View source for Bomb vessel

{{Short description|Sailing naval ship}}
{{about|a ship designed for shore bombardment|the ships that were actually used as bombs|Fire ship}}
[[File:La Foudroyante mp3h9406.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Model of a [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] aboard ''Foudroyante'', a French bomb vessel of the 1800s]]
[[File:Ft. Henry bombardement 1814.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|British bomb vessels attacking [[Fort McHenry]] during the [[Battle of Baltimore]] in 1814]]
A '''bomb vessel''', '''bomb ship''', '''bomb ketch''', or simply '''bomb''' was a type of wooden sailing [[naval ship]]. Its primary [[armament]] was not [[cannon]]s ([[Naval long gun|long guns]] or [[carronade]]s) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but [[Mortar (weapon)|mortars]] mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a [[External ballistics|ballistic]] arc. [[Shell (projectile)|Explosive shells]] (also called ''bombs'' at the time) or [[Carcass (projectile)|carcasses]] 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, this [[naval gunfire support]] role was carried out by the most similar purpose-built [[World War I]]- and [[World War II|II]]-era [[Monitor (warship)#Twentieth century|monitors]], but also by other warships now firing long-range explosive shells.

==Development==
The first recorded deployment of bomb vessels by the English was for the [[Siege of Calais (1346)|siege of Calais]] in 1347 when [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] deployed single-deck ships with [[Bombard (weapon)|bombardes]] and other artillery.<ref>{{cite journal|editor=Royal Artillery Institution |year=1894 |journal=Journal of the Royal Artillery |title=Journal of the Royal Artillery| volume=21 |location=[[Woolwich]]|publisher=Royal Artillery Institution |page=[https://books.google.com/books?ei=P8cqU_aaHJOthQfckYFQ&id=JPRBAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22The+first+Employment+of%22 31] }}</ref> 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 the [[French Navy]].<ref name="Tucker2000"/><ref name="Zorlu2008"/><ref name="Bull2004">{{cite book|author=Stephen Bull|title=Encyclopedia of military technology and innovation|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-57356-557-8|pages=44}}</ref> They were first called ''galiote à bombe'' (a word derived from the Dutch [[galliot]], denoting a short, beamy vessel well suited for the powerful downward recoil of its weapons).<ref>{{cite book |title =The Sloop of War 1650-1763 | first =Ian | last =McLaughlan | year =2014 | publisher =Seaforth Publishing | page =109 | isbn =9781848321878}}</ref> Five such vessels were used to [[Bombardment_of_Algiers_(1682)|shell Algiers in 1682]] destroying the land forts, and killing some 700 defenders{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}}. Two years later the French repeated their success at Genoa.<ref name="Tucker2000">{{cite book|author=Spencer Tucker|title=Handbook of 19th century naval warfare|year=2000|publisher=Naval Institute Press|pages=4–5|isbn=0-7509-1972-8}}</ref> 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 spring [[anchor]].<ref name="Zorlu2008">{{cite book|author=Tuncay Zorlu|title=Innovation and empire in Turkey: Sultan Selim III and the modernisation of the Ottoman Navy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=McTjLTMDkJoC&pg=PA128|year=2008|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-694-1|page=128}}</ref> The range was usually controlled by adjusting the gunpowder charge.<ref name="Tucker2000"/> The French later adopted the word ''bombarde'' for this vessel,<ref name="Encyclopédie des gens du monde, par une société de savans">{{cite book|title=Encyclopédie des gens du monde, par une société de savans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnVAG3QSKNgC&pg=PA661|year=1834|page=661}}</ref> but it should not be confused with the horizontal fire, stone throwing [[bombard (weapon)|bombard]] of earlier centuries.<ref name="Jal1848">{{cite book|author=Augustin Jal|title=Glossaire nautique: répertoire polyglotte de termes de marine anciens et modernes|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xZw_AAAAcAAJ|year=1848|publisher=Firmin Didot frères|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_xZw_AAAAcAAJ/page/n307 306]}}</ref>

The French design was copied by the [[Royal Navy]],<ref name="Tucker2000"/> who continued to refine the class over the next century or more, after [[Huguenot]] 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.

[[File:Granado bomb vessel model.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.6|Model of a 'Granado' bomb vessel, launched in 1742. It has two mortars inline. [[National Maritime Museum]], London.]]
Early bomb vessels were rigged as [[ketch]]es with two [[mast (sailing)|masts]]. They were [[seamanship|awkward 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 as [[full-rigged ship]]s with three masts, and two mortars, one between each neighboring pair of masts.<ref name="Block2003">{{cite book|author=Leo Block|title=To harness the wind: a short history of the development of sails|year=2003|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-55750-209-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/toharnesswindsho00bloc/page/65 65]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/toharnesswindsho00bloc/page/65}}</ref> The full rig also meant that bomb vessels could be used as escort sloops between bombardment missions; in 1805 the [[HMS Acheron (1803)|Acheron]] bomb along with the [[HMS Arrow (1796)|Arrow]] sloop were both lost in a defence {{Citation needed|date=March 2022|reason=No sources cited for romantic assessment}} of their convoy. Bomb vessels often had the front rigging made of chain, to better withstand the muzzle blast of the mortars.<ref name="Zorlu2008"/>

Mortars were the only kind of naval armament to fire explosive [[shell (projectile)|shells]] rather than solid shot until the invention of the [[Paixhans 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 after [[volcano]]es, or given other names suggestive of explosive qualities. Some were also given names associated with the [[underworld]]. 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 as [[cruiser (warship)|cruisers]]. 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 the [[Arctic]] and [[Antarctic]] regions, where [[pack ice]] and [[icebergs]] were a constant menace. Most famously, these ships included {{HMS|Erebus|1826|6}} and {{HMS|Terror|1813|6}}. In this case, the volcanoes – [[Mount Erebus]] and [[Mount Terror (Antarctica)|Mount Terror]] on [[Ross Island]] in [[Antarctica]] – were named after the ships, instead of vice versa.

[[File:Fort-Pulaski-Under-Fire-April-1862-Leslie-s-Weekly-Mod.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|[[Battle of Fort Pulaski|Fort Pulaski under fire. 1 May 1862.]]]]
Although horizontal fire naval guns propelling explosive shells had entered all major navies by the 1840s (see [[Paixhans 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&nbsp;lbs and its bedding another 4,500&nbsp;lbs. They fired 204-lb shells, with a bursting charge of 7&nbsp;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 example [[Fort Pulaski]], Georgia.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen Bull|title=Encyclopedia of military technology and innovation|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-57356-557-8|pages=112}}</ref>

==Notable bomb vessels and actions==
[[File:Nicholas Pocock - The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|In this painting of the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)]] by [[Nicholas Pocock]], Royal Navy bomb vessels in the left foreground fire over the British and Danish lines of battle into Copenhagen in the background]]

* The bomb vessels {{HMS|Racehorse|1757|2}} and {{HMS|Carcass|1759|2}} were further strengthened for an [[1773 Phipps expedition towards the North Pole|expedition of discovery]] to the [[North Pole]] in the 1770s. The uncompleted expedition included a young [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio Nelson]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Southey |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Southey|title=The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson|url=http://historicaltextarchive.com/books.php?action=nextchapter&bid=3&cid=1|orig-year=1813|publisher=HTA Press |location=Starkville, MS|date=2001}}</ref>
* Bomb vessels {{HMS|Discovery|1789|2}}, ''Explosion'', ''Hecla'', ''Sulphur'', ''Terror'' (1784), ''Volcano'', and {{HMS|Zebra|1780|2}} participated in the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)|First Battle of Copenhagen]] in 1801.{{sfn|James Vol 3|pp=49-64}}
* {{HMS|Thunder|1803|2}}, ''Vesuvius'', {{HMS|Aetna|1803|2}}, and {{HMS|Zebra|1780|2}} participated in the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1807)|Second Battle of Copenhagen]] in 1807.{{sfn|James Vol 4|pp=204-211}}
* {{HMS|Thunder|1803|2}} and {{HMS|Aetna|1803|2}} additionally participated in the [[Battle of the Basque Roads]] in 1808 (this action was also notable for including three [[rocket vessel]]s in support of the bombs).{{sfn|James Vol 4|pp=410-422}}
* The "bombs bursting in air" recorded by [[Francis Scott Key]] at the [[Battle of Baltimore]] in 1814 were provided by the {{HMS|Volcano|1804|2}}, {{HMS|Meteor|1812|2}}, {{HMS|Devastation|1804|2}}, {{HMS|Aetna|1803|2}}, and a new {{HMS|Terror|1813|2}}.{{sfn|James Vol 6|pp=190-192}}
* Another {{HMS|Hecla|1815|2}} and her sister ship {{HMS|Fury|1814|2}} were used by [[William Edward Parry]] on a series of voyages to the [[Arctic]] between 1819 and 1827.
* During the [[Battle of Veracruz (1838)|Battle of Veracruz]] in 1838, the bomb vessels ''Cyclope'' and ''Vulcain'' fired most of the shells used by the French, and scored decisive hits on Mexican ammunition depots.
* {{HMS|Erebus|1826|6}} and {{HMS|Terror|1813}} served as polar exploration vessels. ''Terror'' had been used by [[George Back]] in his 1836 [[Arctic]] expedition, in [[Sir James Clark Ross]]'s [[Ross expedition|own expedition]] of 1840 to the [[Antarctic]], before they were lost on [[Sir John Franklin]]'s [[Franklin's lost expedition|lost expedition]] of 1845.

==In fiction==
''[[Commodore Hornblower]]'' (published 1945), a [[Horatio Hornblower]] novel written by [[C. 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 of [[gun 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 yachtsman [[G. 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.<ref>George A. Henty, ''Held Fast for England:  a tale of the siege of Gibraltar (1779-83)'' (London: Blackie, 1892) downloaded from the ''Internet Archive''</ref>

In ''The Ramage Touch'' by [[Dudley Pope]] (published 1979), Captain [[Lord Ramage]] and the crew of the frigate ''Calypso'' 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.

In ''H.M.S. Cockerell'' by [[Dewey Lambdin]] (published 1995), First Lieutenant [[Alan 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.

==See also==
*[[List of bomb vessels of the Royal Navy]]
* [[Paixhans gun]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=James |first=William |year=1902 |orig-year=1837 |ref=CITEREFJames Vol 3 |title=The naval history of Great Britain (1800–1805) |edition=New six volume |volume=3 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryofg03jame}}
* {{cite book|last=James |first=William |year=1902 |orig-year=1837 |ref=CITEREFJames Vol 4 |title=The naval history of Great Britain (1805–1809) |edition=New six volume |volume=4 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryofgr04jameuoft/page/n7/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book  |last=James |first=William |author-link=William James (naval historian) |year=1902 |orig-year=1837 |ref=CITEREFJames Vol 6 |title=The naval history of Great Britain (1813–1827) |edition=New six volume |volume=6 |location=London |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/details/navalhistoryofgr06jameuoft/page/n7/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last=Lavery |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Lavery |year=1989 |title=Nelson's Navy |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Ltd |location=London |isbn=1-59114-611-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Ware |first=Chris |year=1994 |title=The Bomb Vessel |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Ltd |location=London |isbn=1-55750-071-1}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Bomb vessels}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080702185556/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval_History/Index.html Naval History of Great Britain by William James, on pbenyon] (archived 21 July 2008)

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[[Category:Naval sailing ship types]]