Editing Congreve rocket (section)

===Crimean War and Indian Rebellion of 1857===

During the [[Crimean War]] (1853–1856) and the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]] of 1857, marines and sailors from the Royal Navy used Congreve rockets. "Bluejackets" armed with rockets from {{HMS|Shannon|1855|6}} and {{HMS|Pearl|1855|6}}, under the command of [[William Peel (Royal Navy officer)|Captain William Peel]], were among the Naval Brigade participating in the force led by Sir Colin Campbell at the Second Relief of Lucknow. There is an eye-witness narrative of the taking of the heavily-fortified [[Imambara Shah Najaf|Shah Najaf mosque]] written by William Forbes Mitchell: at a late stage ''Captain Peel had ... brought his infernal machine, known as a rocket battery, to the front, and sent a volley of rockets through the crowd on the ramparts.''.<ref name="Forbes-Mitchell">{{cite book |last1=Forbes-Mitchell |first1=William |title=Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny |date=1910 |publisher=Macmillan & Co |location=London |page=81 |isbn=9788120616417 |url=https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofg00will/page/80/mode/2up |access-date=27 June 2020 |ref=Forbes-Mitchell}}</ref> After a second salvo from the rocket battery, many of the rebels fled and the mosque was finally taken by storm. When Forbes-Mitchell entered the enclosure he found only numerous dead defenders. According to a modern historian, "Peel's rockets had tipped the scale and the Shah Najaf fell to the British just as they had been about to fall back".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spilsbury |first1=Julian |title=The Indian Mutiny |date=2007 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=Great Britain |isbn=978-0-2978-5630-6 |chapter=Chapter 10 – Campbell's March}}</ref>