Changes in British war technology

• 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