page_title: Seacoast defense in the United States
section_title: Coast artillery weapons during the Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Seacoast defense in the United States / Civil War / Coast artillery weapons during the Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Period photograph of Battery Rodgers Alexandria, Virginia showing a 15-inch Rodman gun mounted on a center-pintle barbette carriage (rear) and an 8-inch (200-pounder) Parrott rifle mounted on a front-pintle barbette carriage (front). The 8-inch Parrott rifle used the same carriage as the 10-inch Rodman gun.
context_page_description: Seacoast defense was a major concern for the United States from its independence until World War II. Before airplanes, many of America's enemies could only reach it from the sea, making coastal forts an economical alternative to standing armies or a large navy. After the 1940s, it was recognized that fixed fortifications were obsolete and ineffective against aircraft and missiles. However, in prior eras foreign fleets were a realistic threat, and substantial fortifications were built at key locations, especially protecting major harbors.
  The defenses heavily depended on fortifications but also included submarine minefields, nets and booms, ships, and airplanes. Therefore, all of the armed forces participated in seacoast defense, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played the central role in constructing fixed defenses.
  Designs evolved and became obsolete with changes in the technology available to both the attacking forces and the defenders. The evolution of the U.S. seacoast defense system is generally identified among several "systems", which are somewhat defined by the styles used, but more so by the events or trends which periodically stimulated new funding and construction.
context_section_description: Numerous types of seacoast artillery were used in the Civil War. Except for the 20-inch Rodmans, of which only three Army weapons were built, the following list includes only widely deployed weapons. See Siege artillery in the American Civil War for more information.
  Smoothbore weapons:
  32-pounder (6.4-inch or 163 mm) and 42-pounder (7-inch or 178 mm) seacoast guns
  8-inch (203 mm) and 10-inch (254 mm) columbiads
  8-inch, 10-inch, 15-inch (381 mm) and 20-inch (508 mm) Rodman guns (a type of columbiad)
  Rifled weapons:
  Rifled and sometimes banded variants of smoothbore guns ranging from 24-pounder (5.82-inch) to 10-inch caliber; one Union rifling system was called the James rifle
  6.4-inch (100-pdr), 8-inch (200-pdr), and 10-inch (300-pdr) Parrott rifles
  6.4-inch and 7-inch (178 mm) Brooke rifles (Confederate made)
caption: Two of the Civil War's heavy weapons: an 8-inch (200-pdr) Parrott rifle (front) and a 15-inch Rodman gun (rear) at Battery Rodgers, Alexandria, Virginia.
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