Mortars

the mortar derives its name from the apothecaries mortar which the originals strongly resembled the mortar was a large and heavy bowl made from iron that was loaded with gunpowder and a heavy projectile and fired by use of a hot iron through a vent hole in the side much like a cannon the first use of mortars was as defensive fixed emplacements behind castle walls on battlements their high angle of fire allowed them to log projectiles over high walls but close in defending the Battlement approaches early mortars were heavy and very difficult to move one Baron menno fan ko horn developed a portable mortar that weighed around 82 kilograms which could easily be moved and provide offensive firepower against fixed emplacements particularly in 1673 at the siege of Graf [Music] extensive use of portable mortars occurred during the American Civil War the Union Army employed them defensively to protect rail heads and their fragile supply lines the Russell Japanese war also saw use of the mortar this was the first modern war to see the extensive use of trenches and from that early time the usefulness of the mortar to attack trenches was seen [Music] Leonid go Beato and general Roman kondratenko designed the first mortar to fire a navy shell [Music] by the time of the first world war smaller one man waters had been designed again because of their high angle of fire they could penetrate deep trenches but conventional artillery could not [Music] sir wilfrid Stokes invented his Stokes water in 1915 it was one-person portable and easy to use the Germans also developed a series of trench mortars or mean and versa these were rifled mortars with a much lower rate of fire there are two ways to stabilize the mortar round in flight the fins at the base of the projectile or by spinning the round like a rifle bullet both have their advantages but the fin-stabilised smoothbore mortar is by far the more common the modern mortar usually consists of three main parts the barrel base plate and the bipod calibers of 60 millimetres to 120 millimetres are common and most operate the same way the mortar is placed in positioned and adjusted for target then the mortar round is prepared each one has a preset amount of propellant in its base these are augmented by additional amounts of propellant attached to the base depending on the range of the target the more propellant the further they can fly the round is then armed and dropped into the muzzle of the barrel the round slides down and strikes a fixed firing pin at the base of the tube the propellant is ignited and the expanding gases force the round out of the cube at high speed larger versions can be electrically operated or may have a firing pin system similar to an artillery piece there is also the spigot mortar variant once again these are smaller and easily portable the projectile fits over the solid rod or spigot inside the round is the propellant charge that is fired by a built-in trigger mechanism these are generally quieter to operate on a standard mortar and simpler to manufacture however the specialized spigot mortar ammunition is heavier and slightly less effective currently they are not in favor in most Arsenal's one example of the silent mortar is the Belgium fly case figured since adopted by the French as the tn8 one one one other types and shapes of projectiles were used including these plum puddings from the trenches of World War one [Music] [Music] [Music] as with all weapons systems someone has to build the biggest three monster mortars were developed with a caliber of 910 millimeters of 36 inches all hijos officials built his in 1832 mallets mortar was built in London in 1857 and little David was built in the USA during the Second World War only the monster mortar of Bashan saw service at the Battle of Antwerp in 1832 modern mortars come in a variety of sizes from the British 51 millimeter light mortar which has only a barrel and base plate and is manually adjusted for angle to the French standard 81-millimeter mortar a larger version is the soviet 2s for and 1975 to ban a 240 millimeter self-propelled mortar mortars can fire a variety of munitions from high-explosive smoke or illuminating including infrared and gas [Music] during the First World War mortars were used extensively to deploy poison gas in an attempt to clear enemy trenches these mortars were often simple devices placed in trenches aligned and then buried to secure them a small propellant charge and electric detonator were placed in the mortar then a pressurized canister or bottle of the gas weapon loaded the rank of mortars would then be fired electrically from some safe distance the gas would be lobbed through the air into the enemy emplacements and dispersed because of the heavier-than-air nature of mustard gas it would remain close to the ground in particular in the trenches with its lethal effects would linger for a long period of time nor all nations have signed agreements banning the use of such weapons [Music]

Channel: Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Views: 2,460,372

Rating: 4.8195248 out of 5

Keywords: WarMachines, mortars, cold war arms race, arms race cold war, a340 documentary, airbus a340 documentary, nuclear arms race, airbus a340, cold war nuclear arms race, life aboard a submarine, jensen healey, lotus europa, airbus documentary, castle design, nuclear arms race cold war, mg tc, unknown, kelly johnson, ssgn, roman castle, the arms race cold war, colt paterson, datsun 2000, implosion bomb, uss florida, time on target artillery., Mortar (Military Resource)

Id: ONDjo_jSy4Q

Length: 7min 9sec (429 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 07 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/WhaleMeatFantasy]

What's the difference between an early mortar and a cannon?

[u/[deleted]]

As a Russian and German speaker, I can appreciate his onpoint pronunciation of the names of the inventors and the german name for mortar.

[u/a_german_guy]

How do the propellant charges ignite?

[u/DangerDetective]

Whenever I asked my grandpa about his time on a mortar team in Korea, he just held a hand up to his ear and shouted "WHAT?"

[u/dh512ohdh0o]

Little David mortar military video

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Little David mortar military video	dh512ohdh0o
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[u/lolnottelling]

Now want to know the pros and cons of a stabilized versus spinning mortar because he mentioned there were differences but didn't say what they were. :(

[u/[deleted]]

Kurt Vonnegut talked about firing one of the big guns in WW1 he said they would put in the round and then they would throw in a bunch of "damp dog biscuits" into the chamber and then a few minutes later it would shoot.

[u/thefatrabitt]

Was this voiced by that dude from the it crowd?