68-pounder Lancaster gun

"A Quiet Day in the Diamond Battery", 15 December 1854, by William Simpson. Depicts naval guns deployed ashore in the Crimean War.

68-pounder Lancaster guns were a British rifled muzzle-loading cannon of the 1850s that fired a 68-pound shell.[1] It was designed by Charles William Lancaster.[2] The cannon was designed with an oval bore and had a range of about 6,500 yd (5.9 km).[3] The gun had a tendency to burst and jam.[4][2]

They were fitted in pairs to the Arrow-class gunvessel and were used during the Crimean War.[1][2]

The muzzle of a Lancaster gun survives in the collection of the Royal Armouries at Fort Nelson.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904. Conway Maritime. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.
  2. ^ a b c d "Gun - 68 pounder Lancaster elliptical-bore - about 1854". royalarmouries.org. Royal Armouries. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  3. ^ Lambert, Andrew D. (1991). The Crimean War: British grand strategy, 1853–56. Manchester University Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-7190-3564-7.
  4. ^ Preston, Antony; Major, John (2007). Send a Gunboat The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904. Conway Maritime. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-85177-923-2.
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