Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1899-01-31
0URRIFLED MORTARS
THE ARMY's ORDNANCE TESTED BE-
FORE SANTIAGO.

structive EGect-Plans For Using Them
In Porto Rico and Against Havana.
When the campaign against San
Juan, Porto Rico, opeIs and the Amer.
lean troops begin to hammer for en-.
trance into the city of Havana, there
will be no more important piece Of ord.
nance used in the operations than the
little rifled mortars that threw explo.
sives, shells and heavy steel projectiles
with destructive effect against the
Spanish intrenchments and rifle pits be.
tween the American lines and Santiago.
The field mortars are believed by the
army men in Washington to have played
IN important part in compelling the
surrender of the Spanish troops and to
have assisted in the capture of strategic
been taken without severe loss to the in.
vading soldiers.
These little mortars have not been
generally adopted in armies, except in
the United States, and never had an
actual trial against an enemy until the
recent fight between Skaters men and
those of General Toral They are light,
can be readily transported with an ad.
vancing body of men, are quick Of fire
and are almost as accurate as the rified
fieldpiece Although the shot fired from
one of them describes trajectory that
takes it soaring hundreds of feet up in
the air, the accuracy of fire is so great
that an exploding shell can be dropped
two miles away within space no larger
than good sized ballroom.
With the modern mortar provided
with rifled chamber and breechload-
ing apparatus the ordnance experts
claim that they can plump shot into
any ordinary sized rifle pit and knock
the top off any house at which it is
aimed within tho radius of its action.
Although the projectile goes high in
the air and then takes q plunging
course, the range can be accurately
reached by reducing or increasing the
powder charge. The explosion Of
inch shell i'll rifle pit should kill or
severely iujure 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 shell.
ing city no piece was believed by the
officers to be better adapted fer effective
work than the mortar. Two kinds are
used in the army, the heavier being the
inch and the other the 3.G inch. The
heavy mortar has weight of l,7l5
pounds and a total length Of only So
inches, the length of the bore being
seven calibcrs. A projectile weighing
l20 pounds is used for the important
work of clearing rife pits and can be
sent accurately to distance of consid
erably more than three miles and drop
ped within a space 100 by IL feet three
times out of five. To send this shell
through the air only 81 pounds of
powder is required, which develops an
initial velocity for the projectile of
about $50 feet second. The pressure
exerted is $4,000 pounds to the square
inch, which seems high for SO small a
charge, and the range Of the mortar is
placed at 4,340 yards, or nearly three
miles, The fighting range which will
be generally employed, however, is not
expected to exceed two miles. Inside
the inch mortar shell is lax pounds
of powder, whose explosion throws hun
dreds of small pieces of the shell in
every direction. A fuse ignites the pow
der as the shell strikes the ground and
If the explosion is instant the destruc-
ton in its immediate vicinity should be
terrific. Should the shell, however, hit
soft earth and bury itself before explod-
ing its effectiveness is practically lost.
The experience in firing mortars ut San
tiago showed that this occurred infre-
quently.
These mortars are adapted to fire the
projectiles of the z inch howitzer as
well as the shells. Besides the ordinary
shell the mortar is intended to fire as
well a steel shell Of $50 pounds weight
and approximately Of five caliber length,
charged with high explosive for great
destructive effect. Reduced charges of
powder can be used to make the effective
limit Of fire cover ranges between $50
yards at 10 degrees elevation and 4. $40
yards at 40 degrees elevation. This
piece supplies the heaviest caliber 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 3.6 inch mortar is fired from q
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
B, 800 and its fire is just as accurate as
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 dis
q. Al. u