The chase guns, usually distinguished as bow chasers and stern chasers (or just chasers for short) were cannons mounted in the bow or stern of a sailing ship. | NOTE Throughout this article "cannon" is used as BOTH the || singular and plural The bow (pronounced &mdashrhymes with how) is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a Ship or Boat, The stern is the rear or aft part of a Ship or Boat, technically defined as the area built up over the Sternpost, extending upwards from the Counter Sailing ship is now used to refer to any large Wind -powered Vessel. They were used to attempt to slow down a ship either pursuing or being pursued, typically by damaging the rigging and thereby causing the target to lose performance. Rigging (from Anglo-Saxon wrigan or wringing, "to clothe" is on Sailboats and Sailing ships the collection of

Bow chasers might be regular guns brought up from the gundeck and aimed through specially cut-out ports on either side of the bowsprit, or dedicated weapons made with an unusually long bore and a relatively light ball, and mounted in the bow. The bowsprit, or boltsprit, of a Sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow Stern chasers could also be improvised, or left permanently in the cabins at the stern, covered up and used as part of the furniture.

In the age of sail, shiphandling had been brought to a high art, and chases frequently lasted for hours or sometimes days, as each crew fine-tuned their sails to take advantage of small variations in the wind. The Age of Sail was the period in which International trade and Naval warfare were dominated by Sailing Ships lasting from the 16th to the mid A sail is any type of surface intended to generate Thrust by being placed in a Wind &mdashin essence a vertically-oriented Wing. A single lucky shot could cut through a critical line, or cause a sail to split if the wind was strong, so if the ships were within range, the best gunners on each would use their chasers to make carefully aimed and timed shots at the other.

During World War II, the Royal Navy fitted bow chasers, usually QF 2-pdr pom-poms, to many Hunt class destroyers employed escorting east coast convoys, to provide a weapon capable of dealing with E-boat attacks. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder ( QF denoting "quick firing" and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1 History The Royal Navy had identified the need for two types of destroyer large vessels with heavy gun and torpedo armaments for fleet work and another for escort duties History After the Treaty of Versailles most of Germany's military production was severely curtailed

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