Armaments
While the Wasa was
heavily armed, other warships in the Baltic carried more gunnery. Still,
she was likely the most powerful warship of the time due to her ability to
place more cannon fire from a single side of the ship. The King’s
instructions to the shipwrights were to build the Wasa with
devastating firepower in order to sink the enemy ships rather than to disable
and board them.
During construction, the King made frequent changes in the
number, size and placement of guns on the ship.
The configuration ranged from thirty-six 24-pound guns on the lower deck
with twenty-four 12-pound guns on the upper deck, to thirty 24-pound guns on
the lower deck with thirty 12-pound guns on the upper deck. Finally, the order was given for thirty-two (a total of sixty-four) 24-pound guns on both the upper and lower decks. While this provided more firepower and
standardized the ammunition, it also further raised the center of gravity of
the vessel.
Unlike other ships of the day, the Wasa boasted all newly manufactured cannons and other
guns. Sweden
had a mountain that contained a vast supply of copper ore. This copper allowed for casting new, lighter
weight bronze cannons. Wasa's cannons weighed nearly 100 tons. They manufactured two hundred and
fifty six cannons for the four ships the King commissioned. However, due to manufacturing delays, Sweden launched Wasa with only forty-eight of the 24-pound guns evenly divided between the
two decks.
Ornamentation
The exterior of warships of the Baroque era was
frequently highly decorated. These
decorations served two primary purposes; the ornamental sculptures served to authenticate the monarch’s wealth,
wisdom and authority, and they
would belittle, intimidate and taunt the enemy sailors. Inspiration for Wasa’s sculptures arose from a variety of sources including Egypt, the Old Testament, and Roman and
Grecian antiquity. Many of the
sculptures were quite grotesque, adding to the enemy’s horror. In contrast to the exterior, the interior of
the ship was quite sparse.
Six expert sculptors,
along with many assistants, fashioned the sculptures over a
two-year period, carving them from oak, pine and/or linden and were painted in
vivid colors. For the larger sculptures, they employed multiple pieces of
wood bolted together. Nearly 500 sculptures decorated
the Wasa, with many already recovered and restored
Read Part 4 of the Story of the Wasa – Deterioration and Salvage.
Ship Models Online offers two Wasa tall ship models as
well as models of other tall ships of the same era.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)
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