Changes in British war technology

Cards (45)

  • Congreve’s Rockets were first used in October 1806 where 2000 rockets were fired in an attack on Boulogne.
  • Congreve’s Rockets had a major psychological effect on its targets.
  • Congreve’s Rockets were used during the 1807 bombardment of Copenhagen.
  • Congreve’s rockets had a larger range than cannons, so ships could anchor outside of gun range and bombard the enemy.
  • The Duke of Wellington was against the rockets, but they still saw use in the Battle of Waterloo.
  • Congreve’s rockets had a range of up to 2KM
  • Congreve’s rockets were cheap and easy to fire
  • Congreve’s rockets were used in the Anglo-Portuguese invasion of Southern France in 1814.
  • Congreve’s rockets were created in 1806
  • Congreve’s rockets were improved in the 1840s by William Hale who added spin to improve accuracy
  • The Carronade was first developed in the Carron Ironworks in Falkirk.
  • Carronades were invented in Scotland in 1778
  • The Carronade was an artillery piece with a short barrel, heavy shot and rapid rate of fire, firing grapeshot
  • Carronades were ineffective against fortifications, but effective against people and ships
  • Carronades were first used in 1782, by a ship called HMS Rainbow
  • HMS Victory had two carronades at Trafalgar in 1805
  • Carronades were phased out by the Royal Navy in 1851
  • Carronades were an important stepping stone in the development of artillery with a wide range of fire
  • Sir William Armstrong founded his engineering company in 1847
  • Armstrong guns were first manufactured in 1855
  • Armstrong guns were breech loading and rifled, increasing their accuracy and decreasing reload time
  • Armstrong guns were first used in action by the Royal Navy during the Battle of Kagoshima in 1863
  • Armstrong guns had a range of 5.25 miles
  • Armstrong guns used self-contained shells which solved the problem of barrel wear
  • Armstrong gun shells were made of soft metal that expanded when the gun was fired, gripping the rifling more tightly than normal
  • Due to shells, the Armstrong gun didn’t need gunpowder to function as it was contained in said shells
  • The Maxim gun was developed 1884 and entered use in 1886
  • The Maxim gun was the first fully-automatic machine gun — able to fire 600 rounds per minute
  • The barrel of a Maxim gun is surrounded by a sleeve full of water to prevent overheating
  • The heavy recoil of a Maxim gun was designed to eject the used bullet case and place the next one into the breech
  • The Maxim gun was so heavy that it needed a crew to move
  • In 1914, the Vickers gun was introduced, being an improved version of the Maxim gun
  • The Vickers gun was easier to mass produce, used more accessible ammunition, was more easily transportable than the Maxim gun
  • Following the introduction of immobile machine guns, warfare could no longer be as mobile, and soldiers could not operate in the open as they would be too much of a threat
  • The Vicker’s gun was able to fulfil the role of 40-50 riflemen at once
  • Men had to be trained well to use the Vicker’s gun, which meant specialised training was required on top of general infantry training
  • Sir William Tritton developed the first tank prototype and adopted the name “tank” in December 1915
  • The first prototype tank was called ‘Little Willie’ and was developed in Summer 1915
  • Caterpillar tracks were used on tanks to traverse difficult terrain (with some success)
  • “Big Willie” was the 2nd model of tank developed and became the staple tank used by the British in WW1