Model of a Carronade on a Sea Carriage

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

ObjectNumber: NG-MC-768

Model of a carronade on a gun carriage.

The wooden barrel is painted black, is 20.8 cm long and has a calibre of 18 mm, a brass breeching ring and an elevating screw through the button. The cheeks of the carriage, with three steps each and a semi-ellipsoidal cutaway below, are set further apart at the back than at the front and are connected by a transom and the two axletrees; the carriage has a breast piece. The cheeks are provided with a buffer on the inside where the lug bolt runs through them, preventing lateral movement of the carronade. The stool bed consists of a light wooden frame, connecting the fore and hind axletrees. The axletrees have wooden chocks underneath. The model has double wooden trucks. The fittings are made of brass.

This type of carronade carriage was developed in Flushing to meet the requirements for small vessels. It offered the advantages of reduced weight, more space for elevation and greater stability, but its great disadvantage was that the barrel could not be run out sufficiently, thus risking damage to the shrouds when firing – therefore the design was dismissed.¹¹J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 768. The carriage was tested, but not accepted. In the United Kingdom, experiments were carried out with similar carriages on the Impregnable.

J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 768

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'Rijkswerf Vlissingen, Model of a Carronade on a Sea Carriage, Flushing, 1819', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244582