Military
2
The Fast Passage offered easy entry into Narragansett Bay, creating the danger that an enemy fleet could sail directly into Newport in wartime, so Fort Adams concentrated firepower on its west wall. The top tier targeted masts and rigging with cannon balls linked by chains and bars that could cut halyards, smash rigging, and shred sails. The center tier swept decks with cannon balls and grape shot at close range. The bottom tier, almost level with the water, fired deadly hot shot, heated cannon balls intended to skip into ships at the waterline, piercing hulls and starting fires in the wooden vessels. In 1855 the west wall mounted 117 cannons, and later 10-inch Rodmans were added.
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Newport, Rhode Island · United States
