Bomb vessels were designed around the stresses imposed by mortars. The image of bomb vessels firing over Nelson's fleet at Copenhagen shows how high-trajectory weapons could attack a shore target from behind other ships. Reinforced hulls carried heavy mortars and absorbed the recoil from throwing explosive shells on steep trajectories. Companies of army artillerymen supplied the specialist crews for those weapons, making the vessels early counterparts to later monitors. A Dardanelles counterfactual asks whether First World War bomb ships with howitzer-like fire could have supplied capabilities that gun-armed monitors only partly provided. The distinction is between placing a large gun afloat and building the vessel around the demands of siege artillery.
Notable Point · 2:29-4:39
Bomb vessels as purpose-built floating siege artillery
Purpose-built bomb vessels carried heavy mortars, reinforced hulls, and specialist artillery crews for attacks on shore positions.