The
Columbiad was a large
caliberIn guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
,
smoothboreA smoothbore weapon is one which has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars.-History of firearms and rifling:...
, muzzle loading
cannonA cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low
trajectoriesA trajectory is the path that a moving object follows through space as a function of time. The object might be a projectile or a satellite, for example. It thus includes the meaning of orbit—the path of a planet, an asteroid or a comet as it travels around a central mass...
. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid
shotRound shot is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon. As the name implies, round shot is spherical; its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the gun it is fired from.Round shot was made in early times from dressed stone, but by the 17th century, from iron...
or
shellA shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
to long
range-In mathematics:* Range , the set of all output values produced by a function* Interval , also called a range, a set of real numbers that includes all numbers between any two numbers in the set...
s, making it an excellent seacoast defense
weaponA weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
for its day. Invented by
ColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
George BomfordGeorge Bomford was an inventor, designer, and distinguished military officer in the United States Army. After graduating from West Point in 1805, as a lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, he served as assistant engineer on the defenses of New York Harbor until 1808. From 1808 to 1810 George...
,
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, in 1811, columbiads were used by the United States
coastal artilleryCoastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
from the
War of 1812The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
until the early years of the 20th Century. Very few columbiads were used outside of the U.S. Army; nevertheless, the columbiad is considered by some as the inspiration for the later shell-only
cannonsThe Paixhans gun was the first naval gun designed to fire explosive shells. It was developed by the French general Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1822-1823.-Background:...
developed by Frenchman
Henri-Joseph PaixhansHenri-Joseph Paixhans was a French artillery officer of the beginning of the 19th century.Henri-Joseph Paixhans graduated from the École Polytechnique...
some 30 years later.
History
The first columbiads produced in 1811 possessed a 7.25 inches (184.2 mm)
diameterIn geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...
bore and took a fifty pound projectile. The army did not widely adopt early columbiads due to initial high costs of manufacture. Only after 1844 did an eight-inch (203 mm) model and a ten-inch (254 mm) model see
mass productionMass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
.
The eight-inch (203 mm) columbiad could project a 65 pound shell 4400 yards (4,023.4 m) or 4800 yards (4,389.1 m) for solid shot; the model weighed 9240 pounds. The ten-inch (254 mm) columbiad weighed 15,400 pounds and hefted a 128 pound shell to 4800 yards (4,389.1 m) or solid shot to 5600 yards (5,120.6 m). These
cast ironCast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
weapons were typically mounted on seacoast carriages designed to
recoilRecoil is the backward momentum of a gun when it is discharged. In technical terms, the recoil caused by the gun exactly balances the forward momentum of the projectile and exhaust gasses, according to Newton's third law...
up a slightly
inclineIncline, inclined, inclining, or inclination may refer to:* Incline, California* Inclined plane, a flat surface whose endpoints are at different heights* Inclined orbit, an orbital plane is tipped away from the equator...
d set of "rails" or wooden
beamsA beam is a horizontal structural element that is capable of withstanding load primarily by resisting bending. The bending force induced into the material of the beam as a result of the external loads, own weight, span and external reactions to these loads is called a bending moment.- Overview...
. The mounted columbiad could
pivotA rotation is a circular movement of an object around a center of rotation. A three-dimensional object rotates always around an imaginary line called a rotation axis. If the axis is within the body, and passes through its center of mass the body is said to rotate upon itself, or spin. A rotation...
left or right on a traversing rail. In most cases the
arcIn geometry, an arc is a closed segment of a differentiable curve in the two-dimensional plane; for example, a circular arc is a segment of the circumference of a circle...
of pivot was less than 180 degrees, but some
batteriesIn military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
allowed 360 degree traverse.
Just prior to the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, ordnance
officerAn officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
Thomas Jackson RodmanThomas Jackson Rodman was an American artillerist, inventor, ordnance specialist, and career United States Army officer...
developed an improved version of the columbiad, which became known by his name. Specifically the
Rodman gunRodman gun refers to a series of American Civil War-era columbiads designed by Union artilleryman Thomas Jackson Rodman . The guns were designed to fire both shot and shell. These heavy guns were intended to be mounted in seacoast fortifications. They were built in 8-inch, 10-inch, 13-inch,...
was designed to reduce cracking and other weaknesses found in such large iron castings. The process involved ensured the iron cooled evenly from the inside out, and resulted in what we might call today a "soda bottle" shaped casting with smooth, tapered exterior. The "Rodman" process also allowed the manufacture of much larger bore columbiads.
Between 1858 and the end of the Civil War, Northern
foundriesA foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
produced eight-inch (203 mm) , ten-inch (254 mm) , fifteen-inch (381 mm) and twenty-inch Rodman style columbiads. The smaller bore columbiads shared similar range factors to the older weapons, but the fifteen-inch (381 mm) models weighed over 25
tonThe ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s and could fire 400 pound projectiles out to 5000 yards (4,572 m). The monster twenty-inch model weighed over 60 tons but could range to over 5 miles (8 km). Very few of the largest types were built, and none were fired in anger during the war.
The Confederate States also used columbiads extensively, mostly stocks captured from
FederalThe Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
arsenals at the time of
secessionSecession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
. These acquitted themselves well against early ironclad warships. In addition, the Confederates produced limited quantities of eight-inch (203 mm) and ten-inch (254 mm) columbiads without the Rodman process; these could not withstand sustained use. The Confederates also
rifledRifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
some columbiads in an effort to improve weapon performance.
After the Civil War, many columbiads remained in place at seacoast
fortificationFortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
s around the U.S. In the late 1870s several were rifled and tested for use against modern steel clad ships, with poor results. Strapped for funding, the post-war Army continued to carry smoothbore columbiads on inventory lists until after the
Spanish-American WarThe Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, when modern breech-loading rifled cannon replaced them. Today many columbiads are on display at
FederalThe federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
and
stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
parks commemorating the 19th-century seacoast fortifications. Still others "guard"
courthouseA courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
s around the United States.
In fiction
In
Jules Verne'sJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
novel
From the Earth to the MoonFrom the Earth to the Moon is a humorous science fantasy novel by Jules Verne and is one of the earliest entries in that genre. It tells the story of the president of a post-American Civil War gun club in Baltimore, his rival, a Philadelphia maker of armor, and a Frenchman, who build an enormous...
, a giant columbiad
space gunA space gun is a method of launching an object into outer space using a large gun, or cannon. It provides a method of non-rocket spacelaunch.In the HARP Project a U.S...
is constructed in
Tampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
after the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, with the purpose of striking the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. Although the cannon is originally designed to fire a hollow aluminum ball, a bullet-shaped projectile is later designed with the purpose of carrying people. It is now known that neither concept is viable using such a cannon.
This fictional columbiad is made of cast iron six feet thick, is 900 feet (274 m) long, and has a bore with a diameter of nine feet. It weighs more than 68,000 short tons (61,700 metric tons or 60,700 long tons) and is therefore cast directly in the ground, rather than being mounted on rails. The cannon is then loaded with 400,000 pounds (180,000 kg) of
"pyroxyle"Collodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol. There are two basic types; flexible and non-flexible. The flexible type is often used as a surgical dressing or to hold dressings in place. When painted on the skin, collodion dries to form a flexible cellulose film...
(gun cotton) to give the projectile
sufficient velocityIn physics, escape velocity is the speed at which the kinetic energy plus the gravitational potential energy of an object is zero gravitational potential energy is negative since gravity is an attractive force and the potential is defined to be zero at infinity...
to leave Earth's atmosphere and reach the Moon.
A vastly scaled down depiction of this fictional cannon was built as a launch cannon for the French version of
Space MountainSpace Mountain: Mission 2 is a steel roller coaster-type attraction in Discoveryland at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris themed around a journey into space. The attraction opened on June 1, 1995, three years after the opening of the park, as a revival of interest to draw more guests to the...
at Disneyland Paris. Originally named "Space Mountain:
De la Terre à la Lune", the ride was loosely based on Verne's novel, and the attraction's exterior was built using a Verne-era retro-futuristic influence.