Bomb Vessels - Notable Bomb Vessels and Actions

Notable Bomb Vessels and Actions

• The bomb vessels Racehorse and Carcass were further strengthened for an expedition of discovery to the North Pole in the 1770s. The uncompleted expedition included a young Horatio Nelson.

• Bomb vessels Discovery, Explosion, Hecla, Sulphur, Terror, Volcano, and Zebra participated in the 1st Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

• Thunder, Vesuvius, Aetna, and Zebra participated in the 2nd Battle of Copenhagen in 1807.

• Thunder and Aetna additionally participated in the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1808 (this action was also notable for including three rocket vessels in support of the bombs).

• The "bombs bursting in air" recorded by Francis Scott Key at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814 were provided by the Volcano, Meteor, Devastation, Aetna, and a new Terror.

• Bomb vessels were part of the British forces that attacked Fort St. Philip in January 1815, during the War of 1812. This engagement is known as the Siege of Fort St. Philip.

• Another Hecla and her sister ship Fury were used by William Edward Parry on a series of voyages to the Arctic between 1819 and 1827.

• During the Battle of Veracruz in 1838, the bomb vessels Cyclope and Vulcain fired most of the shells used by the French, and scored decisive hits on Mexican ammunition depots.

• Erebus and Terror served as exploration vessels in the expeditions of James Clark Ross to the Antarctic in 1840–1843, and of John Franklin to the Arctic in 1845–1848. Terror had also previously been used by George Back in his 1836–1837 Arctic expedition.