Naval artillery

Naval artillery comprises guns mounted aboard warships to attack vessels, coastal defenses, and targets ashore. Its development reflects the demands of firing accurately from a moving platform at sea.

Naval gun: A gun designed or adapted for installation aboard a vessel. Naval artillery depends on guns built to withstand shipboard conditions and engage distant targets.
Naval ram: A projecting structure on a warship's bow designed to damage an enemy vessel by impact. Ramming remained a major naval tactic before effective shipboard artillery transformed combat.
Ballistics: The science of projectile motion, including its launch, flight, and impact. A naval shell's trajectory follows ballistic principles modified by ship and target motion.
Battleship: A heavily armored warship armed with large-caliber guns as its main weapons. Battleships concentrated the largest naval guns for fighting enemy fleets and bombarding coasts.
Battle of Tsushima: A 1905 naval battle in which Japan decisively defeated Russia in the Tsushima Strait. Long-range gunfire and fire control contributed to the Japanese victory and influenced naval thinking.
Naval gunfire support: Fire from naval guns directed in support of forces operating ashore. It is the shore-attack mission that connects naval artillery to land campaigns.
Carronade: A short, large-bore naval gun developed in Britain in the late eighteenth century. Its short range and heavy close-range fire show an early specialized approach to naval gunnery.
Recoil: The backward motion of a gun and its mount when a projectile is fired. Managing recoil protects the gun mount and the ship's structure.
Coastal artillery: Land-based guns positioned to attack ships or defend a coastline. It performed a shore-defense role against naval guns, but operated from fixed land positions.
Battle of Jutland: The largest naval battle of World War I, fought between British and German fleets in 1916. The battle exposed the destructive power and tactical limits of battleship gunfire.

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