File:French 12-pdr field cannon M1732.jpg

Royal French 12-pdr field cannon – Vallière System M1732, plate created by Christian Rogge.

Note: all feet and inches are expressed in Paris foot (1' = 32.5 cm).

The piece weighed about 267 times the weight of its shot. These pieces slightly varied in design, weight (up to 50 kg) and length according to the foundries. From a distance the 12-pdr of the Vallière system could hardly be distinguished from the 8-pdr of the same system. The thickness of the barrel walls was 12.13 cm at the breech and 5.56 cm at the muzzle. The length of the carriage bracket cheeks was approximately 12' 4.5” (397 cm). The height of the wheels 58” (157 cm). The width of the French track was 3' 11” (124.3 cm). In the accompanying illustration, the carriage shows a variant of applied metal fittings. Extra iron plates have been added to give additional strength to the wooden bracket cheeks. This variant come from a contemporary 18th century draft of the Hesse-Kassel artillery school. In this draft, dated around 1790, the artist strictly obeyed the tutorials of Struensee's 1760 book on gunnery, but has added these rather 'roccoco-style' metal plates to his otherwise purely technical drawing. The artist, who was illustrating an 18-pdr culverine-type German siege cannon based on French figures for proportions, had probably seen an original SYW-period gun at the Kassel Arsenal and decided to include this detail in his draft to make it look 'more French style'. This sort of extra metal fittings, normally not included in the general drafts for a particular piece, probably resulted from repair work. Bracket cheeks were usually made of thoroughly dried elm tree. Best quality could not be supplied at all times. As a consequence, additional metal sheets were necessary to add stability to sections where the wood showed signs of weakness.

Reproduced with the kind authorisation of Christian Rogge.

Licensing

Copyright Christian Rogge.