Brooke rifle
Encyclopedia
Muzzleloader
A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun . This is distinct from the more popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms...
naval and coast defense gun designed by John Mercer Brooke
John Mercer Brooke
John Mercer Brooke was an American sailor, engineer, scientist, and educator. He was instrumental in the creation of the Transatlantic Cable, and was a noted marine and military innovator.-Early life and career:...
, an officer in the Confederate States Navy
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
. They were produced by plants in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
and Selma, Alabama
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
between 1861 and 1865 during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. They served afloat on Confederate ships and ashore in coast defense batteries manned by the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
.
Design and production
Brookes can be best identified by the presence of at least one band of wrought iron at the breech and a rough-finished, tapering barrel. The barrels were made of cast ironCast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
for ease of manufacture, but one or more wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
bands was welded around the chamber to reinforce it against the high chamber pressure exerted when the gun fired. Because no southern foundries had the capacity to wrap the rifles in a single band like the Parrott
Parrott rifle
The Parrott rifle was a type of muzzle loading rifled artillery weapon used extensively in the American Civil War.-Parrott Rifle:The gun was invented by Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point graduate. He resigned from the service in 1836 and became the superintendent of the West Point Foundry in Cold...
design, a series of smaller bands were used, each usually 2 inches (50.8 mm) thick and 6 inches (152 mm) wide. All of Brooke's rifles used the same seven-groove rifling
Rifling
Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
with a right-hand twist. Most of Brooke's guns had a Gomer-style powder chamber, shaped like a truncated cone with a hemispherical tip, but the 6.4-inch rifles had a simple hemispherical powder chamber.
These weapons were manufactured at the Tredegar Iron Works
Tredegar Iron Works
The Tredegar Iron Works was a historic iron foundry in Richmond, Virginia, United States of America, opened in 1837. During the American Civil War, the works served as the primary iron and artillery production facility of the Confederate States of America...
(sometimes referred to as J.R. Anderson & Co, after owner Joseph Reid Anderson) in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
and at Selma Naval Ordnance Works in Selma, Alabama
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
.
Markings
Guns manufactured at Selma bear the foundry imprint "S", those from Tredegar "TF". "R.N.O.W" may be found on some guns as they were bored and rifled by the Richmond Naval Ordnance Works in Richmond, Virginia after a fire in May 1863 temporarily crippled Tredegar's boring shop.6.4-inch Rifle
Brooke reported fourteen single-banded 6.4 in (163 mm) rifles were completed by 8 January 1863, although Tredegar records only list eleven as some were double-banded before being shipped. Three were cast in 1861 with the remainder in 1862. Two of the earliest were mounted on the broadside of the CSS VirginiaCSS Virginia
CSS Virginia was the first steam-powered ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy, built during the first year of the American Civil War; she was constructed as a casemate ironclad using the raised and cut down original lower hull and steam engines of the scuttled . Virginia was one of the...
. Two others were mounted on the broadside of CSS Atlanta and survive today in Willard Park of the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...
.
Double-banded rifles were produced from 28 October 1862 by direction of Stephen Mallory
Stephen Mallory
Stephen Russell Mallory served in the United States Senate as, Senator from Florida from 1850 to the secession of his home state and the outbreak of the American Civil War. For much of that period, he was chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs...
, Confederate Secretary of the Navy. Twenty-four were cast by Tredegar between 1862 and 1864 while Selma cast twenty-seven, but only fifteen were shipped due to casting problems. Five of the damaged gun blocks were rebored as 8 inches (203 mm) double-banded smoothbores. Nine survivors exist, including four from CSS Tennessee II
CSS Tennessee (1863)
CSS Tennessee, an ironclad ram, was built at Selma, Alabama, where she was commissioned on February 16, 1864, Lieutenant James D. Johnston, CSN, in command. towed her to Mobile where she was fitted out for action....
and one from CSS Albemarle
CSS Albemarle
CSS Albemarle was an ironclad ram of the Confederate Navy , named for a town and a sound in North Carolina and a county in Virginia...
.
7-inch Rifle
Dahlgren gun
Dahlgren guns were muzzle loading naval artillery designed by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren USN, mostly used in the period of the American Civil War. Dahlgren's design philosophy evolved from an accidental explosion in 1849 of a 32-pounder being tested for accuracy, killing a gunner...
blocks between July and December 1861. Two of these were the front and rear pivot guns of the CSS Virginia. Tredegar made another nineteen to the Brooke pattern between 1862 and 1863 of which three survive. Two of these are found at the Washington Navy Yard as trophies from CSS Atlanta.
Selma cast fifty-four double-banded rifles in 1863 and 1864, but only shipped thirty-nine due to casting flaws. Tredegar cast thirty-six between 1863 and 1865. Eight survive, two as trophies from CSS Tennessee II, one in the Washington Navy Yard and the other in Selma.
Three triple-banded rifles were cast by Tredegar in 1862. These were 15 inches (381 mm) longer than the other 7-inch rifles and were unique among Brooke guns in that they lacked cast trunnions. Instead a separate trunnion strap was fitted around the breech
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
. One was mounted on the CSS Richmond
CSS Richmond
CSS Richmond, an ironclad ram, was built at Gosport Navy Yard to the design of John L. Porter with money and scrap iron collected by the citizens of Virginia, whose imagination had been captured by the ironclad CSS Virginia. Consequently she was sometimes referred to as Virginia II, Virginia No. 2...
and another was sent to the harbor defenses of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
where it remains as a trophy in Ft. Moultrie.
8-inch Rifle
Tredegar cast four double-banded 8 in (203 mm) rifles in April and May 1864. One was mounted in CSS Virginia IICSS Virginia II
CSS Virginia II was a Confederate Navy steam-powered ironclad ram laid down in 1862 at the William Graves' shipyard in Richmond, Virginia. Acting Constructor William A. Graves, CSN, was the superintendent in charge of her building. In order to conserve scarce iron plating, he ordered the ship's...
while another was sent to the batteries defending the James River
James River (Virginia)
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is long, extending to if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. The James River drains a catchment comprising . The watershed includes about 4% open water and an area with a population of 2.5 million...
. It was present, but lacked shells during the fighting at Dutch Gap
Dutch Gap
Dutch Gap is located on the James River in Chesterfield County, Virginia near the site of the lost 17th-century city of Henricus.In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, according to a method he had learned while campaigning in Holland, cut a ditch across a portion of land behind town...
Canal on 13 August and 22 October 1864. Shells were delivered on 27 October and 2 November 1864. No known survivors.
Brooke smoothbores
Brooke designed a series of smoothbores that were produced in small numbers by the Selma and Tredegar foundries. Selma re-bored five flawed 6.4-inch blanks as 8-inch double-banded guns, one of which survives in Selma, Alabama. Brooke's 1863 report to Secretary Mallory shows a plate of an unbanded 8-inch smoothbore, but nothing further is known of it. Similar attempts to bore out flawed 7-inch gun blocks to 9 inches (229 mm) smoothbores were unsuccessful. Seven 10 inches (254 mm) double-banded guns were cast by Selma and four by Tredegar in 1864. Two survive, one of which is a trophy from CSS ColumbiaCSS Columbia
CSS Columbia was an ironclad ram in the Confederate States Navy and later in the United States Navy.-As CSS Columbia:Columbia was constructed under contract at Charleston, South Carolina in 1864, of yellow pine and white oak with iron fastenings and 6 inch iron plating. Hull work was done by F. M....
in the Washington Navy Yard. Selma cast twelve 11-inch double-banded smoothbores in 1864, although only eight were shipped. One survives in Columbus, Georgia
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
. In 1863 and 1864 two 11-inch triple-banded guns were cast by Tredegar, but none are known to survive.
Ammunition
Brooke's rifles fired both armor-piercing and explosive shells of his own design. The former were solid cylindrical projectiles with a blunt or flat nose to reduce the chance of a ricochet, and were often referred in contemporary accounts as "bolts". The latter were hollow cylinders with rounded or pointed noses. They were filled with black powder with a fuse set to detonate a variable amount of time after being fired. His smoothbores used spherical solid shot for armored targets and hollow spherical explosive shells against unarmored targets.Specifications
| Gun type | Weight (approximate) | Overall length | Caliber Caliber (artillery) In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length.... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.4-inch single-banded rifle | 9100 lb (4,127.7 kg) | 141.85 in (360.3 cm) | 18.5 |
| 6.4-inch double-banded rifle | 10600 lb (4,808.1 kg) | 141.85 in (360.3 cm) | 18.5 |
| 7-inch single-banded rifle | 15000 lb (6,803.9 kg) | 146.05 in (371 cm) | 17.1 |
| 7-inch double-banded rifle | 15000 lb (6,803.9 kg) | 146.15 in (371.2 cm) | 17.3 |
| 7-inch triple-banded rifle | 20827 lb (9,447 kg) | 151.2 in (384 cm) | 19.4 |
| 8-inch double-banded rifle | 21750 lb (9,865.6 kg) | 158.5 in (402.6 cm) | 16.2 |
| 8-inch double-banded smoothbore* | 10370 lb (4,703.8 kg) | 141.85 in (360.3 cm) | 14.8 |
| 10-inch smoothbore | 21300 lb (9,661.5 kg) | 158.25 in (402 cm) | 13 |
| 11-inch smoothbore | 23600 lb (10,704.8 kg) | 170.75 in (433.7 cm) | 13 |
- Note: Data for 8-inch smoothbore is approximate