Category:12" Mortar Batteries
12" Mortar Battery
The chief advantage of the high trajectory coastal mortar was that it could provide plunging fire directly on the vulnerable deck of enemy warships from a good distance. The disadvantage was that they were less accurate than lower trajectory weapons and required a high rate of fire to improve the probability of hitting a moving target.
Twelve inch coastal defense mortars were initially deployed in batteries that typically contained two mortar pits with four mortars in each pit. The mortar pits were about 40' x 75'.
Each mortar pit of 4 mortars was manned by a pit section consisting of 88 enlisted men under a pit commander divided into four mortar detachments (14 men each) and a single ammunition detachment of 31 enlisted men.
As the coastal mortar batteries were built and tested it soon became apparent that the batteries were too crowded to safely support simultaneous firing and reloading of all four mortars. It was determined that two mortars could supply almost the same firing rate as four mortars in the standard mortar pit because they could be reloaded faster in a less crowded environment. Many of the batteries with eight mortars installed were reduced to four mortars by removing the #2 and #4 mortars from each pit. The excess mortars were either shipped to new batteries or left in place as spares. New mortar batteries were built with pits containing only two mortars.
Advances in ammunition saw the replacement of the blunt cap mortar shell with a new long pointed armor piercing shell. This shell was several inches longer than the blunt cap shell and required modification of carriers, hoists and widening of shell hoisting passages when it came into widespread use. The modification is generally referred to as the "long point" modification.
Battery Alexander, Battery Anderson, Battery Bagley, Battery Bankhead, Battery Barlow-Saxton, Battery Brannan, Battery Butler, Battery Byrne - West Point, Battery Capron, Battery Chase, Battery Clark, Battery Clinton, Battery Cushing, Battery Dearborn, Battery Greene-Edgerton, Battery Guenther, Battery Habersham, Battery Hasbrouck, Battery Howe, Battery Howe, Battery Ingalls, Battery Izard, Battery Kearny, Battery Kearny-Chase, Battery Kellogg, Battery Key, Battery King, Battery Laidley, Battery Lincoln, Battery Livingston, Battery McKinnon, Battery Meigs, Battery Mercer, Battery Powell, Battery Reynolds, Battery Rodney-Best, Battery Schenck, Battery Sedgwick, Battery Seminole, Battery Seymour, Battery Springer, Battery Stoneman, Battery Stotsenburg, Battery Wagner, Battery Whistler, Battery White, Battery Whitman, Battery Worth
Pages in category "12" Mortar Batteries"
The following 100 pages are in this category, out of 100 total.
B
F
- Template:FtAdamsBatteryGreene-Edgerton
- Template:FtAndrewsBatteryWhitman
- Template:FtAndrewsBtyCushing
- Template:FtBanksBtyKellogg
- Template:FtBanksBtyLincoln
- Template:FtBarryBattery Alexander
- Template:FtCanbyBatteryGuenther
- Template:FtCaseyBatterySchenck
- Template:FtCaseyBatterySeymour
- Template:FtCaswellBatteryBagley1
- Template:FtCaswellBatteryBagley2
- Template:FtCaswellBatteryBagley3
- Template:FtCrockettBatteryIzard1
- Template:FtCrockettBatteryIzard2
- Template:FtDeSotoBatteryLaidley
- Template:FtDuPont(1)BatteryRodney-Best
- Template:FtDuPont(1)BatteryRodney-Best1922
- Template:FtFlaglerBatteryBankhead
- Template:FtFunstonBatteryHowe(2)
- Template:FtGrebleBatterySedgwick
- Template:FtH.G.WrightBatteryClinton
- Template:FtHancockBatteryReynolds
- Template:FtHowardBatteryKey
- Template:FtKamehamehaBtyHasbrouck
- Template:FtMacArthurBatteryBarlow-Saxton
- Template:FtMcKinleyBtyIngalls
- Template:FtMileyBatteryLivingston
- Template:FtMileyBatterySpringer
- Template:FtMonroeBatteryAnderson
- Template:FtMorganBatteryDearborn
- Template:FtMoultrieBatteryButler1909
- Template:FtMoultrieBatteryButler1931
- Template:FtMoultrieBatteryCapron1909
- Template:FtMoultrieBatteryCapron1925
- Template:FtPickensBatteryWorth (2)
- Template:FtPrebleBtyKearny-Chase
- Template:FtRosecransBtyWhistler
- Template:FtRosecransBtyWhite
- Template:FtSanJacintoBatteryMercer
- Template:FtScrevenBtyHabersham
- Template:FtStevensBatteryClark
- Template:FtTaylor(2)BatterySeminole
- Template:FtTerryBatteryStoneman
- Template:FtTottenBatteryKing
- Template:FtWashingtonBatteryMeigs
- Template:FtWinfieldScottBatteryHowe
- Template:FtWinfieldScottBatteryMcKinnon
- Template:FtWinfieldScottBatteryStotsenburg
- Template:FtWinfieldScottBatteryWagner
- Template:FtWordenBatteryBrannan
- Template:FtWordenBatteryPowell
- Template:FtWPBtyByrne-WestPoint