# Do cannonballs explode?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 8, 2000, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651 "2000-12-08T17:29:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2000, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/41 "2000-12-10T11:34:01Z")
Actually, Leonidas has one of the best & most comlete answers here, excellent for a newbie. Welcome Leonidas! And may all your posts ring as true.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/42 "2000-12-10T18:38:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jumblemind \*
> \*\*Thanks, Guy. What were the skyrockets used for? \*\*
That would be for the red glare, of course.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2000, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/43 "2000-12-10T21:12:00Z")
**wastelands** , I hope you got your sleep.
Key was held aboard a British ship during the assault. (There were no "reb"s involved in the action since our “secession” had been completed successfully over 30 years previous and the CSA was still almost 40 years away from its secession.)
While I doubt that the Brits had a bomb-ketch among their fleet, they were assaulting by land, as well. I suspect that the “bombs bursting in air” truly were _bombs_ (using early 19th century terminology) fired from mortars and exploding prematurely (for the purpose of destroying the fort) or correctly (for the purpose of killing defenders on the ramparts).
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### Author:  [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2000, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/44 "2000-12-11T09:15:33Z")
RE; Chained Rounds
There is yet another type of chained munition not discussed in the thread. This is a grapeshot type round chained together to prevent it from spreading and used on packed infantry charges. Picture a beaded chain or a wire rope with lead balls fused on it like a dogtag chain.
I have seen modern shotgun shells and M-203 rounds loaded with such a projectile but have no idea if they were manufactured or employed during The Civil War.
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### Author:  [@No\_Fear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Fear)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2000, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/45 "2000-12-12T16:57:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jumblemind \*
> \*\*Thanks, Guy. What were the skyrockets used for? \*\*
Like skyrockets today on4th of July, they set fires. Lots of thatch roofs in colonial times. Limber was hard to come by because there were few saw mills.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2000, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/46 "2000-12-12T18:16:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> What were the skyrockets used for?
I can’t get a direct link because of the way the site is set up, but if you go to
[http://www.napoleonic-literature.com/](http://www.napoleonic-literature.com/)
Select the **Site Search Engine** icon
then, at the **string to search for** Enter
_HISTORY OF THE ROCKET 1804 TO 1815_ as the search argument,
you will get a page that describes the development and use of military rockets (especially by the British) during the period including the War of 1812.
Expanding on comments in the link, the British had had a good measure of success using rockets as a barrage weapon against cities with wood-frame buildings. (I’m not sure that thatch was used as roofing that often, although I have no citation against it, but a rocket exploding against wood siding would certainly cause it to ignite.)
In the attack on the fort, (one of the first uses against a fortified position, apparently), the British discovered that the rockets did not carry enough explosive power to damage actual fortifications.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2001, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/47 "2001-01-15T16:05:36Z")
So now I’m confused (and admittedly “ignert” on the subject): what, then, is a “mortar”? Pictures I’ve seen of them show them as having handles…
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### Author:  [@Sleepy\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleepy_Weasel)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2001, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/48 "2001-01-15T16:58:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by EvilGhandi \*
> \*\*RE; Chained Rounds
>
> There is yet another type of chained munition not discussed in the thread. This is a grapeshot type round chained together to prevent it from spreading and used on packed infantry charges. Picture a beaded chain or a wire rope with lead balls fused on it like a dogtag chain.
>
> I have seen modern shotgun shells and M-203 rounds loaded with such a projectile but have no idea if they were manufactured or employed during The Civil War. \*\*
Don’t be ridiculous! They didn’t even have the M203 during the Civil War… 😃
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### Author:  [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/49 "2001-01-15T22:44:16Z")
A morter is a type of artillery that fires it’s shells in a high trajectory. If you picture throwing a ball over a tall fence to someone on the other side, you’ve got the right idea. Modern morters are small tubes that point upwards. A shell is dropped into the tube, and the firing pin ignites the charge in the base of the shell, sending it arching towards it’s target. They are suprisingly accurate. Tables tell you what combination of angle and elevation will cause the shell to land “X” distance downrange, though I suppose computers are used now.
Civil War morters were much the same in effect, but rather than being tubes, they were much shorter and fatter. The idea here is that if an enemy has defenses erected between you and he, you can use a morter to go over them and strike him. ( think ball and fence again)
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### Author:  [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2001, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/50 "2001-01-15T23:14:17Z")
[Civil War Era Mortars](http://www.civilwarartillery.com/cwimages/8inchmorters.jpg)
[WWI Mortar](http://www.worldwar1.com/foto/ah159b.jpg)
[Modern Mortar](http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/81mm.htm)
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### Author:  [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/51 "2001-01-15T23:22:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by weirddave \*
> \*\*[Civil War Era Mortars](http://www.civilwarartillery.com/cwimages/8inchmortars.jpg)
>
> [WWI Mortar](http://www.worldwar1.com/foto/ah159b.jpg)
>
> [Modern Mortar](http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/81mm.htm) \*\*
That should fix the 1st link. I hope
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### Author:  [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2001, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/52 "2001-01-16T12:15:32Z")
FYI: Kenmore mansion in Fredericksburg VA was the home of George Washington’s sister and was still standing during the Civil War battle fought there. Among other things, the buliding was struck by a small cannonball which remained in polace until recent years. At that time, it was discoveed to be not solid shot, but a shell with a Bormann-type fuze. The military EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) people from Dahlgren (I believe) were called out and wanted to gingerly remove the item and then detonate it in some safe place. The Parks people wanted to preserve it. Parks won out, removed the rusted-in fuze, and emptied out the powder. It is still on diaplay there in the museum on the mansion grounds. It looks to me like the powder would still burn. From the gnarled-up condition of the fuze, it seems as if it could have easily sparked and then detonated in trying to extract it.
My understanding of such things is that ammunition (explosive material) becomes less stable over time, but I don’t know precisely why this is. Old explosives discovered are extremely hazardous any may detonate if you so much as look at them funny. I do know that occasionally in the Pacific Islands, pleasure divers occasionally find WW II “relics” and bring them up on the beach, only to find that they fizzle and even sometimes detonate as they dry out. My brother had a non-detonating fizzle like this experience in Guam.
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### Author:  [@ScriboDeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriboDeus)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2001, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/53 "2001-01-16T19:13:11Z")
I’m surprised no one else has mentioned it, but weren’t the chains that connected the cannonballs 27 feet long?
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### Author:  [@Yardstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yardstick)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2001, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/54 "2001-01-17T14:55:37Z")
JC Heckler Said:
> [@](#):
>
> I do know that occasionally in the Pacific Islands, pleasure divers occasionally find WW II “relics” and bring them up on the beach, only to find that they fizzle and even sometimes detonate as they dry out.
I know from reading some of my father’s Naval manuals (not exactly super exciting reading) from his service days, and speaking with many Navy veterans, it seems that, if for any reason any (black powder) munitions on board the ship got wet they would immediately be disposed of overboard because the drying of the powder is a reaction that produces heat and can detonate the powder. But that’s just not relavent to the thread…
I’ve heard stories About a cannon possibly used by Nelson (or one of his Contemporaries)which essentially wiped out an opposing ships crew with one shot. This shell was fired through the back end of the ship, which was apparently much less armored (Wooded?) and shot ripped through several decks at once slicing people down from the fore to the aft leaving the ship virtually crewless. Part of the story is that this was the first and only use of this type of shell/ and cannon as it was deemed to horrible of a weapon and outlawed.
Does anyone know the true facts to this story?
Thanks
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/55 "2001-01-17T16:00:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Yardstick \*
> \*\*
> I’ve heard stories About a cannon possibly used by Nelson (or one of his Contemporaries)which essentially wiped out an opposing ships crew with one shot. This shell was fired through the back end of the ship, which was apparently much less armored (Wooded?) and shot ripped through several decks at once slicing people down from the fore to the aft leaving the ship virtually crewless. Part of the story is that this was the first and only use of this type of shell/ and cannon as it was deemed to horrible of a weapon and outlawed.
>
> Does anyone know the true facts to this story?
>
> Thanks \*\*
Don’t know. But, according to folks that do reenactments aboard the U.S. Brig Niagara (early 1800s), most of the crew injuries were from wooden shrapnel produced when the cannonballs blew the deck boards to splinters.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/56 "2001-01-17T16:06:59Z")
Sorry…submitted too fast. Add this summation:
So, in theory, if you could get a cannonball to fly straight through a ship from end to end, it would likely spray splinters at everyone on board as it passed through.
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### Author:  [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cannonballs-explode/44651/57 "2001-01-18T23:43:06Z")
One time when I was in a chemical warfare refresher course (how to defend yourself against the nasty stuff – not how to use it) one of the visual aids propped against the wall was a large (~5’ tall) bombish-looking thing about 18" in diameter. I asked the instructor what it was, thinking it was an air-dropped weapon. He told me it was a Soviet-manufactured _mortar round_! Apparently the Russians liked mortars a lot, and had developed mortars ranging up to 1 meter in diameter (I don’t know how long the round would be).
~~Baloo
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