The Iron Guns of Willard Park: Washington Navy Yard |
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Common terms and phrases
19th century accuracy armed artillery artillery piece astragal banded and rifled biblio black powder Bore diameter breech face Breech Ring breechloading British bronze guns caliber called canister cannon cascabel knob Civil Confederate Navy CSS Tennessee culverin degrees elevation early ordnance explosive shells Federal field artillery field gun fired front sight fuzes gun carriage gun tube gun's gunner heavy howitzer illus inspector iron guns iron shot John Mercer Brooke land Left Trunnion length loaded manufactured Markings Top metal Model mold mortars mounted muzzleloading naval guns Navy 32-pounder Navy proof mark ogee pivot pounds powder charge Preponderance projectile rammed rear sight reinforce Right Trunnion round shot saltpeter ships siege and garrison slowmatch smoothbore smoothbore gun solid shot target Top of Tube Tredegar Foundry Tredegar serial number U.S. Army U.S. Navy Upper Breeching Jaw vent warships Washington Navy Yard weapons Weight of gun wheels Whitworth Willard Park wooden wrought-iron
Popular passages
Page 51 - Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York ; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths ; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments ; Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Page 1 - He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field : and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
Page 30 - Such I hold to be the genuine use of Gunpowder: that it makes all men alike tall. Nay, if thou be cooler, cleverer than I, if thou have more Mind, though all but no Body whatever, then canst thou kill me first, and art the taller. Hereby, at last, is the Goliath powerless, and the David resistless; savage Animalism is nothing, inventive Spiritualism is all.
Page 37 - Katharine his daughter, and with her to dowry Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms. The offer likes not; and the nimble gunner With linstock now the devilish cannon touches, And down goes all before them.
Page 41 - The touch and the tornado ; all our guns give tongue together St. Barbara for the gunnery and God defend the right, They are stopped and gapped and battered as we blast away the weather. Building window upon window to our lady of the light. For the light is come on Liberty, her foes are falling, falling, They are reeling, they are running, as the shameful years have run, She is risen for all the humble, she has...
Page 2 - When they fired off this bombard it might be heard five leagues off in the daytime, and ten at night. The report of it was so loud that it seemed as if all the devils in hell had broken loose...
Page 9 - ... On this point permit me to say that I think the world is sadly mistaken when it supposes that battles are won by this or that kind of gun or vessel. In my humble opinion, the Kearsarge would have captured or sunk the Alabama as often as they might have met under the same organization and officers. The best gun and the best vessel should certainly be chosen, but the victory three times out of four depends upon those who fight them.
Page 44 - ... Lieutenant Herndon, presenting the results of his exploration of the river Amazon and ils tributaries, is nearly ready for distribution. The report of Lieutenant Gibbon, who was of the same party, but explored a different section of the country, and returned later, is nearly completed. The indefatigable efforts of Lieutenant Dahlgren to give accuracy and greater effectiveness to gunnery, and to improve the ordnance of the navy, have succeeded well, and none can doubt the advantage the service...
Page 4 - ... to boarding, or to great execution of bows, arrows, small shot, and the sword, but are chiefly performed by the great artillery, breaking down masts, yards, tearing, raking, and bilging the ships, wherein the great advantage of his Majesty's navy must carefully be maintained by appointing such a proportion of ordnance to each ship, as the vessel will bear.
Page 63 - Each ring was made of several thinner rings, placed one over or around the other and welded. Subsequently the method of making the rings was somewhat changed by first making a single ring of steel about one-third the thickness of the whole and upon the outside of this winding a bar of iron spirally, as a ribbon is wound upon a block. Machinery was devised for making the rings, welding them together, and forming the guns by means of various molds, dies, and sets connected with a powerful hydrostatic...