At the beginning of 1861, the American field artillery consisted almost exclusively of pre-Mexican War smoothbores not significantly different from the pieces with which we fought the Revolution. By 1865 however, advances in metallurgy combined with new manufacturing techniques, better powder, and more dependable fuses to bring muzzle-loading artillery to its highest possible state of effectiveness. Early field artillery was identified by the term "pounder" (usually abbreviated "pdr"), which referred to the weight of the solid shot …
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showed last 75 words of 7207 total
…are so advanced that they are scarcely bigger than the ironclads used in the Civil War, but they are hundreds if not thousands times more powerful. Although the wooden ship has proved extremely effective in naval battles throughout history, the advent of the ironclad totally revolutionized the way in which naval forces around the world approach warfare. "From the moment the two ships opened fire that Sunday morning, every other navy on earth was obsolete"