ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

70-pounder Whitworth naval gun

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a big cannon before? Imagine a really, really big one that weighs 70 pounds. That's the 70-pounder Whitworth naval gun!

This type of cannon was used on big boats called naval ships a long time ago. It's called a Whitworth gun because it was designed by a guy named Sir Joseph Whitworth who was really good at making precise engineering tools like guns.

The 70-pounder Whitworth naval gun was made of heavy metal, and it was so powerful that it could shoot cannonballs really far. In fact, it could shoot up to 8,000 yards away! That's about 4.5 miles, which is even farther than you can run in one go.

The gun was also really accurate because of its special rifling. Rifling is when the inside of the gun has grooves that spin the cannonball as it's being shot out. This helps it go straighter and hit the target better. The 70-pounder Whitworth naval gun's rifling was super precise, which made it really good at hitting things far away.

Overall, the 70-pounder Whitworth naval gun was a really cool piece of technology from a long time ago. It was a big, heavy, and powerful cannon that could shoot really far and accurately.