Trying the Carronade

‘In this war’, Napoleon I wrote to his minister of marine in 1805, ‘the English have been the first to use carronades, and everywhere they have done us great harm. We must hasten to perfect their system, for the argument is all on one side for sea service in favor of the system of large calibers.’ ¹ An expert artilleryman, but never at home in naval matters, the Emperor may have allowed himself to be too impressed. During Middleton’s tenure at the Navy Office the carronade provoked argument on all sides. Some questioned its merits, others doubted its usefulness, still others disagreed over its purposes. It remained an experimental weapon as the American war drew to a close. Debate over the carronade’s contribution to Britain’s wars at sea continues to this day.