Build Your Own Carronade

Black cannon tube sits on a red wood naval truck with 4 small black metal wheels. — "Long Tom", 42 pounder gun at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy
Naval History and Heritage Command

So you want to build your own carronade.

Before you start you should know a little about the piece of artillery you are making. Instructions to build your carronade are below.

A carronade is a special type of naval gun that would have been used during the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. When we imagine naval artillery we’re usually thinking long guns such as the ones you see here.

Short gun tube sits on a wooden skid and sled mount with rope rigging to secure the gun and pull it forward. All of this is mounted on simulated gun deck with a black fabric skirt.

Carronades were different, they were short stubby guns that looked like this. They had two main advantages over the long guns: they didn’t weigh as much and they fired a much larger cannon ball. However, the carronade had about half the range of the long gun so you had to get a lot closer. During the Battle of Lake Erie Commodore Perry’s American fleet had mostly carronades, while the British had more long guns; which is why Perry had to get in so close.

Image of 3 different shapes cut out of paper laying flat on a table.

First you need to download and print the paper template found by clicking here or on the picture of the three cut out pieces. You will also need a pair of siccisors and glue or tape to assemble your carronade.
1. Cut all three parts out of sheet by cutting along black lines. (large carriage piece, square for the barrel, and a t-shirt shaped piece to hold barrel in place).