Naval artillery in the Age of Sail

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Naval artillery in the Age of Sail" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on
Cannons
History Artillery in the Song dynasty Artillery in the Middle Ages Naval artillery in the Age of Sail Field artillery in the US Civil War Siege artillery in the US Civil War
Operation Breech-loading List of cannon projectiles Muzzleloading
By country English cannon Cannons of Maritime Southeast Asia Japanese cannon Filipino cannon Korean cannon Majapahit cannon Mughal cannon
By type Anti-tank gun Artillery Autocannon Basilisk Bombard Breech-loading swivel gun Carronade Coastal artillery Coilgun Culverin Demi-cannon Demi-culverin Double-barreled cannon Falconet Field gun Gun-howitzer Gun-mortar Hand cannon Hand mortar Helical railgun Howitzer Infantry support gun Large-calibre artillery Minion Mortar Mountain gun Naval artillery Railgun Railway gun Recoilless rifle Rifled gun Saker Self-propelled artillery Siege cannon Smoothbore Swivel gun Tank gun
v t e

Naval artillery in the Age of Sail encompasses the period of roughly 1571–1862: when large, sail-powered wooden naval warships dominated the high seas, mounting a large variety of types and sizes of cannon as their main armament. By modern standards, these cannon were extremely inefficient, difficult to load, and short ranged. These characteristics, along with the handling and seamanship of the ships that mounted them, defined the environment in which the naval tactics in the Age of Sail developed.