research Center for the Humanities, 89–104.
  23. ^ Averoes, Muhammad (2020). Antara Cerita dan Sejarah: Meriam Cetbang Majapahit. Jurnal Sejarah, 3(2), 89 - 100.
  24. ISBN 978-0-7566-4219-8
    .
  25. ^ Di Cosmo, Nicola. “Did Guns Matter? Firearms and the Qing Formation.” In Lynn Struve, ed., The Qing Formation in World- Historical Time. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004, 121–66.
  26. ^ de Abreu, António Graça (1991). "The Chinese, Gunpowder and the Portuguese". Review of Culture. 2: 32–40.
  27. doi:10.1163/156853297X00509
    – via JSTOR.
  28. ISBN 9781576077702
    .
  29. ISBN 978-988-8028-49-8
    .
  30. ^ Dyer, A. J. (1930). Unarmed Combat: An Australian Missionary Adventure. Edgar Bragg & Sons Pty. Ltd., printers 4-6 Baker Street Sydney.
  31. Musée de l'Armée
    exhibit
  32. ^ McLaughlin 2014, p. 280
  33. ^ "Swivel Howitzer". 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2023-03-28 – via USS Constitution Museum. While [swivel] howitzers could fire grenades, this practice was extremely dangerous as the gun could easily explode. Howitzers of this size were more often used like a big shotgun, firing canister or grape shot.
  34. ^ a b Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  35. ISBN 0-521-82274-2
  36. ISBN 1-56037-238-9
  37. ^ Averoes, M. (2020). Antara Cerita dan Sejarah: Meriam Cetbang Majapahit. Jurnal Sejarah, 3(2), 89 - 100.
  38. ISBN 0-521-82274-2

Bibliography

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swivel_gun&oldid=1199771662"