I was just wondering…does anyone here happen to know the muzzle velocity and/or rate of fire of the main guns of the ironclad USS Monitor? They were two XI-Inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns, if I’m not mistaken.
Can anyone help me out?
Extrapolating from here, I’d guess around 2000fps.
According to silenus’ cite and 11" smoothbore has a range of 1650 yards for an elevation angle of 15[sup]o[/sup]. In a vacuum this would mean a muzzle velocity of 700 ft/sec. In the atmosphere that probably would mean a velocity of something a little over 1000 ft/sec.
That’s a range of 2650 yards and not 1650.