Mysorean rockets

Mysorean rockets were the first iron-cased rockets successfully deployed for military use. Hyder Ali, the 18th century ruler of Mysore, and his son and successor, Tipu Sultan used them effectively against the British East India Company during the 1780s and 1790s. Their conflicts with the company exposed the British to this technology, which was then used to advance European rocketry with the development of the Congreve rocket in 1805.

Hyder Ali's father, the naik or chief constable at Budikote, commanded 50 rocketmen for the Nawab of Arcot. Tipu Sultan brought the concept of using sword and blade thrust rockets in their military force to fight the advancing British army. There was a regular rocket corps in the Mysore Army, beginning with about 1,200 men in Hyder Ali's time. At the Battle of Pollilur (1780), during the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Colonel William Baillie's ammunition stores are thought to have been detonated by a hit from one of Hyder Ali's rockets, contributing to a humiliating British defeat.

Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan deployed them effectively against the larger British East India Company forces during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. These 'missiles' were fitted with swords and traveled several meters through the air before coming down with edges facing the enemy. The British took an active interest in the technology and developed it further during the 19th century. The Mysore rockets of this period were much more advanced than what the British had seen, chiefly because of the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant; this enabled higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km range). Although rockets existed also in Europe, they were not iron cased, and their range was far less than that of their East Asian counterparts. While these hammered soft iron rockets were crude, the bursting strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction; thus a greater internal pressure was possible. In battles at Srirangapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with considerable effect against the British."

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Wikipedia