British Empire Artillery

[seanschmolz]

Hi again,

I posted recently about our television series 'Britain's Greatest Machines', asking for important weapons. I had a great reply from Helen, thanks for that. We are now doing research on the big guns that were important for the British Empire to be so successful, if anyone knows what these are and if there are any surviving, ideally working, that would be great,

Kind regards,

Sean

[Timothy]

The 100 ton Armstrong gun at Fort Rinella, Malta, has got to be worth a look.

[peter monahan]

Fort Henry, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada regularly fire their 32 pounders at the sunset ceremonies. Common lore has it that the 32 pound muzzle loader was the cannon which established the '3 mile limit' as the limit of a country's sovreignty on the coast, because they could throw a ball that far. Can't recall whether or not that's true but I believe it is.

The Fort will doubtless have footage of the ceremony and there are sure to be shots on YouTube, to save you a flight over. Fired at night they are truly impressive to see and the crews, all summer students, have a very high standard of drill and deportment.

Good luck with the film!

Edited April 22, 2010 by peter monahan

[Mervyn Mitton]

Not such a 'big gun' - but one that had great influence in our endeavours in the mountains of India. The Mountain Howitzer - which broke down in sections to be carried on mules.