The 36-pounder long gun was the largest piece of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

mounted on French warships of the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid-19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of nava ...

. They were also used for Coastal defense and fortification. They largely exceeded the heaviest guns fielded by the Army, which were

24-pounder long gun The 24-pounder long gun was a heavy calibre piece of artillery mounted on warships of the Age of Sail. 24-pounders were in service in the navies of France, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. They were comparable ...

s. The nominal weight of shot was 36 French ''livres'', .

Usage

Installed on the lower deck of the larger warships, the 36-pounder long gun was the largest caliber used in the Navy of the Age of the Sail. Attempts to use 48-pounders were made, for instance on ''Royal Louis'', but these proved impractical to use on ships, partly because their weight allowed for only a few pieces, and because the heavy balls were unwieldy to load by hand. However, some coastal batteries fielded 48-pounders and even 64-pounders. In the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, a similar role was fulfilled by

32-pounder long gun The demi-cannon was a medium-sized cannon, similar to but slightly larger than a culverin and smaller than a regular cannon, developed in the early 17th century. A full cannon fired a 42-pound shot, but these were discontinued in the 18th centur ...

History

French warships began to carry 36-pounders under

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

, with the reform of the Navy undertaken by Richelieu. At this time, only first rank warships could carry them. In 1676, the entire Navy fielded merely 64 such heavy pieces, all bronze. From 1690, in only two years, their number increased from 115 to 442 (of which 407 were made of bronze), as the number and size of first-rank ships increased. Many 12-pounders were melted to procure the bronze needed to produce the needed 36-pounders. A maximum was reached in 1702 with 860 guns (411 bronze and 449 iron). Under

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, their number was significantly reduced (164 in 1718, 452 in 1741), but from the mid-18th century, a sustained rearmament effort increased the number of 36-pounders to 986 in 1756, 1046 in 1777 and 2484 in 1786. These guns were all made of iron. They armed the lower battery of the largest warships: a 74-gun

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

would carry 28; an 80-gun, 30; and both 110-gun and 120-gun, 32. After the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

, the 36-pounder long gun remained in use on older warships, though it was largely superseded by the

30-pounder long gun The 30-pounder long gun was a large piece of artillery mounted on French warships of the Age of sail. They were the heaviest component of the unified system standardised on the 30-pounder calibre, replacing both the 36-pounder long guns in their us ...

on newer units. The 36-pounders of the 1820s were fitted with flintlock primers, and those produced in this era featured a characteristic ring on the pommel.

Operation

A 36-pounder required a 14-man crew, comprising one chief gunner, 12 gunners, and one

powder-boy A powder boy or powder monkey manned naval artillery guns as a member of a warship's crew, primarily during the Age of Sail. His chief role was to ferry gunpowder from the powder magazine in the ship's hold to the artillery pieces, either in ...

. To load the piece, the first left-hand gunner would introduce a cartridge into the barrel; the first right-hand gunner would ram it to the bottom of the barrel; the first left-hand gunner would introduce the shot and a cloth wad, which would be rammed by the right-hand gunner. Then the crew would bring the gun to bear by pulling ropes. The chief gunner would then pin the cartridge through the

touch hole A touch hole, also called a vent, is a small hole at the rear (breech) portion of the barrel of a muzzleloading gun or cannon. The hole provides external access of an ignition spark into the breech chamber of the barrel (where the combustion o ...

and pour priming powder. Long gun firing system mg 7974

The chief gunner would then point the gun with the help of the third and fourth gunners on each side, and the last gunner on the left would then fire the gun by touching the

with a

linstock A linstock (also called a lintstock) is a staff with a fork at one end to hold a lighted slow match. The name was adapted from the Dutch ''lontstok'', "match stick". Linstocks were used for discharging cannons in the early days of artillery; th ...

Flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also know ...

firing was not standardized in the French navy before the end of the First Empire. The first right-hand gunner would then ram thrice to remove residues from the bore of the gun.

Sources and references

* Jean Boudriot et Hubert Berti, ''L'Artillerie de mer : marine française 1650-1850'', Paris, éditions Ancre, 1992 () (notice BNF no FRBNF355550752). * Jean Peter, ''L'artillerie et les fonderies de la marine sous Louis XIV'', Paris, Economica, 1995, 213 p. (). {{DEFAULTSORT:36-pounder long gun Naval guns of France 175 mm artillery