Early history An early use of shore
bombardment was during the
Siege of Calais in 1347 when
Edward III of England deployed ships carrying
bombards and other artillery. An early type of vessel designed for the purpose of shore bombardment was the
bomb vessel, which came into use during the 17th century. The
burning of Falmouth by the
Royal Navy was among the
grievances of the United States Declaration of Independence. These were small ships whose main armament was one or two large
mortars that fired explosive shells at a high angle. They were typically poor sailing craft that were of limited use outside their specialized role. However, small vessels armed with large mortars saw use as late as the
American Civil War, when the
Union Navy used them in several attacks on coastal fortifications. During the 18th century, another special class of vessel known as
floating battery was devised for shore bombardment. An early use was by the French and Spanish during the
Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779–1782). During the
Napoleonic Wars, the
Royal Navy commissioned several vessels of the and . These carried either
naval long guns or
carronades. Floating batteries were used by the French and British during the
Crimean War and by both sides during the American Civil War.
World War I During
World War I, the principal practitioner of naval bombardment (the term used prior to
World War II for what was later designated naval gunfire support (NGFS)) was Britain's Royal Navy (RN); and the main theatres in which RN ships fired against targets ashore were the Aegean—
Dardanelles/
Gallipoli, and later the Salonika front—and along the Belgian coast. In the
Aegean the enemy coastal defences (forts, shore-batteries etc.) were fairly unsophisticated; however, on the Gallipoli peninsula these still proved to be difficult targets for the navy's low angle firing guns. Here, the fortress outlines tended to blend into the hillside making identification difficult, and the guns presented small targets. Mobile howitzers on the plateau presented even greater problems, since these were higher still, and being completely shielded from view proved almost impervious to naval bombardment. For RN ships bombarding German targets along the Belgian coast the situation was altogether different from the autumn of 1915 until the enemy withdrawal in October 1918. For this role, the Royal Navy frequently made use of specially designed vessels known as
monitors. They carried extremely heavy armament for their size, often a single turret from a decommissioned battleship. With a broad-beamed
hull designed for stability and a shallow
draft to allow close approach to the shore, the vessels were slow and thus unsuitable for naval combat. Two s were fitted with
BL 18-inch Mk I naval guns, the largest guns ever used by the Royal Navy. The
Germans constructed an extensive, well-equipped and well-coordinated system of gun batteries to defend the coast—and especially the ports of
Ostend and
Zeebrugge. Those ports, and the canals linking them to
Bruges, were of major importance to the
U-boat campaign in the
North Sea and
English Channel—and for that reason were frequently bombarded by RN monitors operating from Dover and Dunkirk. The RN continually advanced their technology and techniques necessary to conduct effective bombardments in the face of the German defenders—firstly refining spotting/correction by aircraft (following initial efforts during the Dardanelles/Gallipoli campaign), then experimenting with night bombardment and moving on to adopt indirect fire (in which a ship can accurately engage an unseen target, which may be several miles inland) as the norm for day and night firings. In the summer of 1918, monitors were equipped with gyro director training (GDT) gear—which effectively provided the director with a gyro-stabilised artificial line of sight, and thereby enabled a ship to carry out indirect bombardment while underway. This was a very significant advance which basically established a firm foundation for naval bombardment as practiced by the RN and
USN during the Second World War. Between 1919–39 all RN battleships/battlecruisers and all new-construction cruisers were equipped with Admiralty Fire Control Tables and GDT gear, and from the early 1930s (probably earlier) were required to carry out "live" bombardment practice once in each commission. In 1939, therefore, the RN was quite well prepared for this particular aspect of joint warfare.
World War II battleship shells
Japanese defenses on
Okinawa on 1 April 1945.Indirect bombardment reached its zenith during
World War II, when the availability of man-portable
radio systems and sophisticated relay networks allowed forward observers to transmit targeting information and provide almost instant accuracy reports once troops had landed.
Battleships,
cruisers (including
Bobtail cruisers, designed to support amphibious operations), and
destroyers would pound shore installations, sometimes for days, in the hope of reducing fortifications and weakening defending forces. Obsolete battleships unfit for combat against other ships were often used as floating gun platforms expressly for this purpose. However, given the relatively primitive nature of the
fire control computers and radar of the era combined with the high velocity of naval gunfire, accuracy depended upon designated observer aircraft until troops landed and were able to radio back reports to the ship.
Observation seaplanes proved vulnerable to land-based
fighter aircraft during the
invasion of Sicily so gunfire observers flew
Spitfires in support of the
Normandy landings. The solution was to engage in longer bombardment periods—up to two weeks, in some cases—saturating target areas with fire until a lucky few shells had destroyed the intended targets. This alerted an enemy that a landing attack was imminent. In the
Pacific War this mattered less, where the isolated defenders of island strongholds expected to be invaded at some point and had already committed whatever combat resources were available. The Japanese used battleships only once for shore bombardment, when two battleships bombarded
United States Marines at
Guadalcanal's
Henderson Airfield in October 1942, inflicting minor damage. Bombardment periods were usually shorter in the European theatre, where surprise was more often valued, overland reinforcement far more likely, and ships' guns were responding to the movements of mobile defenders, not whittling away at static fortifications. Naval gunfire could reach as far as inland and was often used to supplement land-based artillery. Naval gunfire was used extensively throughout
Normandy, although initially the surprise nature of the landings precluded a drawn-out bombardment which could have reduced the
Atlantic Wall defences sufficiently.
Late 20th century Naval gunfire support played a critical role in the
Korean War; the conflict was ideal for this type of service, with much of the fighting taking place along the coast of the Korean Peninsula. The battleship and light cruiser provided heavy support, along with numerous light cruisers and destroyers. In particular were so-called "Trainbuster" patrols, working with spotter aircraft to destroy North Korean supply trains, as well as railway bridges and tunnels. In 1961, the
annexation of Goa by Indian naval gunfire support was provided by the
Indian Navy's cruisers, destroyers, and frigates in support of
Indian Army operations. During the
Vietnam War, Task Unit 70.8.9, the U.S. Naval Gunfire Support Unit, was made up of destroyers armed with 5-inch/38 caliber or 5-inch/54 caliber guns, and continuously patrolled the coast of
South Vietnam to provide NGFS at short notice. If greater firepower was required then larger gunned
cruisers were called in for reinforcements, along with the battleship USS
New Jersey for a single tour of duty. NGFS was controlled by the United States Marines Corps First
Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company which provided spotters, usually airborne in light aircraft but sometimes on foot, in all military regions. During the
Falklands War, naval gunfire support for the
British Armed Forces of the British Task Force was utilized by British ships of the same British Task Force during numerous battles. These battles included, but were not limited to;
Battle of Two Sisters (
HMS Glamorgan (D19)'s twin 4.5-inch (114 mm) guns provided support) and the
Battle of Mount Kent (naval gunfire support provided by
HMS Yarmouth), both battles took place on the night of 11-12 June, 1982. During the
Multinational Force in Lebanon, naval gunfire support was provided on several occasions by destroyers, cruisers, and
New Jersey assigned to coastal patrol. They supported the US Marines as well as the Lebanese Army. In 1991, during
Operation Desert Storm the battleships and fired
Tomahawk cruise missiles along with their main battery guns against Iraqi targets in the Euphrates Delta. This was the last firing of battleship guns during war, as well as the first use of
drone aircraft to observe targets and give targeting corrections. In the
2003 invasion of Iraq, NGFS was used in support of operations on the
Al-Faw peninsula in the early stages of the war by Royal Navy and
Royal Australian Navy frigates.
21st century As part of
Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa, on 1 June 2007, the American destroyer
shelled jihadist positions at Bargal, Somalia. Naval gunfire occurred multiple times during the First and Second Libyan Civil War. During
Operation Unified Protector in 2011 in Libya, allied forces provided gun naval support to rebel forces. The French Navy fired approximately 3,000 shells against military targets (the warships , , , ). Also, during the
Battle of Sirte in 2016, the destroyer
USS Carney conducted shore bombardments of
ISIS positions as part of
Operation Odyssey Lightning. ==United States==