24-pounder long gun

The 24-pounder long gun was a heavy-calibre piece of artillery mounted on warships of the Age of Sail. It served in the navies of France, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States, and was comparable to the Canon de 24 Gribeauval, the largest piece of siege artillery used by the French Army. Warships carried it as the main gun of the heaviest frigates of the early nineteenth century and of fourth-rate ships of the line, and on the second deck of first-rate ships of the line and of a few large third-rates. Its calibre of about six inches fitted both the French and the British calibre systems, which made it a widespread gun among nations between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.