- A platform or mound of earth within a fort from which guns are fired over the parapet.
- An armored protective cylinder around a revolving gun turret on a warship.
[French, diminutive of barbe, beard. See barb1.]
Dictionary:
bar·bette (bär-bĕt') ![]() |
[French, diminutive of barbe, beard. See barb1.]
| 5min Related Video: barbette |
| US Military Dictionary: barbette |
2. a platform on which a gun is placed to fire over a parapet.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Architecture: barbette |
A raised platform in a medieval fort that served as a mounting surface for a weapon to fire over a parapet at the enemy.
| WordNet: barbette |
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
(formerly) a mound earth inside a fort from which heavy gun can be fired over the parapet
| Wikipedia: Barbette |
| This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet (defensive wall) rather than through an opening (embrasure). The former gives better angles of fire but less protection.
Before the complete introduction of the fully enclosed armoured gun turrets, a barbette was a fixed armoured enclosure protecting the gun. The barbette could take the form of a ring of armour around the gun mount over which the guns (possibly fitted with a gun shield) fired.
In warships from the age of the dreadnought forward, the barbette is the non-rotating drum beneath the rotating gun turret (properly known as the "gunhouse") and above the armoured deck on a warship. It forms the protection for the upper ends of the hoists that lift shells and their propelling charges (e.g. cordite) from the magazines below.
When applied to military aircraft, a barbette is a position on an aircraft where a gun, or guns, are in a mounting which has a restricted arc of fire when compared to a turret. The word is frequently used to describe the tail gunner position on bombers such as the B-17 Flying Fortress.
The term "barbette" is often used with military aircraft of World War II, to name a remotely aimed and operated gun turret, which itself has no human presence directly within its mechanics-the German Messerschmitt Me 210 and Me 410 Hornisse had twin remote turrets, one per side, for rearwards defense, the Heinkel He 177 had such a turret for its forward dorsal defense, and the famous American B-29 Superfortress had four such remote turrets, two dorsal and two ventral, each with twin M2 Browning guns, with only the tail gun position being "directly" manned.
| This article related to a weapon is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| banquette | |
| chassis | |
| battery |
| What is a barbette? |
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Barbette". Read more |
Mentioned in