Quote:
Originally Posted by unkated
Incorrect. Age of Sail warships (actually, until the mid 1840s any ship, as most ships heading for international waters were built to be equipped with some armament) were designed to be equipped decks were reinforced with scantlings and knees preciesly to support the down thrust from cannon recoil - several hundred pounds moving rapidly and absolutley some of it is pushing down.
Modern sailing vessels, especially pleasure craft are absolutely NOT made to support that kind of peak pressure on a deck. Neither are their sides built with the kind (and frequency) of ribs for breach lines to anchor from; something like a 4-lbr cannon (much less a 6, 12 or 24-lbr) would tear the cleats or eyes out of the vessel when fired.
Uncle Ted
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If you were talking about something similar to my sailboat, I would most definitely agree. We are talking about MUCH larger sailboats built with true keels and usually carbon fiber, NOT fiberglass. Some may even have aluminum or steel hulls. I think you are underestimating the build quality of your typical sailing Megayacht. Stay-Plates often go straight down to the keel because it requires a sizable stay to hold in check a sail of 50 meters by 35 meters in a fresh gale. For the record, The Brigg Niagara had 1" pine decks and her ribs were set on 36" centers. Hardly "overbuilt" (because the crew had to portage her), yet she carried 18 32lb Carronades and 2 12lb Guns. Only her keel, ribs, and masts were oak.
I would agree that modern 21st Century boats WOULD have a problem because they are almost exclusively cored fiberglass boats now. A cored fiberglass boat has two layers of fiberglass with a layer of polystyrene foam between them for increased buoyancy. This type of hull would most definitely crack from the firing of a black powder cannon. These hulls only came into existence for larger boats during the first years of the 21st Century. Most Twilight Era boats would still be Plywood and fiberglass resin build.
We are also not talking about Guns/Cannon. We are talking about Carronades which are shorter and lighter than guns. The 10 6lb Carronades which were mounted on Constitution's spar deck only weighed 170kg EACH with attendant carriage. I have seen these guns mounted on modern (for the 90's) 60 foot sailboats made of 4-ply Marine plywood coated with fiberglass in the Carribean as curios and "signaling guns. A few of these Carronades have even used by modern boats in mock battles down there. No carronade ever crashed through a deck during such an event.
So success would depend on the boat AND the armament in question. I suspect that the issue you brought up is precisely the reason that Carronades outnumber Cannon 3 to 1 in the US and Carribean. They were lighter, cheaper, and easier to cast.