Were chasers permanently mounted?

[Destraex]

Just read in one of my books that "this meant the bow chasers had to be permanently mounted". Does this mean that the stern and bow chasers were permanently fixed to the ship  in this case but would normally be moved from the broadsides?

[akd]

It depends.

[Robert Danforth]

My guess (and this is entirely that) is that some enterprising Captain moved some cannons to the front or back one day while on a long chase with an enemy, and after the story spread,they started being designed that way on purpose.

[maturin]

Almost nothing was permanently mounted, especially guns, which had to be secured in bad weather.

 

I have no idea what circumstances your source is referring to, but it was probably an exception.

[Alex Connor]

Generally speaking chasers were not dedicated guns but rather moved from the appropriate gundeck to the chase ports as required. Sometimes the guns involved would be special chase types (such as long 9s), but again these would be mounted in the broadside until required.

 

Not completely unheard of to have dedicated chasers though, if these were carried they would usually be a different caliber and type to the rest of that gundeck, for example HMS Shannon had a pair of 18lb carronades in the sternports, and Victory has swiveling 68lb carronades on her forecastle. 

[Baggywrinkle]

Interesting one. Any more context available Destraex ?

[Destraex]

Generally speaking chasers were not dedicated guns but rather moved from the appropriate gundeck to the chase ports as required. Sometimes the guns involved would be special chase types (such as long 9s), but again these would be mounted in the broadside until required.

 

Not completely unheard of to have dedicated chasers though, if these were carried they would usually be a different caliber and type to the rest of that gundeck, for example HMS Shannon had a pair of 18lb carronades in the sternports, and Victory has swiveling 68lb carronades on her forecastle. 

this is exactly what i wanted to know.

this is the impression u got. So in naval action permanent chasers or stern batteries should not be the rule. There should be a delay while the are moved.

[Destraex]

Interesting one. Any more context available Destraex ?

the context was something like the cut down ship razeed as such could no longer fit the chasers propperly. But I was thinking that perhaps it just meant they mounted permanent ones by cause it was too hard to move them from the broadsides.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

this is exactly what i wanted to know.

this is the impression u got. So in naval action permanent chasers or stern batteries should not be the rule. There should be a delay while the are moved.

 

While we have dedicated chasers in Sea Trials, I saw a post by Admin that said at some point crew skill would allow you to relocate cannon to the bow or stern to act as chasers when needed.  I don't know what effect this will have on our current chasers, but that was the post I saw.