Gun Detail (USS Constellation)

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Constellation’s main battery was sixteen 8-inch Chambered Shell Guns, which you can see along each side of the ship. Each of these guns required 14 men to use, plus a ship’s boy to bring powder to the gun from storage below decks. Each shell gun weighed about 7,000 lbs (3,000kg), and needed most of the 14-man crew to move the gun into position. Each gun crew handled their own gun and the gun opposite; if both sides needed to shoot at the same time, the crew divided between the two. Shells and powder were stowed in magazines located in the hold below decks to keep them safe. The ship’s gunner oversaw the magazines to ensure correct distribution of the ordinance. Shells weighed approx. 52lbs (23kg) and each gun used 9lbs (4kg) of gunpowder per shot. “Powder Monkeys” were boys aged 11-17yrs who had the task of running this ammunition from the passing holes in the deck to the individual guns. These shell guns had a range of 1 ½ miles, meaning that they could hit a target at that distance 50% of the time. The guns have limited aim when in a broadside formation, so the common Naval tactic was to move the fleet into “line of battle” so that all the guns pointed toward the same target. Some of the crew spent combat maneuvering the ship, while the gun crews fired and moved back and forth between port and starboard gun batteries as the ship maneuvered. Firing all the guns at once in a “broadside” was not common because it put strain on the ship (and the crew) and because there would result a down time for reloading in which there was no firing, leaving the ship vulnerable. Shell guns like this began to see active naval service in the 1850s, and their destructive capability heralded the demise of wooded warships. Rather than firing a solid iron ball, each shell gun fired a hollow metal sphere filled with gunpowder. This projectile bomb detonated with a timed fuse and had enough explosive power to blow away the hull structure between gunports. The shell also sprayed shrapnel among the crew nearby, and even set fire to the debris. Such powerful damage often made wooden structure irreparable outside of a dry dock; wooden ships simply could not withstand the destructive power of explosive shells. By the mid 1850’s, shell guns entered service; by 1862 less than 7 years later, Ironclad ships first entered service. Shells are still used in modern artillery today.

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