Mortars - large-caliber guns with a short (15 caliber) barrel, throwing their shells along a hinged trajectory, were born together with the bombard. Like her, the mortar fired stone cannonballs. But only her shells fell on the enemy's head, flying over the walls of castles and fortresses. And if these walls themselves could at least somehow protect their inhabitants from bombardment nuclei, then it was impossible to defend against mortar fire. The Pumhard mortar of the early 15th century is exhibited in the Military History Museum of Vienna. Its caliber is 890 mm, that is, it is equal to the caliber of our famous Tsar Cannon, and it fired a stone cannonball weighing 800 kg! But although no roof could protect from it, it soon became clear that this was not a very effective weapon for war. After all, stone cores did not burst! Therefore, the military soon decided to shoot from mortars with hollow cast-iron "bombs" stuffed with gunpowder. To ignite the charge, an ignition tube with pressed powder was used, which the powder gases escaping from the barrel together with the projectile were ignited immediately at the time of the shot. The bomb flew, and the tube burned, and when it fell, then … after a while there was an explosion. Moreover, the defeat was inflicted both by its own weight and by the explosion of its charge. Peter I, however, ordered the gunners to "first ignite the bomb in the mortar, and then ignite it behind", which was quite dangerous, but gave confidence that the projectile would explode without fail.
The effectiveness of mortar fire was very high, especially if it was necessary to shoot at fortifications. Indeed, during the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, the British and French lacked superiority in artillery over the defenders. On the contrary, the Russian garrison besieged by them had it! But only the Sevastopol residents mainly had cannons that fired cannonballs on the ground, and the allies, who outnumbered the defenders of the fortress in the number of heavy mortars, bombarded them with destructive explosive shells day and night. And their fire was so effective that our troops had to leave Sevastopol! They were also used in the navy, on special bombarding ships, or, as they were also called, "bombing caches". They had deck reinforcements and several heavy mortars. They fired from them at the coastal fortifications, but also at the enemy's fleet. Of course, it was more difficult to get into the enemy ship from a mortar than from a flat cannon, but on the other hand, the damage was inflicted on him by an explosive bomb. The bomb pierced the deck, or even more than one, and exploded inside the ship, which often led to a fire.
At the same time, the weight of the mortars was very large, besides, their installation in positions required a lot of time. When firing, they jumped strongly, which caused their aiming to be lost. Known, for example, the 330-mm mortar "Dictator", which the northerners used during the siege of Petersburg in Virginia in 1864, weighed 7, 7 tons, so that it was even put on a railway platform. A shell for her weighing 100 kg was lifted by two people with special pliers, and her gun carriage served as a ladder.
We can say that it was the war between the North and the South that became the "swan song" of smooth-bore mortars. Then the mortars became rifled and at times acted quite effectively, but their role was steadily declining. Well, today mortars have become the property of museums, where a lot of their stupid, "green-eyed", heavy and often huge ones are kept. Well, it is very interesting to consider them, and this is what we will now do.
Here it is, the Pumhard mortar from the Military History Museum in Vienna. It is clearly seen that it is made of two layers of iron. The inner layer is made of stripes laid along, the outer layer is made of rings put on it, that is, located across. They put on the outer rings in a hot state, so that when they cooled down, they pulled together the barrel, giving it greater strength.
Another forged mortar from the Army Museum in Paris. Around 1450 Length: 2 m, caliber 486 mm. Weight: 1, 500 kg, core weight 130 kg, firing range 100-200 m.
Then the mortars were cast from a special copper alloy. And the fantasy of some craftsmen from the possibilities of casting so roamed that such samples as this 18th century mortar, made in India for Tipu Sultan ("Tiger from the Garbage"), which today is in the Royal Artillery Museum in Woolwich, England, appeared. …
Spanish mortar on a metal carriage of the 18th century. in the Historical Museum of Cordoba in Argentina it also looks quite "modern".
The French mortar of 1828 was also cast in bronze.
And this is our Russian 335-mm mortar from 1805 from the Artillery Museum in St. Petersburg.
An absolutely monstrous mortar used during the siege of Antwerp in 1832, designed by Henri-Joseph Peksan.
English mortar from Fort Nelson.
British artillerymen are firing at Sevastopol from 13-inch siege mortars.
The famous American mortar "Dictator".
Virginia, Yorktown, Mortar Battery Position # 1.
Richmond, 1865, 8-inch mortar 1841
Federal Mortar Battery of 1841 10-inch Mortars on Morris Island in Charston Harbor.
River Appotomax, Virginia. 24-pound Confederate mortar.
10-inch mortars of 1841 northerners.
It is interesting that these Germanic mortars, exhibited in the citadel of the Spandau fortress, do not have any devices for raising the barrel, so they are cast together with a carriage, like Tipu-Sultan's cannon. Obviously, the range was adjusted by changing the charge.
London, Woolwich, Greenhill Terrace: a unique 1854 Mallet mortar with a caliber of … 920 mm!
Mallet's mortar plate. As you can see, she successfully shot 19 times! But she did not fight!
Then rifled mortars appeared, and, moreover, the same Americans thought of using them against the fleet. They placed 305-mm mortars of the 1890 model in such "mortar pits" that it was absolutely impossible to hit with flat fire from ships! Fort Desoto, Florida.
And so these mortars were shooting … Photo of 1915.
