The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-24
RIFIED STEEL MORTARS.
RIM ARnrYys NEW ORDINANCE TEgT7ED
BEFORE GlNT1I9O.

Guns, but Have Accuracy of Fire and Are
Destructive IN EHsot-Plans for UstnG
Them in Porto Rico and Against Havane.
wAsH1NoroN. July 23.-when the campaign
against Ban Juan. Porto Rico. opens and the
American troops begin to hammer for entrance
into the city OF Havana there will be no moro
important piece Of ordnance used in the opera
lions than the little rined mortars that threw
explosives, shells. and heavy steel projectiles
with destructive effect against the Spanish In
trenchments and rife pits between the Ameri-
can lines and Santiago. The field mortars are
believed by the army men here to have played
an important part In compelling the surrender
OF the Spanish troops and TO have assisted In
tho capture OF strategic points which otherwise
might not have been taken without severe loss
to the invading soldiers.
These little mortars have not been generally
adopted In armies. except in this country. and
never had an actual trial against an enemy I'M
til the recent fight between Skaters men and
those OF Gen. Toral. They are light, can be
readily transported with an advancing body of
men. are quick OF FIRE. and are almost as accu-
rate ns the ri1ed field piece. Although the shot
fred from one Of them describes q trajectory
that that takes IL soaring hundreds OF feet up
In tho air. the accuracy Of fire Is so great that
an exploding shell can be dropped two miles
away within q space no larger than q good-sized
ballroom.
When compared with the old emooth-boro
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 arc as great ar improvement as the
modern small arm ia over the old Springfield.
There was as much danger almost In using the
war period mortar to those behind as to those
in front. II the proiectile fell within an acre OF
the point aimed at the ordnance men thought
they were doing pretty well. II required the
services OF several men to swab out, load. and
set the mortar of. and II one shot out of half
o dozen proved effective the shooting was
thought accurate.
With the modern mortar provided with a
rihed chamber and breech-loading apparatus
the ordnance experts claim that they can
plump n shot into any ordinary sized rife pit
and knock the top OF any house at which It is
aimed within the radius Of its action. Although
the projectile goes high in tho air and then
takes a plunging course. the range can be ac-
curately reached by reducing or increasing the
powder charge. Tho explosion OF q 7-inoh
shell In a rifle pit should kill or severely injure
every man in It. and il one fell behind an in
trenchment where mon were assembled thlokly
1t would have the power to wipe out practically
half a company.
Mortars. howitzers and field guns were the
DGuNg uilh W NAiO oihg ~ ~ Va
Santiago. but for shelling a 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. tho heavier being the z
inch and the other the 3.6-inch. The heavy
mortar has a weight of !, no pounds and q total
length OF only IS inches, the length OF the
bore being seven calibres. A projectlle weigh
ing 120 pounds is used for tho important work
OF clearing rifle pits. and can be sent accurate
ly to a distance Of considerably more than
three miles, and dropped within q space 100
by IL feet three times out OF five.
To send this shell through the air only
5X pounds Of powder ia required. which de-
velopes an initial velocity for the projectile OF
about $50 feet a second. The pressure exerted
is 1900 pounds to the square inch, which
seems high for 80 small a charge. and the range
OF h 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 Gen.
Shafter determined to lombard the city IL
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 7-inch mortar shell ID 12% pounds
OF powder whose explosion throws hundreds o.
small pieces OF the shell in every direction. A
fuse ignites the powder as the shell strikes the
ground, and If the explosion is instant the de-
s~truction in its immediate vicinity should be
terrific. Should the shell. however. hit soft
earth and bury itself before exploding its efIec.
tiveness ia practically lost. The experience in
firing mortars at Santiago showed that this oc.
Cured infrequently.
These mortars are adapted to fire the projec,
tiles OF the finch howitzer as we'll as the shells
paciIao tho ordinary Ghall fha mortar 10 in,
tended to fire as well n steel she'll of ia pounds
weight and approximately of 5 calibre length
charged with high explosive for great destruc,
tive effect. Reduced charges of powder can be
used to make the effective limit Of fire cover
ranges between $50 yards at 15' elevation and
1910 yards at 45' elevation. This piece sup.
plies the heaviest calibre that the army regard:
as necessary for field purposes and is intended
for Just such purposes as those to which it wat
put at Santiago.
The 3.o-inch mortar is fired from q solidly
constructed platform weighing 200 pounds
The platform Is held In position by stakes. thu
recoil being taken up and kept within limits b.
ropes made fast to an anchor stake. The rang,
Of this mortar varies from 300 yards to $500
and its fire Is Just as accurate as that OF thu
larger piece. Twelve ounces Of powder ex
plodes the shell. and tho amount required u
propel it varies from five ounces for the small
est distance to fifteen ounces for the creates
obtainable range. Experiments with this piec
show that almost every shot can be landet
within the space Of an ordinary room.
So satisfactory have both these weapon
proved in the Santiago campaign that they will
be still more widely used in the attacks on Sal
Juan and later on Havana. If It becomes neces
sary to bonbard either place by the land force
these pieces will do q great part OF the work
They are to the army in creating havoc to tn
intrenchments what the big IL and IS incl
coast defence mortars are to q fleet OF mp
preaching war vessels.