Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-10-05
RIFLED STEEL MORTARs;
THE ARMY's NEW ORDINANCE
TESTED BEFORE SANTIAGO.

They Are Little Compared with Naval
Guns. Have Accuracy Of Firs and Arc
Destructive iii EfeEt=Played an Iinpor-
tant Part III Forcing TSili to SURRENDER.
There Is no more important piece Of
ordnance used in our war operations
than the little rifed mortars that
threw explosives, Shells, and heavy
steel pf5jectiies with destructive effect
against the Spanish intrenchments
and rife pits between the American
lines and Santiago: Tie field inortars
are believed by the army men in
Washington to have played an impor-
tant part in compelling the surrender
of the Spanish troops ara to haze
assisted in the captmo of strategic
points which otherwise might not have
been taken without severe loss to the
invading soldiers.
These listle mortars have not been
generally adopted i'll armies, except
Ill this country, and never had sn'
actual trial against the enemy until
tie recent fight between Skaters men
and those Of General Toral. They
are light, can be readily transported
with an advancing body of inen, are
quick Of fire, and are almost as accurate
as the riAed field piece; Although the
shot fired by them describes d tra:
jectorS that takes it sodrinS hundreds
Of feet lip in the air, the accuracy OF
FIRE is SO great that an exploding shell
Can be dropped two miles away, with.
in d space no larger than good-sized
ballrooni: =.
When compared With the. old,
smooth-bore muzzle leaders of the
civil war period; which shot farabut
with I'D certainty as to where the shell
would fall, the new mortars like those
at Santiago are MS great an improve
ment as the modern Small arm is over
the old Springfield: !.
With the modern mortar proFido1
with d riAed chamber md breecE:,
loading apparatus the ordnance ex-
perts claim that they can plump d shot
into any ordinary sized rife pit and
knock the top off any house atwhich
It is aimel within the radius Of its
action. Although. the proiectile goes
high in the air and then takes plung-.
ing course, the range can be accurately
reached by reducing or increasing the.
powder charge. The explosion of q
7.inch shell in rife pit should kill
DR. severely iniure eYery man iii t;and,
if ono fell behind an intrencbment
where men were assembled thickly
1t would have the power to wipe out
practically half 4 company:
Mortars, howit7ers and field guns
were the heavy ordnance used by the
army III front of Santiago, but for
shelling q city no piece was believed
by the officers to be better adapted for
effective work than the mortars. Two
kinds are used in the army, the heavier
being the 7-iuch and the other the
3.6-ilich. The heavy mortar has q
weight Of IT'S poinds and n total
length of only So inches, tie length
of the bore being seven ca!i5aes. A
proiectile weighing 100 pounds is used
for the important work of clearing
rife pits, and can be sent accurately
to distance of considerably moro
than three miles, and dropped within
q space 100 by u feet three times out
of fre. To send this shell through
the mir only five and one-half pounds
of powder is required, which develops
on initial velocity for the proiectile of
about $50 feet second: The pressure
exerted is $4,000 poundsto the;square
inch, which seems high for SO small Sa
charge, and the range Of the mortar is
placed at 4340 yards, Or neatly three
miles. The fighting range which
will be generally employed, however,
is not oypeoted to exceed two miles.
In the operations before Santiago it
was less, although when General
Shafter determined to lombard the
city if Toral failed to comply to his
demand for surrender, the mortar
batteries were not less than two miles
from tho centre of The town and were
to be fired at that distance. inside
the finch mortar shell is 1912
pounds of powder whose explosion
throws hundreds of small pieces of
the shell in every direction. A fuse
ignites the powder MS the shell strikes
the ground, AMI if che explosion is
instant the destruction in its imme-
diate vicinity should be terrific.
Shopld the shell, however, hit soft
earth and bury itself before exploding
its effectiveness is practically lost.
The experience in firing mortars at
Santiago showed that this occurred
frequently.
These mortars nre adapted to.fire
the pro ectilcs of the 7-inch howitzer
MS we'll rs the shells. Besides the
o-dinary shell the mortar is intended
10 Ere rs we'll a steel shell of $50
ponnds weight and approximately of
five calibre length, charged with high
explosive for great destructive effect.
This piece supplies the heaviest calibre
that the army regards rs necessary for
field purposes and is intended for just
such purposes as those to which twas
put at Santiago.
The 3. G-inch mortar is fired from
solilly constructed platform weighing
200 pounds. The platform is held in
position by stakes, the recoil being
taken mp and kept within limits by
ropes made fast to an anchor stake.
The range Of this mortar varies from
800 yards to $500, and its fire is just
as accurate MS that OF the larger piece.
Twelve ounces of powder explodes the
shell. and the amount required to
propel it varies from five ounces for
the smallest distance to fifteen ounces
for the greatest obtainable range.
Experiments with this piece show that
almost every shot can be landed with
in the space of an ordinary room.