I wonder what they believed the benefit of that point over a plain conical point was.
Don't have a clue - but being forged they must have been tough. Worked too. Ask Lance for the details - he has THE book.
We have pondered this question for some years after seeing Hopson's or Quinlivan's bolt in another book or at the West Point Museum.
Our speculation is that it was an attempt by the designer to develop a projectile which could drill it's way through armor. There are several technical problems here, but the most serious is the fact that you need a harder material in your drill than the material drilled. Since the metal used in both was wrought iron, the carbon required for hardening was absent. Another significant problem was the forward feed (velocity) of this crude drill was far, far too quick, even considering the substantial projectile RPM.
Quote: from Boom J in the “USS Lehigh ironclad gun turret-optical illusion” thread.
“The Confederates were definitely experimenting with armor piercing bolts, and indeed fired some at the USS Lehigh in at least one of these South Carolina coastal battles, as none other than Admiral John A. Dahlgren witnessed first hand; In September, 1863, Admiral Dahlgren reentered Charleston Harbor with ironclads and exchanged fire with the coastal forts in which the Hopsen projectile was used. This time the Confederates did not fair as well and Admiral Dahlgren commented: “The enemy fired some shots of wedge shape, samples of which were picked up from the decks of the Lehigh - an absurd practice originating in the brain of some wild inventor.””
The following comments and photos of the Hopson projectile are found in
Civil War Heavy Explosive Ordnance by Jack Bell, an excellent reference book which is very thorough in it’s treatment of the material. The projectile is in the U.S.M.A. collection at West Point, NY.
“This bolt combines Brooke’s milled base sabot with Lucien Hopson’s design for a pyramidal nose. This type of projectile was reportedly fired (ineffectively) at the USS Lehigh, a Monitor-type gunboat. It has also been discovered with a Type II Tennessee sabot. An 1862 letter from the CS Ordnance office talked about tests of the Hopson design, indicating early usage. The 7-inch rifle would have been a Brooke design.”
We don't know if these are completely different designs which happen to look very, very similar or if some collaboration was effected, but not stated in any documentation we have seen.
Regards,
M&T
