What is "chase gun"

Chase \Chase\, n. [Cf. F. chasse, fr. chasser. See Chase, v.]

1. Vehement pursuit for the purpose of killing or capturing, as of an enemy, or game; an earnest seeking after any object greatly desired; the act or habit of hunting; a hunt. ``This mad chase of fame.''
   --Dryden.

   You see this chase is hotly followed.
   --Shak.

2. That which is pursued or hunted.

   Nay, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase, For I myself must hunt this deer to death.
   --Shak.

3. An open hunting ground to which game resorts, and which is private properly, thus differing from a forest, which is not private property, and from a park, which is inclosed. Sometimes written chace. [Eng.]

4. (Court Tennis) A division of the floor of a gallery, marked by a figure or otherwise; the spot where a ball falls, and between which and the dedans the adversary must drive his ball in order to gain a point.

   Chase gun (Naut.), a cannon placed at the bow or stern of an armed vessel, and used when pursuing an enemy, or in defending the vessel when pursued.

   Chase port (Naut.), a porthole from which a chase gun is fired.

   Stern chase (Naut.), a chase in which the pursuing vessel follows directly in the wake of the vessel pursued.

   cut to the chase (Film), a term used in action movies meaning, to shift the scene to the most exciting part, where someone is being chased. It is used metaphorically to mean ``get to the main point''.

n. (context nautical English) A gun moved temporarily from its normal broadside position to fire through the chase ports in the bow or stern of a ship.

A chase gun, usually distinguished as bow chaser and stern chaser (or just chaser for short) was a cannon mounted in the bow (aiming forward) or stern (aiming backward) of a sailing ship. They were used to attempt to slow down a ship either pursuing or being pursued, typically by damaging the rigging and thereby causing the target to lose performance.

Bow chasers could be regular guns brought up from the gundeck and aimed through specially cut-out ports on either side of the bowsprit, or dedicated weapons made with an unusually long bore and a relatively light ball, and mounted in the bow. Stern chasers could also be improvised, or left permanently in the cabins at the stern, covered up and used as part of the furniture.

In the Age of Sail, shiphandling had been brought to a high art, and chases frequently lasted for hours or sometimes days, as each crew fine-tuned their sails to take advantage of small variations in the wind. A single lucky shot could cut through a critical line, or cause a sail to split if the wind was strong, so if the ships were within range, the best gunners on each would use their chasers to make carefully aimed and timed shots at the other.

During World War II, the Royal Navy fitted bow chasers, usually QF 2-pdr pom-poms, to many s employed escorting east coast convoys, to provide a weapon capable of dealing with E-boat attacks.