A Brief History
On September 23, 1338, the English ship, Christofer (variously spelled Christopher or Christophe) went into battle at Arnemuiden armed with three cannon and one hand gun. This battle would be the first known time in history when a ship saw combat using artillery. This battle was also significant as the first naval battle of the Hundred Years War.
Digging Deeper
The English had only 5 ships (“great carracks”) for the battle, but having cannon was a decided advantage. The French brought a large fleet of 48 galleys, and the overwhelming numbers proved decisive. Despite a furious battle, the French prevailed and cannon were on the losing side of the historic battle.
The English had lost their great ships, along with their cargo and suffered 1000 men dead, while the French had 900 killed and wounded. The English dead were not all killed in battle, as the French had massacred all those taken prisoner.
The Hundred Years War was a series of wars over the control of the throne of France, contested between the House of Plantagenet (England) and the House of Valois (France). Fought between 1337 and 1453, the war spanned the Age of Chivalry with armored knights to the supremacy of gunpowder and the firearms it made possible. The war resulted in a victory for France.
Naval artillery has come a long way from bows and arrows, slings and rocks, and muzzle loading black powder cannons to modern automatic, rapid firing guns launching a wide variety of projectiles. World War II saw the ultimate in big naval guns, with the US 16 inch /50 caliber (meaning the barrel length is 50 times the bore) probably the most devastating naval gun ever fielded. The Japanese 18.1 inch guns were the largest ever to arm a warship, closely followed by the British 18 inch gun of World War I (only 3 built) that fired an enormous 3320 pound shell, the heaviest ever. As good as the modern guns are, our warships today rarely have more than 1 main gun, relying instead on missiles and the like.
After the Battle of Arnemuiden, European warships quickly adapted to being armed with cannon, and the naval gun ruled the waves (later heavily supplemented by the self propelled torpedo) for the next nearly 600 years. World War II proved the airplane could master any ship, and the day of the big guns had turned to dusk. No active warships sport large caliber guns, with the 5 inch gun being the largest in the US Navy (active duty). The heaviest gunned ship in the world today is the BAP Almirante Grau of the Peruvian navy, boasting 4 twin turrets of 152mm (6 inch) guns.
Question for students (and subscribers): What are your favorite naval weapons? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Grant, R.G. Battle at Sea. DK Publishing, 2010.
The featured image in this article, a depiction by Jean de Froissart of The Battle of Arnemuiden (September 1338), is from the collections of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, part of which is available on Wikimedia Commons. This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="11837 https://www.historyandheadlines.com/?p=11837">17 Comments
Militaries throughout history have fought to see who had the superior arms, in today’s world it’s just who has the biggest guns
back in history it seems like even though you have better techolgoy and resouces you dont always win the war or battle. gotta know how to use them instead.
The most fascinating gun on ship’s today, I think, is the Rail Gun. Glad the English didn’t give up on fielding the cannons on naval ships though, 5 ships to the French’s 48 galleys is odds I don’t think could have been overcame until maybe the 19th century naval technology.
I find it interesting to see and learn about all these battles that happened back in time. These militaries had so little compared to those in today’s society, yet they had longer lasting battles and still lost fewer men in some cases.
It is so cool to see how different militaries have changed throughout history. They all serve the same purpose, but new inventions and weapons have vastly improved our militaries. Now we do not have to fight as hand-to-hand as they did in this time period.
It’s interesting to see military changes over time, especially if you compare them way back then to now.
It is quite interesting to read about the military techniques and advances that occurred throughout history and how different countries evolved as well.
It’s scary when you think about how fast modern weaponry has drastically improved in such a short time compared to the leaps being made over larger periods of time in the past.
Now its not about skills or tactics rather than just how much guns,and bigger bombs you have.
I dont know much about naval warfare / cannons, however I do still find it interesting to see just how far humanity has come in terms of creating tools of destruction. As the article says, we have definitely come a long ways from bow and arrows.
The naval warfare has come a long way, where as now we have to fear nuclear wars instead of wars with just spears and bow and arrows.
This article is pretty interesting. It showed that just because one side has a stronger military/better innovation, they don’t always win. It is also amazing to see how far we have come in the military aspect today.
It is very interesting to see how naval combat has advanced and changed in such a dramatic way over the course of history. This article also give examples of times where having the bigger or better gun or weapon in battle, does not always equate to a victory.
A 3320 lb cartridge is ridiculous! I’m going to have to google these calibers.
I’ve always found cannons to be interesting. I used to love in movies if they ran out of cannon balls they would fill them with anything they had. I wonder how well that would really work though.
ive neer really been into weapons or cannons and such ! but it i interesting to hear stories about thwm
imagine never seeing anything like a cannon before and then all of a sudden being attacked by them. must of been horrifying