# twenty one gun salute

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-one-gun-salute/5567>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 25, 1999, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-one-gun-salute/5567 "1999-12-25T06:10:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 1999, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-one-gun-salute/5567/1 "1999-12-25T06:10:00Z")

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does anybody know what the significance is of the twenty one gun salute?

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“human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein

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**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 1999, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-one-gun-salute/5567/2 "1999-12-25T07:53:00Z")

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I believe it originated with the Royal Navy. 21 gun salutes (the most allowed) were reserved for the King and Queen. Why 21? Dunno. For some reasons all salutes were odd numbers.

It was a custom to always salute the port commander of whatever port of call a warship entered. With the slow communications and rapidly changing alliances during the Napoleonic Wars I’ve often wondered how the people in such ports could be sure whether the gunfire was a salute or a bombardment.

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**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 1999, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twenty-one-gun-salute/5567/3 "1999-12-25T08:11:00Z")

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Here’s the answer according to the Straight Dope Archives.  
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m21gun.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/m21gun.html)

Does that help?

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JMCJ

“John C., it looks like you have blended in very nicely.”  
-UncleBeer