Artillery

Whitworth cannon

The precision rifled gun of the imperial fleet.

Whitworth cannon
Whitworth 70-pounder naval gun on a slide carriage, with its hexagonal projectile. Reference model.
Origin
England, system of Joseph Whitworth
Caliber (70-pounder naval)
140 mm; about 3.9 t
Projectile
Elongated, hexagonal in section
Maximum range
About 5,000 m

Its hexagonal bore spun an elongated projectile that was very accurate at long range. Brazil was the main user: the imperial Navy armed its ironclads and monitors with 70- and 120-pounders. The Paraguayans collected thousands of Whitworth shells that had not exploded and cast a bronze cannon, “El Criollo”, to fire them back.

‡ Disputed.That Paraguay had Whitworth pieces of its own is not confirmed.

Sources: George Thompson, The War in Paraguay (1869); Ferreira Sobrinho, Revista do Exército Brasileiro; Telemetro, “El Criollo, emblema bélico de Paraguay” (2019).

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