I’m pretty sure everyone saw old cannons that used big round balls, but how effective were they? pretty sure the pirate ones were pretty effective at making holes in enemy ships. The early ones seem like they would hit the dirt and the dirt would shrapnel over the soldiers. Am I missing something or would these cannons offer a single shot kill or what?
In: Technology
In Napoleonic wars, the solid shot was usually used against massed troops and they would shoot at a flatter trajectory so it would bounce across, like skipping stones. If the targeted troops were in a square to ward off cavalry, the bounding shot would take out soldiers on two sides of the square. Deploying in line helped but that was inviting a cavalry charge, in which case they deployed back to square.
Latest Answers