Drachinifel, age of sail gunnery, and the Swedish warship Vasa

[mcguire]

For those who don't know, Drachinifel is a YouTuber who focuses on naval history, including (somewhat longer than) Five Minute Guides to various warships and longer documentary videos. Recently, he visited the Vasa Museum and toured the various artifacts. He also got into a discussion with Fred Hocker of the museum who had arranged for the construction of a replica Swedish 24-pounder and did some shootin' at a replica hull side of the Vasa.

More details are available from Hocker's paper on the tests and his (brilliant!) academic talk. (Really, it's one of most hilarious I've seen.)

There are also some videos of the tests.

[Hethwill]

Highly recommended and please do check the official testing documentation. It is the best modern assessment of all the guns of the period. An acquaintance of mine was part of one of the volunteer efforts for the Wasa team and another ship ( name escapes me ).

There's also a spanish led team that did it the other way around, as their subject wasn't the gun but the wood types and methods of construction Ship structures under sail and under gunfire
By Prof. Francisco Fernández-González

[mcguire]

Excellent! Thank you!

Please feel free to pass on anything similar as well!

 

[Hethwill]

Sure I will but these types of studies are really so so rare though.