Great Turkish Bombard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Great Turkish Bombard | |
|---|---|
 Diagram of the weapon barrel |
|
| Type | Cannon |
| Place of origin | Hungary |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Ottoman Empire |
| Wars | Fall of Constantinople Dardanelles Operation |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Orban |
| Designed | ~1450 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 18,264 kg (40,265 lb) |
| Length | 5.2 m (5.69 yd) |
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|
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| Caliber | 762 mm (30 in) |
| Elevation | none |
| Traverse | none |
The Great Turkish Bombard, also known as the Basilic, the Dardanelles Gun, the Hungarian Cannon, Muhammed's Great Gun and The Royal Gun was the world's first supergun.
The Great Turkish Bombard saw action in the Fall of Constantinople and the Dardanelles Operation. In the 1400s, so soon after the fundamentals of gunpowder warfare had been established, artillery was extremely effective.
Contents |
[edit] Fall of Constantinople
Mehmed II attacked Constantinople in April 1453 using a force of massive siege cannons. Cast in bronze by a Hungarian named Urban, these tubes were 5.18 m (17 ft) long and 17.27 tonnes in weight. Each gun fired 680 kg (1,500 lb) granite stones with a diameter of 762 mm (30 in).[1]
These superguns played a crucial role in the Fall of Constantinople. Each gun was moved into position by 60 oxen and 400 men: half the force of men prepared a roadway for the guns while the others pulled on ropes to keep the huge weapons from falling over as they were moved along the road. Mehmed's men took seven days to prepare the guns before they opened fire.[2]
Seven times a day, the guns fired a granite stone that crashed into the walls of Constantinople. After about 90 days, on May 29, 1453, the guns breached the walls and the infantry attacked through the breach, storming the city and capturing it.
[edit] Dardanelles Operation
In 1464, Mehmed II commissioned 42 of the monster cannons to guard the Dardanelles. Each weighed 18.29 tonnes with a 762 mm (30 in) bore.
These huge cannons were still present for duty more than 300 years later in 1807, when a Royal Navy force appeared and commenced the Dardanelles Operation. The ancient relics were filled with propellant and projectiles, then fired. Instead of exploding, they worked just as well as when they were new. One shot alone killed and wounded more than 60 sailors on one of the British ships.[3]
In 1867, Abdülâziz gave Queen Victoria one of these impressive and historic weapons, which is now on display to visitors at the Tower of London[4]
[edit] In popular culture
The cannon is mentioned in Chapter XIV of The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe, known mainly in the adaptation by Gottfried August Bürger, where the Baron, "determined not to be outdone by a Frenchman" (he means François Baron de Tott who doesn't fear to fire from it) puts the cannon on his shoulder and swims with it to the opposite shore. When he reaches the shore, he tries to throw the weapon back to its place, but it slips in his hand and falls to the sea which enrages the Sultan.[5]
It is also mentioned by Impey Barbicane in Chapter VII of Jules Verne´s From the Earth to the Moon (1865): "At the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II., in 1453, they hurled stone bullets that weighed" 1,900 lb (860 kg).[6]
[edit] See also
- Project Babylon - contemporary sectional super gun.
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Crowley, R. (2005). 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West. Hyperion. ISBN 1401301916
- Feldman, R. T. (2008). The Fall of Constantinople. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0822559188
- Nicolle, D. (2007). The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman conquest of Byzantium. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1846032008
- Runciman, S. (1990). The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521398320
- Ffoulkes, C. (1930). The 'Dardanelles' Gun at the Tower.
