Thursday, January 9, 2020

What does a 32 pound naval cannonade do?




Gerry Altoff and his cannon crew at Perry's Victory.

  Back in 2002 and 2004 at the NPS black power school I worked with Gerry Altoff from Perry's Victory  National Memorial.  He both times trucked down to the school the park's 32 pound naval carronade.  This is a very big gun.  Gerry always mentioned that along with the Brig Niagara they had done a live firing exercise against a mock up of a section of a British ship.  It had been filmed to illustrate the terrible damage done during the naval battle on Lake Erie.  He also had outakes from a film someone did. I had lost touch with Gerry after our retirements from the service.

   Recently I found this video on YouTube from the Brig Niagara 's site.  Here is the day they did the live firing.  It s a fascinating watch. I wish I could figure out how to do screen captured so I could post some pictures from it.  Alas!  I am technology challenged so will just post this link.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2flTz1Jt40yBcgg5TyAkDm62jqOTraMvjI6Dx1QctkiU4IL8Uy73PTWFs&v=yGM6AlwjGS0

 Gerry holds a deep responsibility for my War of 1812 War game armies.  During our down time while teaching the course we talked about the War of 1812.  Not being much of a salior,  I was more interested in the land armies.  But he did teach me a lot about the naval aspects.

   For those who are interested Gerry is the author of the following books:

A signal Victory:  The Lake Erie Campaign, 1812-1813.

Deep Water Sailors, Shallow Water Sailors.

Amongst My Best Men.







6 comments:

  1. Great stuff I'm paintig some Brigs right now.

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    Replies
    1. I am glad you enjoyed it! Which brig are you making?

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  2. Nice information Mark. I have an inkling to "do" the naval part of the War of 1812 but I have so many other campaigns and battles to fight first that I will probably never get there.

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  3. Fascinating. Thanks for sharing that Mark.

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