Dardanelles Gun

Basillica
Dismantled Dardanelles Gun at Fort Nelson, Hampshire, overlooking Portsmouth
TypeBombard
Service history
Used byOttoman Empire
WarsDardanelles operation
Production history
DesignerMunir Ali[1]
Designed1464[2]
Specifications
Mass16,800 kg (37,000 lb)[2]
Barrel length518 cm (204 in)[1]
Diameter1,054 mm (41.5 in)

Caliber918 mm (36.1 in)[1]
Actionslow match
Elevationnone
Traversenone
Feed systemmuzzle loader

The Dardanelles Gun[3] or Great Turkish Bombard[2] (Turkish: Şahi topu or simply Şahi) is a 15th-century siege cannon, specifically a super-sized bombard, which saw action in the 1807 Dardanelles operation.[4] It was built in 1464 by Ottoman military engineer Munir Ali and modelled after the Basilic, the bombard crafted by Orban that was used for the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453.

  1. ^ a b c Schmidtchen (1977b), pp. 226–228
  2. ^ a b c "Gun - Turkish Bombard Also referred to as the Dardanelles gun and the Great Bronze Gun. Two large bronze pieces, the smaller powder chamber cast at one end with a screw thread to engage the female thread of the larger piece". Royal Armouries collections. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  3. ^ Ffoulkes (1930), pp. 217–227; Schmidtchen (1977b), pp. 226–228
  4. ^ Schmidtchen (1977b), p. 228

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