Hi Onno, Sorry for the delay in responding to this. If you'd like, I'll dig up the reference I have regarding English warships that determined the width of the gunports for the various guns in question. I can also try and dig up the weights of the guns themselves for you. The one book I have, if I recall correctly, has the velocity of the ball shot from a given gun. If you are ever in the mood to pick up a book on the HMS VICTORY, this one I picked up from Amazon.com recently for a decent price. You'll find some interesting information worth looking into.
http://www.haynes.co.uk/Press/Releases_contents/120402_HMSVictory.pdf I also picked up a book on the HMS VICTORY that is a line drawing drawn to scale. The size of the masts and the like are included, along with the length of the various spars. I also have stats on various ships as far as "tonnage" - which was largely a measure based upon a formula involving the length of the ship multiplied by its beam by a factor to determines "tuns". That formula is easily enough found, but its relationship to actual "volume" isn't really accurate. When I created a spreadsheet to see if the formulas matched the stats I had on various ships, I found that it matched it only too well. Let me see what I can dig up on the various cannon weights. Also - one of the mailing lists I'm on, I took the liberty of forwarding an email I received from a curator aboard the HMS VICTORY (if I recall correctly that he was a Curator!!!) where he graciously answered my question on the cost of shot and powder. In all, I'll see what I can get for you, but I'd kind of have to know what it is you're looking for. Also? I do not have much "faith" in the GURPS VEHICLES rules for cannons. I recall sending in a table for the Age of Napoleon as far as the cannons and such go, but didn't really like it - and spotted errors in the table that I was NOT happy with (on the presumption that it was the reason I was given Credit in that book). I can't help but wonder if it was myself who made those errors - since I don't recall the file I sent to the author (but if he said I did, I must have!). In any event, subsequent research on gunnery in that era makes me believe that GURPS should have gone a different route when determining how much damage is done by a cannon ball :( Generally speaking? Figure roughly 1/3rd the weight of the ball was the charge weight for propulsion. If you know how much energy is available in a say, 3 lbs of powder to propel a 9 lb ball, you'd be able to get a rough estimate of what is kinetic energy had to have been in a given ball park. I can get the velocity of a single cannon ball, but I don't know how accurate my source is. As with everything - "Interesting if true". In addition, I also picked up a copy of the book detailing the HMS DIANA, a frigate carrying a very specific armament. Will get back to you soon. Hal -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Onno Meyer Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2015 10:35 AM To: The GURPSnet mailing list Subject: Re: [gurps] Wooden Ships and Iron Frames Hal replied to me: > Pine when used as a building material for the hull, resulted in hulls > whose life time was less than 10 years, sometimes less than 5. This > implies a lower HT rating for the ship on a whole. > > Pine was used for spars and the like because it was flexible enough to > handle the stresses without cracking. I'm thinking about wooden-hulled steam ships. For screw ships, this flexibility was a real problem because it would warp the shafts. Paddle wheels were easier, but they took room away from the broadsides. > Hull design was such that a man could look at a hull and know right > off the bat what the ship was designed to carry by weight of gun, > because the distances between gunports were of a specific size for specific guns. Were things really that clear? ISTR the difference between large and common 74 was on the upper gun deck, which implies that the lower gun deck of a large 74 was less cramped than that of a common 74. Also, relatively small cannon would be swapped for larger carronades. According to 3E Vehicles, a late TL5 18-pounder needs 305 cf for the carriage mount and cramped standing room, a 32-pounder needs 445 cf, but if the 18-pounder goes to roomy standing room it needs 405 cf. > In 1784, a British 98 gun ship of the line extracted 200 roundballs > from its hull after the battle of the Glorious First of June, and was > ready for battle a fortnight later. These ships could take a major > pounding and still remain afloat. According to the 3E Vehicles, a 32-pounder does about 6d*8, on average 168 points of damage. Subtract somewhere between DR 50-100 from the hull armor and 200 hits will cost a second rate around half the total HPs. No single hit comes even close to 10% of HP, so flooding is not an issue. The problem with this rules interpretation is that few shots will simply "bounce". Even 9-pounders can wear the HP down given enough hits. > If you need specific dimensions on ships as recorded in history, I > have a few that I can give to you for some English ships. Also, do a > search on my name at the Forums where it comes to masts on age of sail > ships. You'll find some entries on mast heights and how they were > figured for various masts and even for various specific portions of > the mast. This information is more historically accurate than was the > information given in GURPS VEHICLES 2nd edition. > > Feel free to contact me via email if you want specifics - I might be > able to get them for you, or I'll say I don't have access to that > information. At one point, I was able to find the cost of ball and > shot because I contacted the curator in charge of the HMS VICTORY. I'm working on early steampunk fictional ships, but they might encounter historical sailing ships. The first ones are built specifically to out-steam or out-fight sailing ships, so I wanted an idea about the "proper historical baseline". Thanks, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
