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>Hi, > >Very interesting, thank-you for listing this >information. I’ve seen Danish and British results, >but can not lay my hands on them right a way, > >The results do bring up a “thought provoking” >conundrum. The penetration tests were generally >conducted against a target constructed on solid >ground; the target in the notorious test that >determined that the long 18 pound gun to be superior >to the short 24 pound gun was a 10 foot wide by 6 foot >high by 62 inch thick block constructed out of 9 inch >by 9 inch timbers bolted together. > >However, we have one engagement that is thoroughly >documented – Chesapeake vs Shannon. The action began >at 50 yards down to intertwined at the end. Both >ships had a hull thickness of 19 inches, assuming 4 >inch planks inside and out. Actually, this assumes >that the Leda class was constructed to the same >standards as the Lively class, and the Chesapeake to >the same as the Constellation class. Further, the >Shannon’s carpenter left us with a fairly detailed >listing of ass the projectile hits on both ships. > >I will break the hit locations down into three areas: >mast, hull (between waterline and the bottom of the >spar deck/quarter deck-forecastle), and bulwarks. I >included the head/cutwater in the bulwark category and >the quarter gallery in the hull category. > >The first thing to jump out was that for a ship with a >reputation for gunnery (Shannon) there was little to >choose from between the two ships. The carpenter >found Shannon had 5 hits in the mast category compared >to 5 for the Chesapeake. Shannon had 26 hits in the >hull category (13-18 pound of which 38% penetrated and >13-32 pound, all of which penetrated) compared to 18 >for Chesapeake (8-18 pound with 75% penetrating and >10-32 pound with 67% penetrating). Finally, Shannon >had 3-18 pound hits in the bulwark category, all of >which penetrated compared to 7 for Chesapeake (2-18 >pound of which all penetrated and 5-32 pound, 80% >penetrated). The big difference between the two was >grape, Shannon had 226 hits between the hull and >bulwark categories with 21.5% penetrating the hull and >82% penetrating the bulwarks. Chesapeake had 112 >grape in the same categories with 10% penetrating the >hull and 73% penetrating the bulwarks. Finally, >Chesapeake had a further 10 hits in the hull by >“dismantling shot”) vs 1 in the mast category). > >From the test data, one would expect that the 18 pound >gun would penetrate 43 inches or more, but had trouble >with the 19 inches of the hull of the two frigates. >One is surprised at the better performance of the 32 >pound carronades compared to the 18 pound guns for the >British. > >One can not help but feel that the Shannon owes her >victory to the greater effect of the grape and the >lack of cohesion when boarded of the Chesapeake.

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