Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Casemate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
A casemate is a heavy duty structure, originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress. Today the military use the term for a fortified gun emplacement. In civilian use a casemate may be a tunnel cut into a rock face with armoured doors, used for storing volatile goods.
In naval gunnery a casemate is a vertical armour plate with openings for guns. It is less protected than a gun turret and allows for a smaller field of fire. It is however much cheaper in terms of money and far lighter in weight for a given level of armor protection.
The American Civil War saw the use of casemate ironclads: steel-built or armored steamboats with a very low freeboard and their guns on the main deck ('Casemate deck') protected by a sloped armored casemate. Although both sides of the civil war used casemate ironclads, the ship is mostly associated with the southern confederacy, the north more relying on turretted monitors. The most famous naval battle of the war being the duel at Hampton Roads between the Union turretted ironclad USS Monitor and the Confederate casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (AKA the Merrimack)
In 20th century battleships, casemates were used to mount secondary guns for defending the ship against torpedo boats.
In architecture, a casemate is a hollow moulding.
 Casemate St Lucian Tower, Malta |
 Paired Casemates Fort Delimara, Malta |
 Casemate housing a 5 inch (127 mm) gun on battleship USS North Dakota |
 |
This military base or fortification article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |