The list of cannon by caliber contains all types of

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

through the ages listed in decreasing

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore matc ...

size. For the purpose of this list, the development of

large-calibre artillery The formal definition of large-calibre artillery used by the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA) is " guns, howitzers, artillery pieces, combining the characteristics of a gun, howitzer, mortar, or multiple-launch rocket syst ...

can be divided into three periods, based on the kind of projectiles used, due to their dissimilar characteristics, and being practically incommensurable in terms of their bore size: *Stone balls: Cannon of extraordinary bore, which fired stone balls, were first introduced at the turn of the 14th to 15th century in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

. Following a logic of increasing performance through size, they had evolved from small

handgun A handgun is a short-barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ag ...

s to giant wrought-iron or cast-bronze bombards within a span of just several decades. *Iron balls and shot: By the 16th century, however, a general switch from stone balls to smaller, but much more effective iron projectiles was in full swing. This and the parallel tendency towards standardized, rapid-firing cannon made the enormously costly and logistically demanding giant guns soon obsolete in the European theatre (with the exception of the odd showpiece). *Explosive shells: In the Industrial Age, artillery was again revolutionized by the introduction of explosive shells, beginning with the Paixhans guns. Breakthroughs in metallurgy and modes of production were followed up by new experimentation with super-sized caliber weapons, culminating in the steel colossi of the two

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s. In the post-war era, the development of extremely overpowered artillery was gradually abandoned in favour of

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

technology, while heavy guns are still demanded by various arms of the service.

Cannon by caliber

Stone balls

Heyday: 15th to 17th centuries

Iron balls and shot

Heyday: 16th to 19th centuries Twenty-inch (508 mm) Rodman and Dahlgren smoothbore cannons were cast in 1864 during the American Civil War. The Rodmans were used as seacoast defense. Although not used as intended, two 20-inch Dahlgrens were intended to be mounted in the turrets of and .

Explosive shells

Heyday: 19th to 20th centuries

Notes

Footnotes

References

* * * {{Citation, last1=Dasgupta, first2=Samira, last2=Biswas, first3=Rabiranjan, last3=Mallik, first1=Gautam Kumar, title=Heritage Tourism: An Anthropological Journey to Bishnupur, publisher=A Mittal Publication, isbn=978-8183242943, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_0_o9Qj1LOEC&q=Dalmadal&pg=PA18, date=2009, page=55 Large-calibre artillery *Cannon

Cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...