How to Fire a Civil War Era Naval Gun

[@garrylarside]

I see the New Jersey is updating their armament for recommissioning.

[@maxM38383]

New objective, create a warship outfitted with different types of weaponry and armament from every time period.

[@chrisgentry7242]

I hope the navy takes me in because I would love to serve on her.

[@robertf3479]

@@chrisgentry7242 The USS New Jersey serving today is a Virginia class fast attack submarine. The name Constellation has been assigned to a new class of frigate, unfortunately there is no USS Constellation in service today but there should be one in a few years.

[@CrazynToughKiwi]

@@maxM38383 where are we putting the trebuchet?

[@richardmillhousenixon]

@@CrazynToughKiwi Put it on the fantail firing over the superstructure

[@sgtbrendan289]

My gun club allows for black powder artillery, up to 1.5" bore. I am one of the artillery RSOs. We hosted my daughter's American Heritage Girls troop to learn period cannon drill, and actually take shots at a plywood pirate ship that I build for the occassion. One of the girls informed me that when she becomes a mother, and her family is at a cannon shoot like on the Constellation, she can now tell her kids " Yea, I shot one of those, except mine had a cannon ball in it; blew apart a pirate ship :P" Serious 'Mom' points to be had, for sure!

[@jmez997.2]

Thanks for making this video! I wasn’t sure how to fire mine.

[@vbscript2]

Now I just need to learn how to fire my 16" gun. There's a building I need to raze in the next county over...

[@Andrea-qg5yk]

@@vbscript2 I think that you have to crawl into the barrel and then light a match

[@TacoSallust]

The fact that Ryan is speckled with paint in this video is awesome. You are the man!

[@Mrcaffinebean]

Ryan seems like whenever he visits another museum the first this he does is volunteer to help. Mad props for sure!

[@markcantemail8018]

I thought it was from Seagulls ? Thank you for the help .

[@alwaysbearded1]

I have not been part of a drill but I crewed aboard a "character" ship when they took out a black powder club. They fired many broadsides! It was exciting. They were small pieces loaded with foil wrapped charges so they had less chance of burning embers. I also have a great photo of the noon firing of a Napoleon 12 pounder that was part of a living history program. With an old 35mm camera I was lucky to catch the moment of firing. Would be hard to see either of those events now.

[@alwaysbearded1]

Forgot to add, the cannon was on Angel Island SF Bay. Can't remember where on the Bay we were sailing. The pieces were about 1/4 the size of the one they demonstrate firing. Hard to convey the volume of noise they make.

[@adamburgess4618]

I’m imagining the Torsk’s crew scrambling to submerge when the lookout sees a full broadside aiming at him.

[@randyogburn2498]

Crash dive!

[@DevilDolphin734]

Nice to see you in Baltimore. I'm Baltimore born and raised.

[@Ronaldl2350]

I did a gun drill on a stationary gun at Fort Stanwix. I can only imagine hauling a big naval gun in and out.

[@bryankirk755]

My father and I, in the summer of 2012, participated in a few Live fire demonstrations of civil war era field artillery, totally awesome

[@miatafan]

I like these videos, its the random little bits of info you find out thats cool. like it seems crazy to me they melted down the really old cannons for world war 1, but Id suppose at the time there was no bigger stockpile of decent quality metal

[@cqdmgy]

I love how Ryan and Nicolas Moran (the Chieftain) use the same terminology!

[@robertf3479]

"Don't drop the sponge or rammer in the harbor" or Ryan will have to go fish it out. 😃

[@HandleMyBallsYouTube]

In the infantry you'd only stand to lose a few fingers if your piece went off while loading, the navy guys might have lost a whole arm, good to know. If I ever get a time machine I'll try not to get press ganged.

[@riccardoricci937]

The Royal Navy trained its gunners to fire into warships hull has fast as possible to create has much carnage as possible. This is what I was Told from a crewman onboard HMS Victory. Still a great video, very informative.

[@d7588]

You were a crewman on the HMS victory? How was Nelson in person?

[@Yuzral]

Seasick :P. More seriously, HMS Victory is still in commission as the flagship of the First Sea Lord (used to be the Second Sea Lord's but First yoinked it in 2012). She therefore has a commanding officer and a crew.

[@tmerkley6406]

Could you do a little segment on the Civil War, Sloop of War USS Monongahelia? She rests in the shallow area of Guantanamo Bay not far from the Commandant's House. Believe she is covered in silt and not visible from the surface. She caught fire and sunk. One of her deck guns is on display on base, although a bit "droopy". She was used as a "store" ship at that time and the blue prints for the layout of GTMO were aboard the ship when she burned.

[@jurgenebert7668]

What was missing for aiming, was the adjustmaent of the gun's elevation by moving the sloping wooden block under the barrel forward or backward. And like someone else mentioned, the pressure of the firing gun was certainly not too much under deck, as the muzzle is outside of the hull and the main pressure leaves the muzzle forward. But anyway, a very interesting video. I was always interested in those old guns.

[@dbcooper-alltimehideandsee6223]

It's always amazed me that anyone could hear anything after the first shot. My uncle was on a ship in WWII (sorry don't know what ship or gun size). Before they fired the big guns they passed out hearing protection. He decided that earplugs weren't cool. People had to yell at him the rest of his life in order to be heard. 🤦

[@dbcooper-alltimehideandsee6223]

@Bass N Brass kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYi6dX6QYtCsmqc

[@jamesturner2126]

3:50 the funniest thing that has happened on the Big J channel. That counts as comedy.

[@cleverusername9369]

Am I wrong or is this an old video? I would swear I've seen this before a year or so ago. Not complaining, just want to make sure I'm not suffering from deja vu.

[@kylorenter]

You aren’t alone. I think this is an old video that was reuploaded

[@benjohnson2421]

It is.

[@DeliveryMcGee]

Same. And you can tell it's about a year old because there are other people in it but everybody but Ryan is still wearing masks. The last couple years makes it real obvious when you pull one out of the archives.

[@cleverusername9369]

@@DeliveryMcGee I did notice that, the masks, and I take your point, it's easy to tell when a video was produced pre, intra, and post pandemic (not that we're quite there yet but here's hoping, right?). I wonder if Ryan and the crew will make a video about the effect of the pandemic on the operations on the battleship? That might be interesting

[@Eledore]

Something must have gone wrong with the old video. as i can't find it even in my history anymore. Yes i to have deja vu, as this was the first non B,NY video that wasn't about NY, so i remember it clearly..

[@robertbeaty4909]

I never participated in a gun drill on the Constellation but I did shoot bearings for the gun directors from the bridge wing about 50 feet from a 5" gun on the USS Meyercord FF-1058. Talk about a shock wave and then a face full of powder and wadding......I've done that.

[@nla27]

Opening your mouth equalizes the pressure between the inner and outer ear. Even with hands over ears the pressure wave will be applied to the ear drum. Any restrictions on the inside like closed mouth, stuffy nose, or inner ear infection can cause the ear drum to rupture. I found this out because I had an ear infection and went on an amusement park ride that dropped very fast. The change in pressure almost ruptured my ear drum. Hurt like hell for a week.

[@yes_head]

Excellent explanation, Ryan. Wish I could give more than just one like to this video.

[@djcfrompt]

Gun crews in the coast artillery were trained to adopt a similar stance before firing. No worries about hitting the overhead when it's the clear blue sky, but they record that standing next to a 12" gun when it fires feels like being hit in the stomach with a baseball bat. When the forts would have gunnery drills they had to let the nearby civilian residents know to open their windows so they wouldn't break from the shockwaves.

[@motothemcs5286]

This was awesome thanks for showing!

[@31dknight]

Great video from the battleship.

[@user-bi7xd8ry5p]

Who else is going to see the gunnery practice scene from Master and Commander?

[@williammacdonald3173]

Ryan is an excellent gun captain

[@moss8448]

nothing like a good boom, to wake the neighborhood

[@chrismartin3305]

Id love to see the New Jersey fire the 16 in guns 😳 or any Battleship for that matter 😂

[@Battleshipguy20]

Yo I visited the USS constellation not Evan a month ago!

[@johnslaughter5475]

Good video, Ryan. I just watched a video on the History Hit channel. They fired a Naval gun 3 times. They pointed out just how loud this was and the over pressure. One of the commenters said he'd seen something that said the noise and pressure weren't as bad on a gun deck because the muzzle was outside of the ship and, because the port isn't all that big, the noise and pressure were significantly reduced. On another point, I've heard that the gun decks were painted red. This was so all the blood did not show during battle. When a cannon ball came through the hull, the splintering was beyond belief. This was shown on the History Hit video where they put 2 shot through a white oak faux bulkhead. Neat, round hole on the entrance and huge splinters on the exit side. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYS7knahhp6mfJo

[@imchris5000]

they used to put sand on the decks so people would not slip on the gore its where the sand lockers started

[@victorwaddell6530]

@@imchris5000 I believe sawdust and wood chips were often spread on the main deck before battle . I think sawdust on the gunnery deck would make a fire hazard , as any spark from the guns might set it alight .

[@bindingcurve]

@@victorwaddell6530 The deck was NOT dry. Sand is MUCH better for grip, sawdust would just turn to slime when wet

[@bindingcurve]

huge splinters that he picked up 2 feet from the bulkhead.🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@johnslaughter5475]

@@bindingcurve There were more much further away than 2 feet that could cause grievous bodily harm. Unless a person just happened to be in the direct line, it was all of these that caused a lot of carnage.

[@harrykilman5634]

I had not known that silk power bags were in use during the civil war. Given the large demand for silk for powder bags for both army and navy use and for parachutes how was the need met given that the primary sources of raw silk were in Japan and China. Japan was obviously not supplying it to the allies and the routes to China were hazardous.

[@m1t2a1]

I used to help a guy that made reproduction civil war cannons. My favourite is 2 1/4" Kentucky mountain.

[@slimeydon]

I participated in a gun drill at colonial Williamsburg, wearing a Bart Simpson tee shirt that said “Don’t have a cow man” it was special

[@robertgutheridge9672]

Ryan you look like you have been painting. Would that gun deck have been painted white originally? Paint wasn't really common back then but I could see it being painted for 2 reasons 1 to help protect the wood and 2 to help it be brighter on the gun deck

[@pbyguy7059]

People have been making paint for a very, very long time friend.

[@michaelpolk6921]

Several years ago, when HMS Rose was on the Great Lakes

[@TrevorTrottier]

Opening your mouth is to help with concussive shock. Anytime you may experience a nearby explosion, turn away, cover your ears, close your eyes, and open your mouth in order to reduce the impact of the shockwave.

[@crunchie9362]

would be the coolest base for zombie apocalypse

[@F-Man]

Carefully, I reckon.

[@chrisb9960]

Nice

[@burroaks7]

very cool

[@DeliveryMcGee]

It's deja vu all over again! Are there any age of sail ships with working muzzleloading guns and a place to shoot them so he can make up for reposting this old video by doing the same but with a live gun? On that note, did anybody ever actually do the procedure shown in the first half? I can't think of a situation where you'd be hauling a gun *in* (well, one, see below), the gun took care of that without human intervention, kinda like how a modern cannon poops out the fired case and locks the breech open. A muzzleloader's base state is fully indoors so you can load it and have the gunports closed for weatherproofing. And much like NJ's guns, there's really only one way to unload it without going back to a shipyard. The one situation where you'd manually pull the guns in: I guess if you were ready to shoot but the captain decided to break off the engagement and run, and you needed to close the gunports because weather conditions/making a hard turn with a ship with multiple gun decks? (making a turn with the lower gunports open *was* a known issue with triple-deckers, that's what happened to Vasa and Mary Rose, and not being able to run out the biggest guns was annoying to many a captain in Nelson's time.)

[@DeliveryMcGee]

Both of the people Ryan introduced have manager-level titles, he can put together a proper gun crew and find a real gun (a 32lb smoothbore like HMS Victory hadis acceptable) and a place to shoot it. Actually, I just want to see Ryan pull the lanyard on any artillery. If you're ever in central Texas or Las Vegas, you have no excuse.

[@jbellos1]

That was most informative. What was the expected rate of fire?

[@codiefitz3876]

10,000 balls/min

[@Blauefrucht]

Reupload?

[@trophen7240]

Lol… it’s always fun going home…

[@jamerv86]

I didn’t watch, but I’m sure it’s like most other cannons before breachloaders…

[@spencerjoplin2885]

How much grape shot could a 16-inch gun fire?

[@17hmr243]

how did they train with floating target or on land ?

[@markvincent522]

Bueller..? Bueller..? Bueller..?

[@randyogburn2498]

When you ram that powder ram it easy.

[@MrJeep75]

Cool

[@SebastiaanKr]

What was Elena Nolan ?

[@bigsarge2085]

👍

[@georgesmith8113]

👍👍👍👊

[@dennismason3740]

The explosion killed the Secretary of the Navy. How embarrassing.

[@CB-fn3me]

It look too heavy for two men even with a fibreglass replika gun-barrel.

[@toddmetzger]

Should have them get the screw out!

[@strydyrhellzrydyr1345]

I guess I'll be that wierdo... Am I the only one that thinks that lady is seriously very good looking. Just me... Of course

[@benjohnson2421]

WTF. Old video.

[@merlinwizard1000]

7th,19 May 2022

[@bigjd2k]

This is how it’s done live 😀 kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6LWXpyMqKiseqs