The Congreve Rocket was a British military weapon designed by Sir William Congreve in 1804. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... William Congreve Sir William Congreve (May 20, 1772-May 16, 1828), was an English inventor and rocket pioneer. ...

The British were greatly impressed by the Mysorean Rocket artillery made from iron tubes used by the armies of Tipu Sultan and his father, Haidar Ali. Tipu Sultan championed the use of mass attacks with rocket brigades in the army. The effect of these weapons on the British during the Second, Third and Fourth Mysore Wars was sufficiently impressive to inspire William Congreve to develop Congreve rockets. Several Mysore rockets were sent to England, and after thoroughly examining the Indian specimens, from 1801, William Congreve, son of the Comptroller of the Royal Woolwich Arsenal, London, set on a vigorous research and development programme at the Arsenal's laboratory. Congreve prepared a new propellant mixture, and developed a rocket motor with a strong iron tube with conical nose, weighing about 14.5 kg (32 pounds). The Royal Arsenal's first demonstration of solid fuel rockets was in 1805. The rockets were effectively used during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. Congreve published three books on rocketry. , For other uses, see Mysore (disambiguation). ... M270 MLRS. Rocket artillery is artillery equipped with rocket launchers instead of conventional guns or mortars. ... Portrait of Tippu Sultan, 1792 Tippu (Tips) Sultan (full name Sultan Fateh Ali Tippu), also known as the Tiger of Mysore (November 20, 1750, Devanahalli – May 4, 1799, Srirangapattana), was the first son of Haidar Ali by his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-nissa. ... Hyder Ali or Haidar Ali (c. ... The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-1784) was a conflict in India between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Mysore. ... The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-1792) was a war in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the Kingdom of Great Britain. ... The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798-1799) was a war in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East-India Company under Lord Wellesley. ... The Royal Arsenal, originally known as the Woolwich Arsenal, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research. ... Combatants Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Sicily  Spain[3]  Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Italy Naples [5] Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark-Norway [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Duke of Brunswick â€  Prince of Hohenlohe... Combatants United States Great Britain Canada Bermuda Eastern Woodland Indians Commanders James Madison Henry Dearborn Jacob Brown Winfield Scott Andrew Jackson George Prevost Isaac Brock† Tecumseh† Strength •United States Regular Army: 35,800 •Rangers: 3,049 •Militia: 458,463* •US Navy & US Marines: (at start of war): •Frigates:6 •Other...

Congreve rockets from Congreve's original work

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1050, 290 KB) Summary Congreve rocket, from schematic by Sir William Congreve, dated 1814. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1600x1050, 290 KB) Summary Congreve rocket, from schematic by Sir William Congreve, dated 1814. ...

Early Indian rockets

A military tactic developed by Tippu Sultan and his father, Haidar Ali was the use of mass attacks with Rocket artillery brigades on infantry formations. Tippu Sultan wrote a military manual called Fathul Mujahidin in which 200 rocket men were prescribed to each Mysorean "cushoon" (brigade). Mysore had 16 to 24 cushoons of infantry. The areas of town where rockets and fireworks were manufactured were known as Taramandal Pet ("Galaxy Market"). Military tactics is the collective name for methods of engaging and defeating an enemy in battle. ...

The rocket men were trained to launch their rockets at an angle calculated from the diameter of the cylinder and the distance of the target. In addition, wheeled rocket launchers capable of launching five to ten rockets almost simultaneously were used in war. Rockets could be of various sizes, but usually consisted of a tube of soft hammered iron about 8 inches (200 mm) long and 1.5 to 3 inches (40 to 80 mm) diameter, closed at one end and strapped to a shaft of bamboo about 4 ft (1.2 m) long. The iron tube acted as a combustion chamber and contained well packed black powder propellant. A rocket carrying about one pound (500 g) of powder could travel almost 1,000 metres. In contrast, rockets in Europe not being iron cased, could not take large chamber pressures and as a consequence, were not capable of reaching distances anywhere near as great.^[1]

The Marathas' fired salvos of up to 2,000 rockets simultaneously against at the Battle of Panipat (1761). Haidar Ali's father, the Naik or chief constable at Budikote, commanded 50 rocketmen for the Nawab of Arcot. There was a regular Rocket Corps in the Mysore Army, beginning with about 1200 men in Haidar Ali's time. The Marāthās (Marathi: , also Mahrattas) form an Indo Aryan group of Hindu warriors and peasants hailing mostly from the present-day state of Maharashtra, who created a the expansive Maratha Empire, covering a major part of India, in the late 17th and 18th centuries. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Budikote or the Fort of Ash is a small village situated in Bangarpet Taluk of Kolar District in Karnataka state of India. ... Nawabs of the Carnatic (also referred to as the Nawabs of Arcot), ruled the Carnatic region of South India between c. ...

Second Anglo-Mysore War

At the Battle of Pollilur (1780), during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Colonel William Braille's ammunition stores are thought to have been detonated by a hit from one of Haidar Ali's Mysore rockets, which contributed to a British defeat. Combatants Army of the East India Company ‎ Kingdom of Mysore Commanders William Baille Tipu Sultan Strength approx. ... The Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-1784) was a conflict in India between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Mysore. ... Hyder Ali or Haidar Ali (c. ...

Third Anglo-Mysore War

In the Third Anglo-Mysore War of 1792, there is mention of two rocket units fielded by Tipu Sultan, 120 men and 131 men respectively. Lt. Col. Knox was attacked by rockets near Srirangapatna on the night of 6 February 1792, while advancing towards the Kaveri river from the north. The Rocket Corps ultimately reached a strength of about 5000 in Tipu Sultan's army. Mysore rockets were also used for ceremonial purposes. When the Jacobin Club of Mysore sent a delegation to Tippu Sultan, 500 rockets were launched as part of the gun salute. The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789-1792) was a war in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the Kingdom of Great Britain. ... The Cauvery (sometimes written as Kaveri) is one of the major rivers of southern India. ... It has been suggested that Jacobin/Sandbox be merged into this article or section. ...

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War

During the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, rockets were again used on several occasions. One of these involved Colonel Arthur Wellesley, later famous as the First Duke of Wellington and the hero of Waterloo. Quoting Forrest, The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798–1799) was a war in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company under Lord Wellesley. ... Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (c. ... The Dukedom of Wellington, derived from Wellington in Somerset, is a hereditary title and the senior Dukedom in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... Many things bear the name Waterloo. ...

"At this point (near the village of Sultanpet, Figure 5) there was a large tope, or grove, which gave shelter to Tipu's rocketmen and had obviously to be cleaned out before the siege could be pressed closer to Seringapatam island. The commander chosen for this operation was Col. Wellesley, but advancing towards the tope after dark on the 5 April 1799, he was set upon with rockets and musket-fires, lost his way and, as Beatson politely puts it, had to "postpone the attack" until a more favourable opportunity should offer. Wellesley's failure was glossed over by Beatson and other chroniclers, but the next morning he failed to report when a force was being paraded to renew the attack.^[2]

"On 22 April [1799], twelve days before the main battle, rocketeers worked their way around to the rear of the British encampment, then 'threw a great number of rockets at the same instant' to signal the beginning of an assault by 6,000 Indian infantry and a corps of Frenchmen, all directed by Mir Golam Hussain and Mohomed Hulleen Mir Mirans. The rockets had a range of about 1,000 metres. Some burst in the air like shells. Others

called ground rockets, on striking the ground, would rise again and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent. According to one British observer, a young English officer named Bayly:

"So pestered were we with the rocket boys that there was no moving without danger from the destructive missiles ...". He continued: "The rockets and musketry from 20,000 of the enemy were incessant. No hail could be thicker. Every illumination of blue lights was accompanied by a shower of rockets, some of which entered the head of the column, passing through to the rear, causing death, wounds, and dreadful lacerations from the long bamboos of twenty or thirty feet, which are invariably attached to them'."

During the conclusive British attack on Seringapatam on 2 May 1799, a British shot struck a magazine of rockets within the Tipu Sultan's fort causing it to explode and send a towering cloud of black smoke, with cascades of exploding white light, rising up from the battlements. On the afternoon of 4 May when the final attack on the fort was led by Baird, he was again met by "furious musket and rocket fire", but this did not help much; in about an hour's time the Fort was taken; perhaps in another hour Tipu had been shot (the precise time of his death is not known), and the war was effectively over.^[3] Ranganatha Temple Srirangapatna (British called it Seringapatam) is a small town, 13 km from Mysore in southern India. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

After the fall of Seringapatam, 600 launchers, 700 serviceable rockets and 9,000 empty rockets were found. Some of the rockets had pierced cylinders, to allow them to act like incendiaries, while some had iron points or steel blades bound to the bamboo. By attaching these blades to rockets they became very unstable towards the end of their flight causing the blades to spin around like flying scythes, cutting down all in their path.

William Congreve

These Indian rocket experiences including Munro's book of 1789 ^[4]eventually led to the Royal Woolwich Arsenal's beginning a military rocket R&D program in 1801. Several rocket cases were collected and returned to Britain for analysis. The development was chiefly the work of Col. (later Sir) William Congreve, who was told that "the British at Seringapatam had 'suffered more from the rockets than from the shells or any other weapon used by the enemy."^[5] "In at least one instance an eye-witness told Congreve, a single rocket had killed three men and badly wounded others.^[6] The Royal Arsenal, originally known as the Woolwich Arsenal, carried out armaments manufacture, ammunition proofing and explosives research. ... The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of research and technological development. ... William Congreve Sir William Congreve (May 20, 1772-May 16, 1828), was an English inventor and rocket pioneer. ...

Design

The rocket was made up of an iron case of black powder for propulsion and either an explosive or incendiary "cylindro-conoidal" head. The warheads were attached to wooden guide poles and were launched in pairs from half troughs on simple metal A-frames. The original rocket design had the guide pole side-mounted on the warhead, this was improved in 1815 with a base plate with a threaded hole. They could be fired up to two miles (3 km), the range being set by the degree of elevation of the launching frame, although at any range they were fairly inaccurate and had a tendency for premature explosion. They were as much a psychological weapon as a physical one, for they were rarely or never used except alongside other types of artillery. Congreve designed several different warhead sizes from 3 to 24 pounds (1 to 10 kg). The 24 pound (10 kg) type with a fifteen foot (5 m) guide pole was the most widely used variant. General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... Black powder was the original gunpowder and practically the only known propellant and explosive until the middle of the 19th century. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... For the 2008 film of the same name, see Incendiary (film). ... An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a lightweight, economical manner. ... Screw thread, used to convert torque into the linear force in the flood gate. ...

The weapon remained in use until the 1850s, when it was superseded by the improved spinning design of William Hale. In the 1870s the rockets were adopted to carry rescue lines to vessels in distress superseding the mortar of Captain Manby and rockets that had been in use since the 1830s. William Hale (1797-1870)[1], was a British inventor and rocket pioneer. ... Italian Full rigged ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large watercraft capable of offshore navigation. ... Captain George William Manby (born November 28, 1765 in Norfolk; died November 18, 1854 in Great Yarmouth) was the inventor of an apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks. ...

Napoleonic Wars

Congreve rockets were soon systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806 Boulogne, France was bombarded by British rockets and suffered a devastating fire. In 1807 Copenhagen, Denmark was burnt by a British attack with 25,000 rockets. In 1813 Dantzig Germany was similarly attacked , setting the city's food stores on fire and resulting in surrender. Combatants Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Sicily  Spain[3]  Sweden United Kingdom[4] French Empire Holland Italy Naples [5] Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark-Norway [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Duke of Brunswick â€  Prince of Hohenlohe... Boulogne is the name of several communes in France: Boulogne in the Vendée département Boulogne-Billancourt, in the Hauts-de-Seine département Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the Pas_de_Calais département This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... Copenhagen (IPA: or ; Danish: IPA: ) is the capital of Denmark and the countrys largest city. ... For alternative meanings of Gdańsk and Danzig, see Gdansk (disambiguation) and Danzig (disambiguation) The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

War of 1812

During their confrontation with the US during the War of 1812 the British use of rockets in the Battle of Bladensburg, lead to the burning and surrender of Washington, D.C.. Combatants United States Great Britain Canada Bermuda Eastern Woodland Indians Commanders James Madison Henry Dearborn Jacob Brown Winfield Scott Andrew Jackson George Prevost Isaac Brock† Tecumseh† Strength •United States Regular Army: 35,800 •Rangers: 3,049 •Militia: 458,463* •US Navy & US Marines: (at start of war): •Frigates:6 •Other... The Battle of Bladensburg was a battle fought during the War of 1812. ... Nickname: Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia Coordinates: , Country United States Federal District District of Columbia Government  - Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D)  - D.C. Council Chairperson: Vincent C. Gray (D) Ward 1: Jim Graham (D) Ward 2...

It was the use of Congreve rockets by the British in the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the U.S. in 1814 which inspired the fifth line of the first verse of the United States National Anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner:"And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air". Fort McHenry Fort McHenry, in Maryland, is a star fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogizing the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nations government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ... The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States, with lyrics written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. ...

New Zealand Wars

During the period of the New Zealand wars the British army used Congreve rockets to attack Māori fortifications—along with cannon-fire—and found that simple trench-warfare practices were sufficient to blunt their effectiveness so much that, like cannon, they were virtually useless^[7].

Congreve Rockets in popular culture

Congreve rockets are also a heavy artillery unit unique to the British in the games Age of Empires III and Imperial Glory. Age of Empires III (also called AoE III) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. ... Imperial Glory is a Napoleonic Era real-time tactics (RTT) game developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos that was released to the public in May 2005. ...

The Congreve System was, fictionally, trialed by Richard Sharpe using a Rocket Troop under Lieutenant Gilliland in Sharpe's Enemy and also appearing briefly in Sharpe's Waterloo. Richard Sharpe is the central character in Bernard Cornwells Sharpe novels and of the Sharpe series of TV movies in which he is played by Sean Bean. ... Sharpes Enemy: Richard Sharpe and the Defense of Portugal, Christmas 1812 is a historical novel by Bernard Cornwell set during the Napoleonic Wars. ... Sharpes Waterloo is a historical novel by Bernard Cornwell set during the 1815 Waterloo campaign. ...

Publications

In 1804 Congreve published A concise account of the origin and progress of the rocket system. A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System by William Congreve was published in 1807 . ^[8], son of the arsenal's commandant. In 1814 Congreve published The details of the rocket system. In 1827 The Congreve Rocket System was published in London.

References