Naval Gunnery. A Book Review.
Naval Gunnery. A Description. by Captain H. Garbett. R.N. 360 pages.
Was originally published in 1897, and is a book which has been considered by academicians and scholars as being of great significance and value to literature. As such, it has been reproduced by Alpha Editions in an inexpensive, facsimile, paper back edition.
I came across an article about rifled muzzle loading cannons which referenced the book, and led me to purchase it from the Book Depository for $AUD20.
It, the book, is fascinating. 1897 English, is beautiful to read, non ambiguous, and unusually, does not provoke the grammar Nazi in me.
And the book has answered my questions about cannon construction. Not completely, mind you. I still do not know how they managed blind rifling. But most of the first 78 pages are about muzzle loaders, particularly Armstrong muzzle loaders. With diagrams.
One question which was answered was about the “recoil tube” located below the barrel of the Port Fairy 80 lb RML’s. I wondered whether it was like a gas shock absorber. The book explains that these long cylinders had a piston, and were filled with “Rangoon Oil”, (look it up. It is in Wikipedia), and they were indeed designed to moderate the rate of recoil of the cannon.
Another fact about rifled cannons… the rifling causes the projectile to emerge from the cannon slightly to the left or the right of the cannon axis, depending on whether the rifling is clockwise or anti-clockwise.
The book has chapters on breech loaders, naval mountings, quick firing guns, magazines, shell rooms, loading arrangements, sights, powder, cordite, projectiles fuzes, battleship development (up to 1897), battleship organisation and manning.
360 pages, 12 plates (black and white), 113 text illustrations.
If you have an interest in pre-dreadnought naval guns, this book is highly recommended.
