The Valée system (French:"Système Valée") was an artillery system developed between 1825 and 1831 by the French artillery officer
Sylvain Charles Valée
Sylvain-Charles, comte Valée (17 December 1773 – 16 August 1846), born in Brienne-le-Château, was a Marshal of France.
Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, Valée enlisted in the French revolutionary army and was sent to serve i ...
,
[''Elements of Military Art and History'' by Nicolas Édouard Delabarre-Duparcq, p.146-14]
/ref> and officially adopted by the French Army from 1828.
Specifications
The Valée system consisted in various technical improvements to the Gribeauval system
The Gribeauval system (French: ''système Gribeauval'') was an artillery system introduced by Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval during the 18th century. This system revolutionized French cannons, with a new production syste ...
and Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
's Year XI system
The Year XI system (French:"Système An XI", after of the 11th year of the French Republic, i.e. 1803) was a French artillery system developed during the rule of Napoleon. The Year XI system was original in that it brought various improvements to ...
. The system mainly improved the mobility of the artillery train, and simplified maintenance by standardizing limber usage and wheel size, and reducing the number of carriage types to two.howitzers
A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like oth ...
of 24 pounds and 6 inches ( Obusier de 15 cm), and a siege howitzer of 8 inches. Mountain artillery pieces were of 12 pound caliber. Mortars were of 12, 10 and 8 inches, with a 15 inches stone mortar.
Deployment
French artillery would be reorganized along the Valee system in 1827. The "Valée system" would be used at the Capture of Alger (1830) and the Fall of Constantine (1837), as well as during the Crimea War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
(1853-1856).
An American version of the Valee system was also developed. Some pieces are visible at the Concord Battery, Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the co ...
.[''US Field Gun Carriages—Their History and Evolution'' by Matthew C. Switli]
A new generation of weapons would emerge in Shotgun shell, shell-firing canon obusier
The Canon-obusier (literally "Shell-gun cannon", "gun-howitzer") was a type of cannon developed by France in the 1850s. The canon-obusier was a smoothbore cannon using either explosive shells, solid shot, or canister, and was therefore a vast i ...
s, with the invention of the naval shell-gun by Paixhans in 1823, and the introduction of the canon obusier de 12
The Canon obusier de 12 (officially the "Canon obusier de campagne de 12 livres, modèle 1853"), also known as the "Canon de l’Empereur" ("emperor's cannon"), was a type of canon-obusier (literally "shell-gun cannon", "gun-howitzer") developed ...
in 1853 by the French Army
History
Early history
The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...
, which would render the Valée system obsolete.
See also
Notes
Image:Canon_de_16_cm_Valee.jpg, Canon de campagne de 16 cm Valée, ''Le Fléau'', field artillery, modèle 1828, bronze, founded in Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
in 1845. Caliber: 165.5 mm. Length: 1.88 m. Weight: 885 kg. Ammunition: 11.3 kg shell with sabot.
Image:Obusier_de_12_cm_Valee.jpg, Obusier de 12 cm Valée, ''Le Bélier'', mountain artillery, modèle 1828, bronze, founded in Douai
Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...
in 1844. Caliber: 120 mm. Length: 0.86 m. Weight: 101 kg. Ammunition: 4 kg shell.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valee system
Artillery of France