Danish Rifled 18-Pounder at the Danish War Museum
A Rifled 18-Pounder is displayed at the Danish War Museum
Many thanks to Rob from the YouTube Channel FirearmsAddict for sharing these photos!
A Rifled 18-Pounder is displayed at the Danish War Museum in Copenhagen. The photos show a cast-iron tube manufactured in 1837 that has a reinforcing band (likely wrought iron or steel). I expect this gun was originally manufactured as a traditional 18-Pounder smoothbore. I also guess that the rifling and banding happened circa 1860.
The weight is given as 2237 kilograms on the interpretive sign which would be about right for an old 18-pounder smoothbore which has been rifled and banded. I would also guess that the bore measures about 135 millimeters. (Unless the “18-Pounder” refers to the projectile weight post-conversion, then a bore of about 100 millimeters would be right.)
The interpretive sign also notes a connection to the 1864 Battle of Heligoland. It seems that the Danish ships in this battle carried some of these 18-Pounder Rifles. One of the Danish ships which fought during the battle was the steam frigate HDMS Jylland which survives at Ebeltoft, Denmark and is the last surviving wooden hulled steam frigate in the world.
As someone used to seeing American artillery of the 1860s, it is interesting to see how other nations managed the huge technological shifts happening in the 1850s and 1860s. This rifled and banded 18-pounder is very similar to many which armed ships and forts during the American Civil War, particularly in the South.
