[烛光生存狂]-哥本哈根海战，威廉.布莱以及皇家海军卡隆纳德臼炮

威廉.布莱的最高成就是在1801年的哥本哈根海战时作为“格拉东”（HMS Glatton）号的船长。在发现一艘荷兰护卫舰企图轰击海军上将赫拉旭.纳尔逊的旗舰“象”（HMS Elephant）号时，布里奇驾船直冲进敌人的火力网并且挡住了敌舰大部分船身。“格拉东”号受损严重但维持漂浮，“象”号完好。

“胜利”号在特拉法加战役时的第一炮是左舷的卡隆炮。装有6.5磅（3公斤）火药，将一枚68磅（30.6公斤）的炮弹和一小桶500发散弹法国旗舰Bucenaure的船尾。

拿破仑战争期间的战舰装备两种主炮，“长炮”（标准长度）和“卡隆炮”（短程火炮）。长炮按口径可以从3磅到48磅不等，射程远，但需要很多火药；卡隆炮，用于射击400米以内的目标，拥有类似的---甚至更大的口径，但需要的火药较少。

卡隆炮1759年由一名皇家海军军官罗伯特.梅尔维利设计，1779年在海军上将查里.米德敦爵士的倡议下被皇家海军采用。梅尔维利称它为“粉碎者”，而英国海员叫它“魔鬼炮”。卡隆炮有两种用途：打穿敌舰的船舱（同时制造一个木头碎片冲击波），并且将敌人的海员“清理”出主甲板。

首批卡隆炮由苏格兰斯特灵郡的卡隆制铁厂生产。卡隆炮的口径从2磅（通常装在上层后甲板）到68磅（“胜利”号的船首楼上装有两门）。拿破仑战争时期传统的50~54门炮的四级战舰装有6门12磅和6门24磅卡隆炮。

尽管最初一些船长提出反对意见，皇家海军在卡隆炮的安装上继续着。第一艘安装卡隆炮的军舰是44门炮的HMS“彩虹”号。所有对于卡隆炮存在意义的怀疑在1782年一扫而空：当“彩虹”号遭遇大型法国护卫舰“希比”号时，第一次开火就打掉了对手的船旗。

到1790年，卡隆炮管通常装在特制的木头滑橇上------而非通常的炮架上。这可以让卡隆炮在有限的角度里转动，增加射击区域。尽管在清理甲板和在敌舰上打洞有非凡的能力，卡隆炮还是因为短射程而受到限制（船长只能在500米之内才能有效的使用这种武器）。

在1795年，在荷兰成为法国的盟友后，英国海军买下了9艘东印度公司那时正在泰晤士河制.造的1200吨级商船，随后这些船被改造成54~56门炮的军舰。其中八艘战舰在火炮甲板上装28门18磅长炮，上甲板上装26~28门卡隆炮。这些船被划分为“四级战舰”。第九艘“格拉东”号成为了皇家海军第一艘也是唯一一艘只装卡隆炮，上甲板上装有28门42磅卡隆炮，下甲板装有28门64磅卡隆炮，“格拉东”号是登船战时的恶魔。

“格拉东”号的第一位指挥官是亨利.特罗洛普（Henry Trollope）上校(20.04.1756-02.11.1839)，一位独立战争老兵兼卡隆炮的忠实支持者。日后在1797年11月10日卡姆登之战时他将指挥74门炮的“鲁塞尔”号。

也许“格拉东”号最出名的指挥官应该当属威廉.布莱上校（日后的海军中将）。威廉.“面包果”.布莱,在1776至1779年之间为詹姆士.库克船长服务。在HMAV“邦迪”号（HMAV 'Bounty'）上担任船长之时遇到了由大副弗莱彻.克里斯蒂安领导的暴乱。布莱和18名忠诚的水手被赶上了一条救生艇。在47天后，经过3618英里的航行，他们安全到达了荷属帝汶的可旁港。

戏剧性的是，布莱仅仅在“格拉东”号上服役了一个月不到，却正好随同海军中将赫拉旭.纳尔逊参加了哥本哈根海战。布莱的举动造成了49人（原文是51人，待考）伤亡（17名阵亡，31人受伤）。布莱后来收到了纳尔逊的私人感谢信，对他的英勇行为做出了表彰。

“格拉东”号没有参加1805年的特拉法加大海战，她继续服役直到1814年，然后被改装成一座水上仓库。1830年“格拉东”号作为沉阻物被凿沉。

原文：

The high-water mark of [William] Bligh's naval service was as Captain of HMS Glatton in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. Having spotted a Dutch frigate maneuvering to attack HMS Elephant, the flagship of Admiral Horatio Nelson, Bligh sailed directly into the line of fire and caught most of the enemy's broadside. The Glatton was severely damaged but remained afloat; the Elephant was saved.

"The first gun of the 'Victory' to fire at [the Battle of] Trafalgar was the larboard (port) carronade. It was loaded with a 6.5 lb. (3 kg) powder charge, a 68 1b. (30.6 kg) round shot and a keg of 500 musket-balls and went into the stern of the French flagship 'Bucentaure'."

Fighting ships of the Napoleonic Wars were equipped with two kinds of main armament: 'long guns' (standard-length cannon) and carronades (stubby, short-range guns). Long guns, ranging in calibre from three-pounders to 48-pounders, had the advantage of a longer range but used more gunpowder; carronades, designed for ranges closer than 400 metres, had similar -- and even higher -- calibres but used less gunpowder.

Originally designed in 1759 by a British officer named Robert Melville (12.10.1723-20.09.1809), carronades were adopted by the Royal Navy in 1779, under the sponsorship of Admiral Sir Charles Middleton (14.10.1726-17.06.1813).[1] Called 'the smasher' by Melville and 'the devil's gun' by British seaman, the carronade had two main functions: to smash through one side of an opposing ship's hull (creating a torrent of wood-splinters) and to clear the crew off an enemy's main-deck.

First manufactured by the Carron Iron Works in Stirlingshire, Scotland, carronades came in calibres ranging from two-pounders -- usually carried on the quarter-deck -- to 68-pounders (HMS 'Victory' carried two of these on her forecastle). The typical fourth-rate warship of 50 to 54 guns in the Napoleonic Wars carried six 12-pounder and six 24-pounder carronades. [2]

Despite some initial opposition from ships' captains, the Royal Navy moved ahead with the installation of carronades; the first British ship to receive the new weapon was the 44-gun HMS 'Rainbow'. All doubts about the effectiveness of carronades were dispelled in 1782, when HMS 'Rainbow' engaged the large French frigate 'Hebe', forcing her to strike her colours after a single broadside.[3]

By 1790, carronade barrels were usually installed on specially-designed wooden 'slides' -- not regular wheeled gun-carriages. This enabled the carronade to be traversed in a limited arc, increasing its potential target area. Although highly-effective at smashing through hulls and at repelling boarders, the main drawback of the carronade was still the short range of the weapon (captains were unable to use it properly until their ships had acquired a target less than half a kilometre away).

In 1795, as part of its expansion after France and Holland became allies of France, the Royal Navy purchased nine 1,200-ton East India Company merchantmen then building on the Thames River. These ships were then converted to 54 or 56-gun warships by joining the forecastle and the quarter-deck (forming a continuous upper-deck). Armament for eight of the new vessels consisted of twenty-eight 18-pounder long guns on the gun-deck and twenty-six to twenty-eight 32-pounder carronades on the upper-deck.[4] They were classed as 'fourth-rates'.

The ninth vessel, the 56-gun HMS 'Glatton', became the Royal Navy's first (and only) warship armed exclusively with carronades. With twenty-eight 42-pounder carronades on her upper-deck and twenty-eight 64-pounder carronades on her lower-deck,[5] HMS 'Glatton' was a boarder's nightmare.

The first commanding officer of HMS 'Glatton' was Captain Henry Trollope (20.04.1756-02.11.1839) a veteran of the American War of Independence and a strong supporter of the use of carronades. Trollope would later command the 74-gun HMS 'Russell' at the Battle of Camperdown (11.10.1797).[6]

Probably the most famous commander of HMS 'Glatton' was Captain (later Vice-Admiral) William 'Breadfruit' Bligh (09.09.1754-07.12.1817). Bligh, who had served under Captain James Cook from 1776 to 1779, had been in command of HMAV 'Bounty' when the crew, led by master's mate Fletcher Christian, mutinied (28.04.1789). Bligh and 18 loyal crew members were set adrift in one of the ship's boats; 47 days and 3,618 nautical miles later they reached safety at the Dutch port of Coupang in Timor.[7]

Ironically, although Bligh held command of HMS 'Glatton' for less than a month (18.03.1801-12.04.1801) it was during this month that Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson engaged the Danish Fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen (02.04).[8] The British victory cost the ship's crew 51 casualties (17 killed and 31 wounded). Bligh later received the personal thanks of Nelson for his conduct during the engagement.

HMS 'Glatton' was not in the line of battle at Trafalgar in 1805. She continued active service until 1814, when she was converted to a water depot. In 1830, HMS 'Glatton' was sunk as a breakwater.

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