Missiles in the Age of Sail

Missiles in the Age of Sail

What if tube launched fin stabilized missiles RPG’s, Bazookas, Mortars had been developed earlier in the Age of Sail? Black powder smooth bore cannon duels (ship to ship barrages) were usually under a thousand yards.
Could we see a Katyashu or Nebelwerfer type of small incendiary rockets used to set other ships sails aflame then heavier explosive warhead rockets used to sink enemy shipping? jayel
 
Missiles in the Age of Sail

What if tube launched fin stabilized missiles RPG’s, Bazookas, Mortars had been developed earlier in the Age of Sail? Black powder smooth bore cannon duels (ship to ship barrages) were usually under a thousand yards.
Could we see a Katyashu or Nebelwerfer type of small incendiary rockets used to set other ships sails aflame then heavier explosive warhead rockets used to sink enemy shipping? jayel

What you want are Hale rockets developed in 1844. 2000 yard range for a 6lb warhead.

http://weebau.com/history/hale_rock.htm

Problem was that early ironclads made them quickly obsolete

I don't believe there is any technical reason why they could not have been developed earlier - however given the "rockets red glare" it may not be an outcome that the USA finds very comfortable!
 
the Hale and the Congreve were both very inaccurate, I'm looking for something with a relatively flat trajectory, not a throw enough up into the air and you hope you hit something
 
the Hale and the Congreve were both very inaccurate, I'm looking for something with a relatively flat trajectory, not a throw enough up into the air and you hope you hit something

IMHO inaccuracy is down to stabilisation so the basic idea should work, you just need to stabilise the thing so it goes where you fire it. Of course, knowing that where you THINK you fire it is the same place as where it needs to go is another element too! Think about the whole thing with Fisher

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
the Hale and the Congreve were both very inaccurate, I'm looking for something with a relatively flat trajectory, not a throw enough up into the air and you hope you hit something

Hale rockets were 50-60% accurate in hitting large stationary targets fired from a stationary position from 1000 yards

It sounds like you want guided missiles not ballistic ones. Trying to hit a sailing ship with an RPG at 1000 yards would be quite a feat
 
Hitting a sailing ship at 1000 yards with anything available in 1800 would be. I suspect that the main problem with the OP is that the idea did not imnmediately offer itself. Aerodynamics wasn't much of a science back then. Fin-stabilised rockets could be derived from arrows, but you almost need a real theoretical understanding to get there. And engineering a tube-launched, fin-stabilised rocket is hard. The fins have to fold out with enough force to withstand strong wind, but stay folded in securely enough not to retard launch. That only looks simple. I doubt you could get the accuracy of a smoothbore cannon, even with a spinning rocket.

Also, consider that while a rocket launcher is cheaper and lighter than a cannon, each rocket is heavier, bulkier and more expensive than a charge of powder and shot. You're reducing effective ammunition capacity that way. True, a single hit may destroy an enemy ship (unless they have good firefighting drill), but you can get much the same result with better accuracy and more tries with a shell-firing cannon.
 
Easier said than done with projectiles whose accuracy is questionable.

Volley fire of armour-piercing or incendiary rockets, perhaps? Especially when you consider that for all but the last portion of the Age of Sail, shipboard cannon had great trouble penetrating ship hulls at anything other than point-blank range. Rockets, unlike cannonballs, a) maintain their maximum speed throughout their flight to the target, b) can be loaded with explosive or incendiary warheads, c) can be stabilised with fins, unlike cannonballs, and d) require far lighter and smaller launchers than cannon, allowing one to mount a far greater number of rocket launchers per ship than cannon per ship and therefore pack a far more powerful punch with a single broadside.

Also, rockets could be carried in small boats close to enemy ships and fired at point-blank range, unlike cannon, thus making it far easier to use them to destroy enemy ships. Instead of having to carry enough men to overwhelm the enemy crew, one simply has to carry enough to get close to the enemy ship, aim, and fire a couple armour-piercing rockets directly into the hull.

Kaboom.
 
I think carlton_bach answered better than I can on how rockets compare to cannonballs from the other end of things.

But as for "rocket in small boat" - that's an easy target to be shot up before it closes in.

Big gun, little ship is not a good design in this era.
 
I think carlton_bach answered better than I can on how rockets compare to cannonballs from the other end of things.

But as for "rocket in small boat" - that's an easy target to be shot up before it closes in.

Big gun, little ship is not a good design in this era.

How, exactly, are you going to shoot up a tiny target with cannon whose main aiming method is to alter their elevation by tilting the ship as a whole?
 
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