For some recreation.....
War had romance at times and that is why war was romantic. There was nothing romantic of trench warfare and machine guns slaughtered 10,000 British in each battle.
There is though romance in sailing vessels making war as it requires artistry, tactics and bravery.
That is why modern naval warfare is not romantic as it is a battle of airpower and not seapower. It is a battle of hundreds of miles and not hundreds of yards.
There is a spirit in the wind, filling the sails, breathing a ship to life and make the rolls of the ocean come to life, as the triumverate of man, ship and sea, all become one in a duel which is maritime warfare. There is beauty in this, and I take you now on board my favorite ship of war in the American 44 of the Continental type which strafed the British Royal Navy 38 frigates to flight.
The American 44 as subject of the USS Constitution, were part of a seafaring artform created by American seaboard craftsmen who took shipping to new technological heights, which culminated in the American Clipper in the Yankee Traders.
A sea battle was a most tactical operation. It was both long and short warfare and I will explain.
A ship in good rig would be armed with 44 cannon in perhaps two tiers or one. This would break down to 10 guns to a side in bottom deck and 10 cannonade on the top deck per side, with two long guns in stern and two long guns on the bow or front of the ship.
In the rigging of the masts would be the Marines with rifles, meant to snipe and kill the officers and crew of the ship.
The butchery which would take place was not romantic, but the romance would lay within the well regulated guns of the Americans. Regulated as in the Constitution I will repeat exclusively again, is a gun which is fired repeatedly, so that the crew or the individual knows where to aim to hit the mark every time.
That in seafaring battle is a feat as ships roll with the waves, and timing of shot is essential as the helm works with the fire crews to unleash a devastating fire before the enemy unleashes it's fire.
I will walk you through this.
You are an American Commodore. The wind is blowing at your back in a south southwestly direction. As in the drawing, your mast men, spy sails to your north and it is identified as a British man of war.
Immediately you start tacking for the weather as your crew is ordered to ready in making sails ready, rigging and arming the cannon.
Tacking is important, because it is an advantage to gain the weather. Weather means the wind in your favor so you are upwind of your enemy's sails to cut that wind and gain speed in close warfare and allow you more control of the battle.
The British upon seeing you will of course act in the same tactical placement in attempting to gain the weather for maneuvering, and each ship at approximately 10 miles per hour will close on the other, looking for advantage.
In the above, the American has the advantage in the blue ship in notice the angle of the ship. She can bring to bear her full broadside which is what is the point in all of this, while your enemy is left only 2 stern guns or 2 starboard guns at most compared to your 10 long guns unleashing and full 20 at close range.
Ships contained long toms, or long range cannon and also cannonade for short range work. When the cannonade were in operation, the most destruction would take place, as the cannons would be strafing holes the size of a human head through a ship, and woe to the sailor who met with one of those balls or the flying splinters from the ship shattering.
The effective scope of this was to begin breaking down the ship. Perhaps the rudder might be shattered, meaning the ship would not be able to maneuver to your operations. Perhaps a mast might be taken out, which means less wind gathered and more speed for you to exploit.
Perhaps it would mean in strafing that the crew would be degraded, as well as cannon, and perhaps holes in the hull would take on water, so the crew would have to not only fight fires above waterline from shells, but pump water to keep from sinking.
Cannon crews were to be well regulated, in meaning practiced, as crews without practice in battle were always overloading a gun, which might explode it, knock it from it's carriage or destroy it. That is where the Americans shown most in battles, in they were constantly firing at objects when at sail so their gunners were well regulated and hit what they aimed at.
As the ships would close, the British would hope to not be disabled, and still maneuvering, at which point their heading would change as you can see by the angle of the red ship. Notice with a simple helm change, the American vessel suddenly would have only a few guns operational compared to the British broadside.
A broadside was the last thing any opponent ever wanted to receive as 20 cannon balls blowing holes in your ship did not make for a ship for very long. Broadsides though were part of it, and your crews either hit what they aimed at or the ship was destroyed, because the enemy was hitting your ship.
As the ships closed, the broadsides would unleash, as the Marines in the rigging would poor down fire on the decks. Under protection, other Marines or Seadogs in boarding parties would huddle, waiting for boarding ropes with grapple to tie the ships together, where the parties would then engage in hand to hand combat in pistol, cutlass and pike. That being the case if both ships were shattered and a boarding party was the only way to win a battle.
You always wanted to see your enemy raise the flag in surrender, and that is why the Americans in battle would nail the flag to the mast, so as not to give up the ship.
It was magnificient this warfare in the artistry, like the World War II fighter pilots in duels. It was joust of fairness, like lines armed shield and sword, in which skill, bravery and the Lord of the Battle prevailed.
Oh to be at war at sea......
agtG
