Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:13:40-2:14:28

Muskets, cutlasses and boarding pikes at sea

The search for the most-used naval small arm ranges from long-serving firearms to cutlasses and boarding pikes adapted for confined shipboard fighting.

Age Of SailBoardingBrown BessLee-EnfieldNaval Weapons
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Question

Which naval small arm saw the most action?

Short answer

The Brown Bess is a plausible firearm candidate, but cutlasses and especially long-lived boarding pikes broaden the answer beyond guns.

Notes

The Brown Bess is a plausible firearm answer, while the Lee-Enfield also had a long service life. The category then widens beyond guns to cutlasses and boarding pikes, which remained common across a much longer period. A boarding pike is a shortened polearm suited to the confined spaces of a ship. The answer distinguishes the service life of a weapon family from the number of particular naval actions in which one model appeared.