![]() ![]() While boat howitzers were never commonly used by either army, by the end of the war their use by land forces was very rare. The Indiana Brigade used a Dahlgren boat howitzer in fighting near Grand Prairie, Arkansas, on July 5, 1862. The Wiard howitzers were not made in large numbers ( Ripley 1984, p. 168).īoat howitzers were used in the western theaters also. Other than the material used, the Wiard boat howitzers were identical to the Dahlgren 12-pounder rifled boat howitzers. The New York Marine Artillery was issued twelve 12-pounder rifled boat howitzers made by Norman Wiard out of semi-steel, a low-carbon iron alloy. The unit participated in 16 raids along the North Carolina coast employing their boat howitzers. The 1st New York Marine Artillery Regiment ("Howard's Artillery, Naval Brigade") also armed themselves with boat howitzers, using them for their designed use of amphibious expeditions. ![]() The boat howitzers appeared to be popular-when Grimes' battery was forced to turn in one of its guns, it chose to turn in a three-inch ordnance rifle rather than one of its boat howitzers ( Johnson & Anderson, p. 24). The Confederate Grimes' (Portsmouth) Battery had two smoothbore Dahlgren boat howitzers, with which they fought near Piper's Stone Barn ( Johnson & Anderson, p. 78). The howitzers fired on Confederate skirmishers at Snavely's Ford and suppressed them ( Johnson & Anderson, p. 78). When the regiment retreated they left the howitzers behind for the Confederate forces to capture.ĭuring the Antietam Campaign, Whiting's Battery (Company K, 9th NY Infantry (Hawkins' Zouaves)), employed five Dahlgren boat howitzers (two rifled, two smoothbore, and one of indeterminate type). The unit had trained on boat howitzers while deployed at Washington D.C., and when called to Bull Run, brought two of them along. The boat howitzers were occasionally used in artillery batteries, but were more often used in infantry units, in a role that would later be called infantry support guns.Īt First Bull Run, Company I of the 71st New York Infantry Regiment brought two boat howitzers with them. Some 24-pounder boat howitzers were apparently rifled, but some contemporary accounts confuse rifled 24-pounder boat howitzers and the 20-pounder rifles (discussed below)Īside from use in naval service, boat howitzers saw service with the land forces as well. The heavy 12-pounder howitzers were most popular at their intended jobs, while the 24-pounder boat howitzer were found to serve excellently as primary and secondary armaments on river gunboats and similar small vessels. The small and the light 12-pounder boat howitzers were not popular. Percussion primers were used in naval service, but the howitzers could also use friction primers obtained from the army. The rifled 12-pounder fired shot and shell. The smoothbore boat howitzers fired shell, shrapnel, and canister. Members of the gun crew also carried a single round in an ammunition pouch. No limber was used in naval service, but two ammunition boxes (each containing nine rounds) could be lashed to the axle of the field carriage. The field carriage was made of wrought iron. In naval service the boat howitzers had gun crews of 10 in the boat and 11 ashore.ĭahlgren boat howitzer mounted on field carriage Having the single mounting lug expedited moving the howitzer from the launch to field carriage and back. All of the boat howitzers were very similar in design, cast in bronze, with a mounting lug or loop on the bottom of the barrel instead of trunnions, and an elevating screw running through the cascabel. Later a lighter 12-pounder (the "small") and a rifled 12-pounder heavy howitzer were introduced. The first boat howitzers to be designed were a light 12 lb (5.4 kg) "12-pounder", a heavy 12-pounder (originally designated a "medium"), and a 24 lb (10.9 kg) "24-pounder". In 1849, then-lieutenant Dahlgren began to design a family of smoothbore muzzle-loading boat howitzers that could be mounted in ships’ launches and cutters as well as being mounted onto field carriages. Light artillery borrowed from the army proved unsatisfactory. ![]() found itself lacking in light guns that could be fired from ships’ boats and landed to be used as light artillery in support of landing parties ( Ripley 1984, p. 87). The field carriage can be seen in sternĭuring the Mexican–American War the U.S. Dahlgren boat howitzer mounted in frigate's launch. ![]()
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