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In the age of sail, a gunboat was usually a small undecked vessel carrying a single smoothbore cannon in the bow. A gunboat could carry one or two masts or be oar-powered only, but the single-masted version of about 50 ft length was most typical. Some types of gunboats carried two cannons, or else mounted a number of swivel gun s on the railings.

The advantages of this type of gunboat were that since it only carried a single cannon, that cannon could be quite heavy - for instance a 32-pounder, and that the boat could be maneuvered in shallow or restricted waters, where the sailing was quite difficult for larger ships. A single broadside from a frigate would demolish a gunboat, but a frigate facing a half-dozen gunboats in an estuary would likely be seriously damaged before it could manage to sink all of them. Gunboats were also easy and quick to build; the combatants in the 1776 Battle of Valcour Island on New York's Lake Champlain were mostly gunboats built on the spot.

All navies of the sailing era kept a number of gunboats on hand. Gunboats were a key part of the French plans to invade Great Britain in 1804, and were heavily used by Denmark. Between 1803 and 1812Events January 1 the Allgemeines Burgerliches Gesetzbuch, the Austrian civil code enters into force in the Austrian Empire February 2 Russia establishes a fur trading colony at Fort Ross, California February 7 The strongest in a series of massive earthqua, the US Navy had a policy of basing the naval forces on coastal gunboats, and experimented with a variety of designs, but they were nearly useless in the War of 1812The North American War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom is one of several wars associated with that year. It is more normally known in British texts as the British-American War to distinguish it from Napoleon's war against Russia w, and went back to being special-purpose vessels.

The term experienced a revival in the American Civil WarThe American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the northern states, popularly referred to as "the U. the Union," " the North," or "the Yankees"; and the seceding southern states, commonly referred to as "the Confederat, and was commonly used for armed sidewheel steamer s, which frequently mounted a dozen guns or more, sometimes of rather large caliber.

In the later 19th centuryAlternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical ( 18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801- 1900. Events The Little Ice Age ended and early 20th century19th century 20th century 21st century more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901- 2000 in the sense of the Gre, "gunboat" was the common name for smaller armed vessels, often called "patrol gunboats". In the US Navy, these boats had the hull classification symbolThe United States Navy uses hull classification symbols to identify the types of its ships. See also pennant number, a somewhat analogous system used by the Royal Navy and some European navies. The combination of symbol and hull number identify a modern N "PG"; they usually displaced under 2,000 tons, were about 200 ft long, drafted 10-15 feet and sometimes much less, and mounted several guns of caliber up to 5-6 inches. An important characteristic of these was the ability to operate in rivers, enabling them to reach inland targets in a way not otherwise possible before the development of aircraftThis article refers to the tool of travel. There is a separate article about the movie Airplane An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. Categories and clasification Aircraft fall into two broad categories: Heavier than air Heavier than a. In this period, gunboats were used by the naval powers for police actions in colonies or weaker countries, for example in China. It is this category of gunboat that inspired the term " gunboat diplomacy".

Post-World War II, the terms "motor gunboat" came to be used for smaller vessels, with displacements in the 500-ton range. US river gunboats in the Vietnam War became known as the " Brownwater Navy".