Gunboat War - Boat Design and Background To Conflict

Boat Design and Background To Conflict

These boats were originally designed by a Swede, Fredrik Henrik af Chapman. The strategic advantage of gunboats lay in the fact that they could be produced rapidly and inexpensively throughout the kingdom. The tactical advantages were that they were highly manoeuvrable, especially in still and shallow waters and presented small targets. On the other hand, the boats were vulnerable, likely to sink from a single hit, they could not be used in rough seas, and they were less effective against large warships. Still, the Danish-Norwegian government produced more than 200 in two models: the shallop gunboat had a crew of 76 men, with an 18- or 24-pounder cannon in the bow and another in the stern. The smaller barge type had a total crew of 24, armed with a single 24-pounder.

While the Danes did not employ gunboat tactics until 1807, the naval conflict between Britain and Denmark commenced with the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 when Horatio Nelson's squadron of Admiral Parker's fleet attacked the Danish capital. Early in the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark-Norway set on a policy of armed neutrality, using its naval forces to protect trade flowing within, into and out of Dano-Norwegian waters. In the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, the British seized a large part of the Danish fleet, so the Dano-Norwegian government decided to build gunboats in large numbers.

The Danish Commander (and later Admiral) Steen Andersen Bille (1751–1833) is credited with being the driving force behind the post-1807 Dano-Norwegian strategy of gunboat warfare. We owe Junior Lieutenant Garde, himself a commander of one of the larger type of gunboats, for a description of each of the four classes of gunboat.

• Kanonchaluppen: These were the larger type of gunboat. Each was armed with two 24-pound cannon and four 4-pound howitzers and a had a wartime establishment of 69 – 79 men.
• Kanonjollen: These were the smaller type of gunboat. Each was armed with one 24-pound cannon and two 4-pound howitzers, and had wartime establishment of 41 men.
• Morterchaluppen: These were the larger, mortar-armed gunboats. Each was armed with one 100-pound mortar and two 4-pound howitzers, and had a wartime establishment of 40 men.
• Morterbarkasserne: These were smaller, mortar-armed gunboats. Each was armed with one mortar and had a wartime establishment of 19 men. They were little more than ordinary ships’ boats into which a mortar had been set. They had a tendency to leak badly after 5 – 7 mortar shells had been fired. Their crews then had to bring them back into harbour, remove the mortar, and recaulk their vessels.

Reserve crew who could not be accommodated on board were quartered in buildings on land or in the frigate Triton which was in ordinary. Battle-ready gunboats had their crews on board.