"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
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| Charge and projectiles for a 18 inch heavy artillery gun - AP shell on the left, HE shell middle, propellant/charge on the right.. piccie taken sometime between 1920-1924 and courtesy of the Imperial War Museum |
...as to what fired it, well there was a Royal Navy gun of that calibre, but it was largely done and dusted with by the time this picture was taken, so I'm going to assume they may have been from the Royal Artillery's 18" Railway Howitzer [clicky]
...either way - your day ain't going to get any better if either one of those shells lands on you...
😏
...that (the pointy hatted stack, centre) my friends, is called a "Dame" - it's purpose is defensive, specifically, obstructive. In this example it's is on the roof of the caponier (see previous dictionary entry 😏) to stop anyone attacking along the roof, but they could reasonably be on the top of any wall or covered way that you want to obstruct access along..... possibly apocryphal story for the source of the name is that they are named for a large lady you can't get your arms around.... 😁
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..another one to add to the fort-speak dictionary...
...that (the pointy hatted stack, centre) my friends, is called a "Dame" - it's purpose is defensive, specifically, obstructive. In this example it's is on the roof of the caponier (see previous dictionary entry 😏) to stop anyone attacking along the roof, but they could reasonably be on the top of any wall or covered way that you want to obstruct access along..... possibly apocryphal story for the source of the name is that they are named for a large lady you can't get your arms around.... 😁
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It's been noted among the Bloggeratti that something funny is going on - lots are reporting excessive page views in the last month or two, but this is even funnier than most of what's been reported.. when I looked a few hours ago, that one (which was the post before this), was less than 14K.. so it's increased by 400 odd views in just a couple of hours!
Now bear in mind my usual page view is 2 to 300, you can understand I'm fascinated to see how high it's going to go... 😂
Utterly meaningless of course - it's just some AI/ChatGPT/data mining bot, working overtime in a dark computer hall somewhere....
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Laters, as the young people are want to say... crossed fingers for a more informative post next time... 😁
I wondered where you had been Steve. That is one big shell. I thought I was pretty well up on fortresses but can't remember having come across a dame before. Thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteCheers for the feed Jim - all together now.. :o)))
Delete"There is nothin’ like a dame—
Nothin’ in the world!
There is nothin’ you can name
That is anythin’ like a dame".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljm9CDRAhMQ
Very interesting re the 18" gun Steve. I never realised how much propellant they used.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit offended by the AI bots now. My blog is getting nowhere near that many views 😒 🤣
Cheers Ben - if one thing seems to change w.r.t to artillery it is the power, and therefore quantities required, of the propellants used... even then I can't see them getting away with a single piece "bullet" for a gun that big... that railway howitzer should have been named "railway buster" from the damage it did every time it fired!!
DeleteAlways interesting to follow your local military history ramblings Steve. Mind, that is some big shell in the picture.
ReplyDeleteCheers David... 1.25 tons of shell! 8o||
DeleteBugger me that’s some size of a shell. I was about to say you wouldn’t get me within a mile of the ruddy thing when it occurred to me that even if I was a mile away it’d probably still blow me up. lol. On the bots front I too am a victim it seems. I don’t usually look at the stats but in the last few weeks I’ve had circa 4000 extra views. Barmy.
ReplyDeleteCheers JBM... the BOTS are everywhere... I have a theory that the last post you put up on the blog will get the biggest hits, and the longer you leave it the more mental it is.. so my 14k post topped out at 14.4K the moment I put up this post... which is already at 3K+ and safely over 10x what I normally see! Stay safe and watch out for any stray 18 inchers..
Delete