View source for Chain shot

{{Short description|Type of cannon projectile}}
{{for|the video game ''ChainShot!''|SameGame}}
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[[File:Boulet ramé mg 5230.jpg|thumb|French chain shot]]

In [[artillery]], '''chain shot''' is a type of [[cannon]] [[projectile]] formed of two [[Sub-caliber round|sub-calibre]] balls, or half-balls, [[chain]]ed together. '''Bar shot''' is similar, but joined by a solid bar.  They were used in the age of [[sailing ship]]s and [[black powder]] [[cannon]] to shoot masts, or to cut the [[shroud (sailing)|shrouds]] and any other [[rigging]] of a target ship.<ref>{{1728}}</ref>{{fact|date=December 2022}}

When fired, after leaving the muzzle, the shot's components tumble in the air, and the connecting chain fully extends. In past use, as much as 1.8 m (6 ft) of chain would sweep through the target. However, the tumbling made both bar and chain shot less accurate, so they were used at shorter ranges.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Pirate Tech |series=[[Modern Marvels]]|airdate=2006-07-09}}</ref>

[[File:Bar shot fort nelson.JPG|thumb|right|An example of bar shot]]
[[File:Kedjelod - Vasamuseet - 24014.jpg|thumb|right|Chain shot salvaged from the Swedish warship {{ship||Vasa|ship|2}} which sank in 1628]]

Chain shot was sometimes used on land as an anti-personnel load. It was used by the defenders of [[Sack of Magdeburg|Magdeburg]] in May 1631 as an anti-personnel load, which, according to counselor [[Otto von Guericke]], was one reason for the extreme violence of the victorious attackers.<ref>Otto von Guericke: Geschichte der Belagerung, Eroberung und Zerstoerung von Magdeburg, 2. Auflage 1882, p. 16ff.</ref> It was also used against Parliamentarians in the [[first English Civil War]],<ref>Anne Sacheverell, ''Daughters from London'', 1643</ref> and against Cromwell in Ireland at the [[siege of Clonmel]] in 1650, against the [[76th Regiment of Foot]] in India in 1803,<ref>John Clark Marshman: ''Abridgment of the History of India'', 1873, p. 268</ref> and by the French against the Dutch at the [[Battle of Waterloo]].<ref>P. Wakker, Aanteekeningen van een Veteraan dato 16 Augustus 1815 (etc.), 1863, p. 14</ref>

The military usefulness of chain shot died out as wooden sail-powered ships were replaced with armored steam ships—first among navies, and then among commercial fleets—which do not have rigging to serve as proper targets for chain-shot. Additionally, the conversion of naval armament from [[smoothbore]], [[muzzle loader|muzzle loaded]], [[black powder]] [[cannon]] to [[rifled]], [[breech-loaded]] guns further slowed the production of new chain shot ammunition; the chain would damage barrels (degrading maximum range, and further degrading effective range by degrading accuracy), and the new breech loading guns and their ammunition were meant to be effective against armored vessels as well as wooden sailing vessels.

In modern times, the effect is replicated in [[shotgun]]s with the use of [[Shotgun#Novelty and other|bolo shells]], a pair of slugs connected by a strong wire. They are banned in several jurisdictions, including Florida<ref>[http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0790/Sections/0790.31.html Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and Illinois.<ref>[http://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/pubact92/acts/92-0423.html Public Act 92-0423 of the 92nd General Assembly<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313053043/http://ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/pubact92/acts/92-0423.html |date=March 13, 2007 }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Spider shot]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

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[[Category:Artillery ammunition]]
[[Category:Projectiles]]
[[Category:Balls]]
[[Category:Chains]]
[[Category:Metallic objects]]