Leather cannon

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A leather cannon was an experimental Swedish attempt of constructing a lighter weapon that would bridge the gap between muskets and heavy stationary cannons. Ordered by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, it was unsuccessfully fielded in the third Polish-Swedish war.

1 Background
2 Leather cannon
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Background

Cannons in the early 17th century were of a plethora of calibers and all were too heavy to be moved during battle, as they had been developed as siege weapons. Gustavus Adolphus reduced the number of calibers of guns fielded to guns firing 24-, 12- and 6-pound cannonballs (roughly 10, 5 & 2.5 kg) in order to simplify logistics. Guns used in the field were limited to bronze cannons; others, such as guns made of cast iron were placed in castles and fortresses.

Gustavus Adolphus' tactics were based on use of effective firepower. While heavy cannons were effective at the start of the battle, they could not be moved from the hill that they usually were deployed on (the guns themselves weighed from 3 tons to roughly 300 kilograms). As such, the artillery could not respond effectively to developments in battle.

[edit] Leather cannon

In order to fill the gap, the so-called leather cannon was developed. A relatively thin copper tube was reinforced by heavy ropes and finally clad in leather (alternatively clad in leather straps first and then rope). While the weapon was light enough to be mobile, and at the same time was cheaper in construction, it turned out to be flawed.

The reinforcing material acted as an insulator, and did not let heat dissipate fast enough. Thus, after only a few shots the gun became red-hot. The heat would either deform the tube and drastically decrease accuracy or at the very least prematurely ignite the gunpowder, severely injuring the loader. As a weapon, it turned out to be a fiasco.

The weapon had still shown its usefulness by giving mobile fire support. Before Sweden's entry in the Thirty Years' War, a new weapon had been developed, the bronze 3-pound regimental cannon. It could be towed by one horse or three men and had a range and rate of fire three times greater than the muskets of the period.