A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron naval cannon. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and, all in all, counting all nations, was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th century. The first navy to use carronades was the Royal Navy. When this new weapon proved its efficiency, other navies such as those of France and Spain adopted it progressively in the late 18th Century and onwards.