Broadside

Broadside, the simultaneous discharge of all the guns on one side of a ship of war. The fighting power of a ship used to be estimated by the weight of all the shot and shell that could be fired off at once from one side or half of the ship. Thus, the broadside of the old-fashioned Duke of Wellington, 131-gun war-steamer, amounted to 2400 lb. With ironclad turret-ships the term is inapplicable. See NAVY.