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A solid spherical projectile made, in early times, from dressed stone but, by the 17th century, from iron. The most accurate projectile that could be fired by a smooth-bore cannon, used to batter the wooden hulls of opposing ships, forts, or fixed emplacements, and as a long-range anti-personnel weapon. Chain shot or Split shot
Innovations continued, notably the German invention of the mortar, a thick-walled, short-barreled gun that blasted shot upward at a steep angle. Mortars were useful for sieges, as they could fire over walls and other defenses. [104] This cannon found more use with the Dutch, who learned to shoot bombs filled with powder from them.
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 during the late 19th century.
Cannon-launched guided projectiles (CLGP) are precision-guided munitions launched by howitzers, mortars, tank guns, and naval guns.Those projectile main propulsion system is the initial kinetic shoot, directed as much as possible toward the target.
The "flying-cloud thunderclap-eruptor" cannon from the Huolongjing Cast iron shells packed with gunpowder have been used in warfare since at least early 13th century China. Hollow, gunpowder-packed shells made of cast iron used during the Song dynasty (960-1279) are described in the early Ming Dynasty Chinese military manual Huolongjing ...
Early 15th-century Flemish giant cannon Dulle Griet at Ghent (caliber of 660 mm). This list contains all types of cannon through the ages listed in decreasing caliber size. For the purpose of this list, the development of large-calibre artillery can be divided into three periods, based on the kind of projectiles used, due to their dissimilar characteristics, and being practically ...
(On the shot called "the single deadliest cannon shot in American history", see Negro Fort.) Round shot has the disadvantage of not being tightly fitted into the bore (to do so would cause jamming). This causes the shot to "rattle" down the gun barrel and leave the barrel at an angle, unless wadding or a discarding sabot is used.
The projectile had been known since at least the 16th century and was known by various nicknames in the 17th century such as hailshot or partridge shot. Rounds recovered from Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose (sunk 1545) were wooden cylinders filled with broken flint flakes.