The cutlass was generally a slashing sword. It's short length and curved wide blade made it very effective. It could be used for thrusting as well but that wasn't it's strong suit or it's design. The cutlass was not only used as a weapon. In some areas this sword would be used to clear brush and cut sugarcane in the central American rain forest regions because of its machete style . The cutlass was appealing to sailors because of it's versatility. It was an effective close quarters fighting sword that was efficient above and below deck where larger length swords would be cumbersome and difficult to swing. When not in a skirmish the sword was a great tool day to day for cutting rope, canvas and was even robust enough for chopping wood.
Their short-bladed cutlasses did not trip or hinder these boarders as they climbed, and in the deadly fighting, the wieldy weapons seldom fouled in rigging or wreckage. Dueling seamen swung the broad, heavy blades with skull-cleaving force even at close quarters on the slippery, congested decks.
First cousin to the longer, lighter cavalry saber, the naval cutlass was designed for sea-fighting as the saber was adapted to land-battles. Because boarding actions were fought on the crowded decks of small vessels amid tangles of shrouds and splintered spars and struggling shipmates and foemen, Jack Tar's blade had to be short for easy control, and heavy enough to provide its own momentum in slashing. (Unlike the cavalry trooper's trusty saber, Jack's cutlass did not have the weight of a galloping horse behind it!) The cutlass had a straight or slightly-curved blade designed both for cutting and thrusting. A large, enclosed guard shielded the swordsman's hand.
The cutlass issued to enlisted men of the Continental Navy and the United States Navy was a highly-specialized weapon which evolved slowly from the falchion, a medieval cutting-sword with a broad, slightly-curved, single-edged blade.
From about 1740 to 1780, the cutlass was a simple, sturdy sword with an imported blade and a crude wooden cylinder for a hilt. The single-edged blade was curved so slightly that it appeared straight at first glance. A colonial armorer named Richard Gridley made several of these weapons.
At the onset of the American Revolution, the cutlass had acquired its distinctive features, but American-made models were still crude. When possible, rebelling colonists captured and used the superior British cutlass, which had a straight, single-edged blade and a hilt of blackened iron. The grip was a hollow, forged-iron cylinder wrapped around a wooden core.
The Navy's first contract with Starr was signed in 1799. This cutlass had a straight, one-edged blade 29 Â inches long and 1 Â inches wide at the hilt, with a narrow groove (called a fuller) on each side near the back edge, for balance. This weapon's overall length was 35 inches, and it had no scabbard. Many of these swords probably skewered Barbary pirates at Tripoli when Stephen Decatur and his volunteers burned the Philadelphiain 1804.
During the first decade of the 19th century, the cutlass had a flat, slightly-curved blade clipped like a Bowie knife at the point. Including the grips and wide guard, this sword was 32 Â inches long and was greatly superior to earlier models.
In 1808, Commodore John Rodgers of the Brooklyn Navy Yard awarded Nathan Starr a contract for 2,000 cutlasses at $2.50 each. This weapon was 35 Â inches long with a single-edged, straight blade. The guard was made of iron, beaten to concavity and lacquered black. The grip was a maple cylinder protected from splitting by two metal rings (ferrules) clamped around the handle near its upper and lower ends. In the hands of New England seamen, these cutlasses felled scores of Britons during bloody boarding actions in the War of 1812, including the capture by HMS Shannonof James Lawrence's Chesapeake in 1813, and Wasp's victory over HMS Reindeer in 1814, one of the fiercest cutlass-fights in the annals of the sea.
Starr's 1816 contract called for 3,000 swords at $3.00 each. This model was like the 1808, but shorter. It was 31 Â inches long, with a grooved, 26-inch blade. Caribbean corsairs got the point when American landing-parties carried these cutlasses ashore in island raids during the next ten years. These blades helped to clear the West Indies of buccaneers.
In 1826, Nathan Starr filled an order for 2,000 weapons at $4.25 per piece. This cutlass, 30 Â inches in length, possessed a curved blade with narrow fuller. With it came an iron scabbard, japanned black.
A radical change in design occurred in 1841 when the Navy gave a cutlass contract to the Ames Manufacturing Company. This seagoing snickersnee was a throwback to the short Roman broadsword. A heavy, unwieldy weapon, it had a straight, double-edged blade 21 inches long and 1 Â inches wide at the hilt. The guard was a broad strip of brass. The entire cutlass was 26 1/4 inches long, and it hung in a black leather sheath. This sword went ashore with American bluejackets at Vera Cruz and Tabasco during the Mexican War.
This broadsword wore out its welcome by 1860, when the Navy adopted a new design, patterned after the French naval cutlass. A superior weapon, this model became standard for the next 80 years. It had a sturdy, single-edged, slightly-curved blade. The wooden grips were covered with leather and were bound with brass wire. The pommel at the lower end of the handle was of brass, helmet-shaped.
This cutlass measured 32 inches, with a 26-inch blade 1 Â inches wide at the hilt. It was wielded by Union and Confederate sailors in the American Civil War; was carried on US Navy ships in the Spanish-American War and in World War I; was issued aboard US Navy gunboats sailing Philippine coves and Chinese lakes and rivers from 1898 into the 1930's; and was still in use at the beginning of World War II.
Like its two-edged predecessor, the 1860 cutlass had a black leather scabbard and was made by Ames, whose cutlasses ruled for a century. Many 1860-model cutlasses are on exhibit aboard USSConstitution in Boston Harbor.
In 1917, the Navy designed and made its own cutlass. Only a few were produced and it was not issued for service. A beautiful piece with blued metal parts, it featured a curved, grooved blade with a clipped point. The wooden grips were secured by copper rivets and were painted black, including the rivet-heads. This sword was 29 Â inches long, of which 24 7/8 inches made up the blade, which was 1 3/8 inches wide at its base. It had a black leather sheath with brass mountings.
An unofficial variant of the 1917 model is still around. Never issued for service, it was sold as surplus after World War II. Some specimens of this blade ended their careers in Indonesia. This cutlass was identical to the official 1917 model except that it came in a brown leather scabbard with brass mounts, and the rivets on the grips were polished, not painted.
Though the clash of the cutlass has faded with the roar of the broadside, the cutlass style of combat still is used in competitive saber-fencing, in which fencers score with cuts and thrusts as on the decks of brig and frigate. The Navy cutlass is one of the direct ancestors of the modern, straight-bladed competition-saber, a weapon which is used in one of the internationally-recognized Olympic sports. Except for gymnasium-fencing at Annapolis and other bases, the Navy's swords now draw ceremonial duty only, but the cutlass has carved a proud place for itself in the history of the naval service.
It has been a long time since the ring of cutlass against cutlass has resounded on the quarterdeck of Navy ships. Exactly how long is not known, but this one-time side arm companion of the bluejacket has vanished from the bulkhead racks of Navy ships where it had rested for so many years and was officially declared obsolete in today's Navy by NavOrd Inst. 4500-1 in November 1949.
This final blow all but obliterated the cutlass that changing tactics and advancements of modern warfare had already labeled a museum piece. For a while prior to World War II the broad blade had rested in the racks of some modern steel vessels as a relic of "the old days" or to be taken down for occasional ceremonial use.
In 1954 the officer's ceremonial sword was officially restored as part of the uniform to be worn on prescribed occasions. However, three years before this, a group of enlisted men at Bainbridge Naval Training Center independently brought back the use of the cutlass on the parade ground and drill field. In fact, the cutlass has been an instrumental device at Bainbridge since it re-openend recruit training in 1951.
Cutlasses are used by the recruits selected as members of battalion staffs during parade formations. All recruits can try out for staff positions but only five from each company are selected. These sailors receive instructions in cutlass manual with the 1917 version of the curved sword, and are salted with a bit of its colorful background to carry on with them in their Navy career.
Historical data on the cutlass is rather slim and indefinite. It was never considered part of the bluejacket's uniform as was the officer's sword, but was part of the station equipment kept in bulkhead racks to be issued prior to attack or boarding party and it was also carried by certain enlisted members of landing parties.
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