Abomb vessel,bomb ship,bomb ketch, or simplybomb was a type of wooden sailingnaval ship. Its primaryarmament was notcannons (long guns orcarronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – butmortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in aballistic arc.Explosive shells (also calledbombs at the time) orcarcasses were employed rather than solid shot. Bomb vessels were specialized ships designed for bombarding (hence the name) fixed positions on land. In the 20th century, thisnaval gunfire support role was carried out by the most similar purpose-builtWorld War I- andII-eramonitors, but also by other warships now firing long-range explosive shells.
The first recorded deployment of bomb vessels by the English was for thesiege of Calais in 1347 whenEdward III deployed single-deck ships withbombardes and other artillery.[1] The first specialised bomb vessels were built towards the end of the 17th century, based on the designs of Bernard Renau d'Eliçagaray, and used by theFrench Navy.[2][3][4] They were first calledgaliote à bombe (a word derived from the Dutchgalliot, denoting a short, beamy vessel well suited for the powerful downward recoil of its weapons).[5] Five such vessels were used toshell Algiers in 1682 destroying the land forts, and killing some 700 defenders[citation needed]. Two years later the French repeated their success at Genoa.[2] The early French bomb vessels had two forward-pointing mortars fixed side-by-side on the foredeck. To aim these weapons, the entire ship was rotated by letting out or pulling in a springanchor.[3] The range was usually controlled by adjusting the gunpowder charge.[2] The French later adopted the wordbombarde for this vessel,[6] but it should not be confused with the horizontal fire, stone throwingbombard of earlier centuries.[7]
The French design was copied by theRoyal Navy,[2] who continued to refine the class over the next century or more, afterHuguenot exiles brought designs over to England and the United Provinces. The side-by-side, forward-pointing mortars were replaced in the British designs by mortars mounted on the centerline on revolving platforms. These platforms were supported by strong internal wooden framework to transmit the forces of firing the weapons to the hull. The interstices of the framework were used as storage areas for ammunition.
Early bomb vessels were rigged asketches with twomasts. They wereawkward vessels to handle, in part because bomb ketches typically had the masts stepped farther aft than would have been normal in other vessels of similar rig, in order to accommodate the mortars forward and provide a clear area for their forwards fire. As a result, by the 1800s British bomb vessels were designed asfull-rigged ships with three masts, and two mortars, one between each neighboring pair of masts.[8] The full rig also meant that bomb vessels could be used as escort sloops between bombardment missions; in 1805 theAcheron bomb along with theArrow sloop were both lost in a defence[citation needed] of their convoy. Bomb vessels often had the front rigging made of chain, to better withstand the muzzle blast of the mortars.[3]
Mortars were the only kind of naval armament to fire explosiveshells rather than solid shot until the invention of thePaixhans gun. Since it was considered dangerous to have large stocks of shells on board the ships that were firing them, and because the reinforced mortar platforms occupied so much space below decks, bomb vessels were usually accompanied by a tender to carry ammunition as well as the ordnance officers in charge of firing the mortars. However, as naval warfare became more advanced, bomb ships were also accompanied by frigates to protect them from direct assault by faster, smaller vessels.
Bomb vessels were traditionally named aftervolcanoes, or given other names suggestive of explosive qualities. Some were also given names associated with theunderworld. Vessels of other types which were later converted to bomb ships generally retained their original names.
Bomb vessels were highly specialized and expensive to fit out and maintain, and only marginally suited for their secondary role ascruisers. Because bomb vessels were built with extremely strong hulls to withstand the recoil of the mortars, several were converted in peacetime as ships for exploration of theArctic andAntarctic regions, wherepack ice andicebergs were a constant menace. Most famously, these ships includedHMS Erebus andHMS Terror. In this case, the volcanoes –Mount Erebus andMount Terror onRoss Island inAntarctica – were named after the ships, instead of vice versa.
Although horizontal fire naval guns propelling explosive shells had entered all major navies by the 1840s (seePaixhans gun), there was still room for a specialized vessel on occasion. During the American Civil War, the Union fleet included armored gunboats armed with 13 inch mortars; the weapon weighed 17,250 lbs and its bedding another 4,500 lbs. They fired 204-lb shells, with a bursting charge of 7 lbs of gunpowder, and had a range of three miles. At this distance, the projectile spent 30 seconds in flight. They were used to attack several forts, for exampleFort Pulaski, Georgia.[9]
Commodore Hornblower (published 1945), aHoratio Hornblower novel written byC. S. Forester, features several actions by British bomb vessels. The text includes a highly detailed account of the procedures used to load the mortars and aim, which involved anchoring fore-and-aft, receiving range corrections from another vessel, precisely adjusting the aim using an anchor cable attached to a windlass, and by using fine adjustments in the amount ofgun powder to correct the range. However, Forester erred in describing the vessels as ketches, which by the early 19th century had been replaced by full-rigged ships, and in assigning the management of the mortars to Naval officers, rather than the Royal Marine Artillery which had been formed for this specific purpose. A later book,Hornblower in the West Indies, features a small portable "ship's mortar" mounted in a boat, used to bombard a target during a riverine operation.
In a fictionalized account, war correspondent, author, and yachtsmanG. A. Henty describes in vivid detail the deployment of ten bomb-ketches by the Spanish besiegers during the final period of the siege of Gibraltar.[15]
InThe Ramage Touch byDudley Pope (published 1979), CaptainLord Ramage and the crew of the frigateCalypso capture two bomb ketches, which they subsequently use to thwart a French invasion plan in the Mediterranean. Like the Hornblower books, The Ramage Touch describes in great detail the technical aspects of employing a bomb vessel during the Napoleonic era.
InH.M.S. Cockerell byDewey Lambdin (published 1995), First LieutenantAlan Lewrie is set ashore by his vindictive captain, for 'land service' during the siege of Toulon. There Admiral Goodall gives him a bomb ketch, which he commands for several weeks until it is blown out of the water and sunk by a young Colonel of artillery named Buonaparte.
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