Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1898-11-03
RIFLED STEEL M0RTARS:
THE ARMY'S NEW ORDINANCE
TESTED BEFORE SANTIAGO.

ordnance used III our war operations
than the little rified mortars that
threw explosives, shells, and heavy
steel projectiles with destructive effect
against the Spanish intrenchments
aud rifle pits between the American
lines and Santiago. The field mortars
are believed by the army men in
Washington to have played an impor-
tant part in compelling the surrender
of the Spanish troops and to have
assisted i'll the capture 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 in armies, except
in this country, and never had an
actual trial against the enemy until
the recent fight between Skaters men
and those of General Toral. They
are light, can be readily transported
with an advancing body of men, are
quick of fire, and are almost as accurate
as the rifed field piece Although the
shot fired by them describes ira
lectory that takes it soaring hundreds
OF feet up in the air, the accuracy of
fire is so great that an exploding she'll
can be dropped two miles away with
In space no larger than a good-sized
ballroom.
When compared with the old
smooth-bore muzzle leaders of the
civil war period, which shot far but
with no certainty as to where the shell
would fall, the new mortars like those
at Santiago are as great an improve
ment as the modern small arm is over
the old Springfield
With the modern mortar provided
with riaed chamber and breech-
loading apparatus the ordnance ex-
perts claim that they can plump shot
into any ordinary sized rife pit and
knock the top off any house e " n n
It is aimed wiz no iaoiuS oi MS
action. AIuaVugh tae pro cctlie goes
high in H. air and ,Acn t7fos plung-
ine ao,,tse, the ranee can be accurately
reached by reducing or increasing the
powder charge. The explosion of a
7-inch shell in rifle pit should kill
or severely iniure every man in it, and
if one fell behind an intrenchment
where men were assembled thickly
it would have the power to wipe out
practically half company.
Mortars, howitzers and field guns
were the heavy ordnance used by the
army in front of Santiago, but for
shelling 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 finch and the other tho
3.6-inch. The heavy mortar has a
weight of 1715 pounds and total
length of only 5S inches, the length
of the bore being seven calibres. A
proiectile weighing 100 pounds is used
for tho important work of clearing
rifle pits, and can be sent accurately
to a distance of considerably more
than three miles, and dropped within
q space 100 by II feet three times out
of five. To send this she'll through
the air only five and one-half pounds
of powder is required, which develops
an initial velocity for the proiectile of
about $50 feet a second. The pressure
exerted is 1S, 900 pounds to the square
inch, which seems high for so small n
charge, and the range of the mortar is
placed at 1910 yards, or nearly three
miles. The fighting range which
will be generally employed, however,
is not expected 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 the centre of the town and were
to be fired at that distance. Inside
the Finch mortar shell is - Ii
pounds of powder whose explosion
throws hundreds of small pieces of
the she'll in every direction. A fuse
ignites the powder as the shell strikes
the ground, and if tho explosion is
instant the destruction in its imme-
diate vicinity should be terrific.
Should 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 are adapted to fire
the pro ectiles of the 7-inch howitzer
as well as the shells. Besides the
ordinary shell the mortar is intended
to fire as we'll steel she'll of $50
pounds 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 as necessary for
field purposes and is intended for just
such purposes as those to which it was
put at Santiago.
The 3. G-inch mortar is fired from
solidly constructed platform weighing
200 pounds. The platform is held in
position by stakes, the recoil being
taken up 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 as that of the larger piece.