Innovation in design soon made Hotchkiss and Driggs-Schroeder guns obsolete for first-line warships. The weapons were relegated to service with patrol boats and small craft. An example can be seen here at the bow of the tug USS Tacoma in 1898.

The Hotchkiss and Driggs-Schroeder Rapid-Firing Guns

It did not take long for the weaponeers to come up with a cost-effective solution to this gunboat threat: rapid-firing small-caliber guns with enough hitting power and range to cripple ...

June 2024
The sloop-of-war Austin, flagship of the Second Texas Navy from 1840 to 1846, at sea. The ship appears to be experiencing Force 4 or 5 conditions—a “moderate” or “fresh” breeze—on the modern Beaufort Scale.

The Origins of the Beaufort Scale

In the era before accurate charts were widely available, wind and weather records provided important information to aid navigation.

Philip K. Allan
March 2024
A drawing of an early Barr and Stroud rangefinder that shows the device’s principal components. The paired eyepieces are near the top in the center.

The Barr and Stroud Rangefinder

The U.S. Navy adopted the Barr and Stroud rangefinder in 1903, as did the navies of Japan and Austria.

Andrew K. Blackley
February 2024
A long 12-pounder cannon on board the replica French frigate l’Hermione. Note the wheels that make traversing the barrel difficult.

Carronades: The Smashers

Carronades were highly effective in the right circumstances, but their downsides were sometimes overlooked.

By Philip K. Allan, author of Clay and the Immortal Memory
November 2023
USS West Virginia

The Waterbury Pump

In the early 1900s, the U.S. Navy was on a quest for improved gunnery, led by William S. Sims and like-minded officers. American crews had demonstrated at the Battle of ...

October 2023
Royal Navy

Inventing Officer Training

Samuel Pepys, the son of a tailor, rose to become the most senior naval administrator in the British Admiralty during the last decades of the 17th century.

August 2023
The Albacore under way

The Super Submarine: USS Albacore

The USS Albacore (AGSS-569) is remembered as the prototype for the hull form of fast, maneuverable submarines. But her story is much more complex than that.

Norman Friedman
January 2023
binnacle

A History of the Ship’s Compass

Mechanical gyroscopes are beginning to be replaced by ring-laser or hemispherical-resonator ones, but most ships retain a traditional magnetic compass as a backup—just in case.

By Philip K. Allan
November 2022