Scale: 1/76
 
Set includes 2 gunades (cannons) with carriages.
 
This pair of models represents the two captured Royal Navy Congreve 24-pounder "shifting gunades" fitted to USS Constitution in 1814 under the direction of Captain Charles Stewart.

A "gunade" is essentially a specialized cannon that blends the design of a long gun (traditional cannon) and a carronade (a short, lightweight cannon).
 
The models feature a King George III monogram on the top of the barrel.

In 1814, the American privateer Fox captured the British merchantman Stranger which was carrying a number of weapons intended for a British frigate under construction in Jamaica.  Among the captured weapons were new Congreve gunades cast in 1813.  Constitution's captain, Captain Charles Stewart, arranged to have a pair of the new gunades brought aboard USS Constitution.  Stewart replaced the two forward-most carronades with a single Congreve gunade and the two rear-most carronades with the second gunade.  The weapons were aboard ship when Constitution defeated HMS Cyane and HMS Levant in February, 1815.
 
The Congreve 24-pounder gunade was a radical, experimental pattern of smooth-bore cannon designed by Sir William Congreve in the early 19th century.  It was created for the Royal Navy and Royal Artillery to offer a lighter, shorter gun that could still pack the punch of a heavy 24-pounder.

The goal was to produce a lighter gun than the standard Blomefield 24-pounder long gun while still allowed for "double-shotting" (firing two cannonballs simultaneously) without adding excessive weight to the ship or carriage.  The gun's designer, Colonel William Congreve, was able to achieve this goal by creating a much shorter gun of just 7 feet, 6 inches long, thus reducing the weight to about 4100 cwt (hundredweight, about 4500 pounds).  He also redistributing the metal, concentrating most of it around the breech (the back of the barrel) rather than the chase (the front).  Compared to the standard Blomefield 24-pounder cannons then in service, the Congreve gunade's muzzle resembled a carronade, the breeching ring was omitted, and the trunnions were cast much further rearward.
 
The two captured gunades brought aboard Constitution were known as "shifting gunades" because they were rigged to allow them to be easily and quickly moved from one side of the ship to the other during combat.

For maximum scale accuracy, this pair of models was designed from contemporary drawings of the guns held by the Royal Military College, and a detailed description of the guns published in 1814 entitled "A Concise Account of the Origin of the New Class of 24-pounder Medium Guns, of reduced Length and Weight, proposed by Colonel Congreve, for the arming of Frigates".

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