Elenco Ship Cannon with Shield - Manual (Page 8)

6
SHIP’S CANNON WITH SHIELD
Codex Atlanticus, folio 172r
Leonardo da Vinci was also a military engineer; he studied weapons and medieval
military techniques at length. A large part of his manuscripts show machines and
military architecture, some are copies of machines by Taccola and Francesco di Giorgio,
others are his own inventions or modifications of existing machines. He also spent a lot
of time working on naval battles, designing dozens of ships with as many attacking
methods as means of defence on the sea. One of the most original projects is that of the
ship with shield and cannon. Da Vinci drew this naval weapon in Manuscript B for
the first time, almost certainly copying it from a previous author, because the drawing
of this project was already presented in the treatises of engineers who came before Da
Vinci and to whom he referred when studying.
Again, it was a general idea, only roughly drawn and without any technical details.
Da Vinci subsequently revisited the
project; he reconsidered it, improved it
and redrew it clearly and in its
entirety on folio 172r of the Codex
Atlanticus. The idea was to use a
small, agile vessel equipped with a
cannon. The prow of the ship and the
cannon are protected by a wooden
shield. Da Vinci studied this subject
closely, identified the weak points and
invented his own version with many
more functions. He transformed the
almost “fantastic” medieval drawing
into a truly achievable engineering
project.