Steam Powered Weapons Weaponry

With the rise of industry in the early 1800s so too did the technology rise with it. Using the new steam power effectively as a weapon didn’t come about until the later half of the 1800s and has been developing ever since. There are two ways steam power has been used to creating weapons.

Steam as a Propellant

Pneumatic weapons are weapons that use air as a means to project a projectile or surge forward a blade. Steam as a means to shoots an object/bullet/or weapon at an enemy is now not terribly uncommon.

Mostly guns using this technology will be located upon airships or used in fortifications on the ground due to the need of a boiler and furnace to operate. However, boiler pack systems are in place that can make smaller, more personalized steam powered weapons. These systems are often incredibly expensive, hot, and heavy.

Steam powered systems can shoot larger rounds, cannon balls, or even shells however the massive amount of steam required to propel a large object of any distance makes most of these impractical. Mostly Steam power as a propellent shoot smaller projectiles with an aim to penetrate or harass.

Steam as Automation

By far the most prevalent use of steam power in weapons systems is to automate a weapon. Steam power is used to set a firing pin or hammer in place and released, and then used to eject a shell casing and load a new one to fire again. The best example of this is of the Gatling Gun which uses the rotation of the gun to load, fire, and eject rounds in one fluid motion. With the power of steam, Gatling Guns are more dangerous and more reliable than ever before.

The most use of steam power in this method is onboard airships, landships, and sea ships as defensive or offensive weapons. In this set up, a weapons of this type can be attached to the steam network already available on such a ship and provide optimal firepower to such a ship.

Steam systems can be used to help move heavy weapons through the use of hydraulics, turning a five crew artillery piece into a single person operated weapon. It can be used to assist in reloading of a fired weapon, such as a cannon. As stated before, it can be used in a variety of weapons as a means to turn a revolving gun or semi automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon.

As above, these weapon systems have been adapted into boiler packs that are heavy, hot, and expensive but can turn heavy weapons into fully automatic weapons. These weapons systems are even rarer than the steam propellant weapons due to the added weight of all-inclusive bullets vs light steam rounds.