Ship designs have changed drastically from the beginning of the United States’ navy until now. The Revolutionary War brought about change in the way militaries in the colonies operated, especially its naval force. From the start, colonial naval ship fleets during this time period were relatively unorganized and small in…
Trade goods and supplies could be moved easier via aquatic means, but the cost and liability of maintaining watercraft kept maritime warfare innovation modest and reactive in nature. The emergence of the “ram” aimed at splitting or capsizing an enemies boat was in essence, a reinforced and lengthened forefoot located at the bow of the ship that had existed since the development of the keeled ship, highlighting more of a tactical modification over a deliberate…
The Book "Fist Stick Knife Gun" by Geoffrey Canada is a biographical account of his childhood in the south Bronx. He and his 4 brothers were raised by only their mother. She would survive on no more than ten dollars a week. He moved several times as a child until finally landing on union avenue, the place were many of his life lessons were learned and at times applied. He learned about the ranking process of kids on union Ave. and how the only way to improve your status was to use your fists to fight your way up the chain. Looking back Geoffrey Canada notices the major shift in attitudes concerning the rules of the streets. What once was harmless fist fighting has now turned over to guns. His opinions can be seen in his title "Fist Stick Knife Gun".…
The gun was a hand-crank-operated weapon with six barrels revolving around a central shaft. Having a gun that revolves was very difficult because the barrels would not always line up correctly when being fired. The original gun was actually designed to fire the standard military issue paper cartridge of the day, .58 caliber. A .58 caliber bullet has a diameter of an inch and is capable of damaging anything it hits. The paper cartridge was placed inside a steel or brass chamber with a percussion nipple on the back end just like the muzzle loading rifles and pistols of there time. The cartridges were fed to the gun by gravity through a hopper mounted towards the top of the gun. As the six cam operated bolts alternately fired, and dropped the bullets, which were contained in steel chambers, it made quite an impression on their enemies. Gatling also used the six barrels to partially cool…
Many weapons were used in the American Revolutionary War. A common gun the soldiers used was called a musket, a light gun with a barrel at the end and fired from one’s shoulder. More weapons that were used in the American Revolutionary War were, canons, bayonets, pistols, and swords or other cutting objects. Bayonets were swords often held by a general, or other important people during the war.…
The Crimean War was the first conflict for the percussion cap to be used. The percussion cap allows for an all-weather reliability of the rifle. The previous common mechanism of firearms was the flintlock. For the flintlock to ignite the powder, firing the projectile, it required a spark created by flint, hence “flintlock”. Flintlock based weapons were inoperable in wet weather, limiting its effectiveness and versatility. The percussion cap eliminated the flintlocks shortcomings and granted efficiency to the forces equipped with…
Blackbeard had a lot of tricks that he used in his pirating. He tried to attack during dawn or dusk so that the pirate ship could not be easily seen in the dim light. Blackbeard also would figure out the nationality of the ship and then fly that nation’s flag before attacking. The targeted ship would then believe that Blackbeard’s ship was friendly and wouldn’t be nervous when they got closer. Then, Blackbeard would fly his own flag at the last second, not giving their target enough time to realize the trouble and prepare. These tricks and many others that Blackbeard used made it very difficult for ships to know if they could trust each other or not.…
Next, weapons evolved throughout the process of the crusades. Just as the people developed armor throughout the medieval time period surrounding the crusades, knights began to use more effective and dangerous weapons in combat with their enemy. Two different types of weapons were used during the Crusades: close combat weapons such as swords, maces, spears, and poleaxes, but also long distance weapons such as long bows and crossbows. Blacksmiths softened iron and then shaped the metal into customized weights, lengths, widths, and also shape for both swords and spears. Bows would be used for long distance attack and could be used on foot or on horseback. During the Crusades, the archers with long bows would line up and fire over city walls…
The change in technology was a major asset to the Royal Navy’s growth in dominance. By 1763, the Royal Navy was the result of centuries of tactical and technological developments, however, simultaneously, rival powers were also developing new and more powerful weapons and technology to outdo the British. British tactics, by 1763, were substantially superior to those during the earlier periods. Previously, ships would line up alongside enemy ships, allowing soldiers to board and plunder, etc. However, the technological advances made during the “Age of Sail” allowed for canons to be mounted alongside the side of ships; ensuring more damage to the enemy. The chances of success at sea depended upon the size of weapons and reliability of the guns (reload capability, accuracy, etc) and the manoeuvre capabilities of the ships. Well constructed ships and the power of the guns, were major assets to the…
Soldiers of the Revolutionary War used their strength but they also had some help from a variety of different weapons. A few of the weapons that were used during the war were muskets, pistols, rifles, long rifles, knives, bayonets, tomahawks, axes, swords, sabers, pole arms and cannon. Muskets were the most common weapons used. Fire arms of the Revolutionary war only used blackpowder. To reload the firearms it took atleast 5 minutescompared the short amount of time it take reload a gun now. A soilder would have to open his cartridge box, grabbed a cartridge, bite off the end to expose the powder, and pour a small amount into the pan of the lock, close the pan, drop the cartridge into the barrel, remove the rammer, ram it home, return his rammer,…
man" falls into a hidden spring and attempts to build a fire to dry his socks…
The both use anywhere from six to thirty-two pound projectiles for ammunition. Just as with muskets there are smoothbores, rifled barrels and breech-loaded cannons. The rifled barrel cannons were used less often because as the barrels were made of bronze, a softer metal than the iron of the musket, the rifling was often worn smooth with continuous use. The field gun has a longer barrel and is usually fired straight ahead, or maybe a slight 5 degree upward angle. The howitzer has a shorter barrel, used larger ordnance but a small charge. By the way, ordnance is just a military term for cannonball. The field gun had a longer range, but the howitzer was more accurate, with a higher arc. The longer range of the field gun is not even fully used most of the time, as the gunner must be able to see his target in order to adjust his…
The development of the Minié ball, muzzle loading rifles were not used in combat situations because of how difficult they were to load. Because the ammunition used had to engage the spiral grooves, or rifling,…
Violence was a huge recurring issue throughout Geoffrey Canada’s book Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun. The book drew upon numerous incidents of violence encountered by Geoffrey himself, his daughter, and his students. As a child growing up in the Bronx, it was essential that Canada knew how to fight. Ironically not fighting often caused more pain and difficulties in the long run than fighting did. Canada was an intelligent child and was more advanced than many of his peers in the community therefore he was placed in more advanced classes. The problem with these classes was that students often associated being smart with being weak and not being able to stand up for yourself. In the Bronx, fighting at school was a norm and it was a way to gain respect from your peers. Canada chose to fight as a child because he knew doing so would have a positive impact on his educational experience. Proving that he was both smart and tough was essential to his survival in the Bronx. Canada’s daughter on the other hand, growing up in Boston was not raised around the scale of violence that he had grown up with. One day while on the bus she was attacked by another child, her face was bleeding from being scratched. Prior to this event she had no worries and never focused much on violence. Unfortunately after this incident she was forced to realize that violence is a reality for many people even at school, where you think you are the safest. Both Canada and his daughter had to face the reality that violence was unfortunately a norm in their communities. It was important for them to not let others take advantage of them and to be able to stand up for themselves if need be. They also understood that violence was a last resort, they did not go looking for trouble and tried to solve issues with conversation as much as they could.…
Another useful weapon was the bayonet. This weapon had a dagger at the end of its barrel to thrust into people in close combat. One problem with this gun was that it was very tough to thrust at people with small arms and machine guns…