Gun deck

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2006)

Gun deck of HMS Victory.

The term gun deck originally referred to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. However, on many smaller vessels such as frigates and unrated vessels the upper deck, forecastle and quarterdeck bore all of the cannons but were not referred to as the gun deck. The completely covered level under the upper deck was, however, still called the gun deck although it had no guns at all.

Slang

The term "gun deck" is also navy slang for fabricating or falsifying something. The origin of the term dates to the practice of painting the image of cannon ports on the side of one's ship in order to present the appearance of having more guns than a ship actually does, and thereby convincing any adversary that they were outgunned, forgoing engagement.^{[citation needed]}

This term is presently used to indicate the falsification of documentation in order to avoid actually doing the work or make present conditions seem otherwise acceptable.

See also

• Glossary of nautical terms
• Son of a gun

This naval article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e