Quote:
Originally Posted by Expat Canuck
Bingo! Was not the British armed forces the only ones at that time to practice with actual ammunition as opposed to just running drills?
I could be wrong, I'm a bit fuzzy on my facts for this point in history.
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I read somewhere that the Admiralty was very stingy with powder and shot for practice. Weathier captains bought their own practice ammo. Broke of the HMS Shannon used to run dry drills everyday and had invented some
rapid firing and aiming tools. The Americans crews on the Chesapeake who went out to engage the Shannon outside Boston Harbor were supposedly very good, but Broke's day-after-day drills and sure shooting overwhelmed the Chesapeake in 4-5 minutes. Then Broke led a boarding party that prevailed. Total time of action, under 15 minutes. And this was frigate on frigate, almost evenly matched on weight of iron.