Image: 2018 Fort De Soto - 12-inch steel coastal defense mortars
Description: Two of the 12-inch steel coastal defense mortars of in Pit "A" of Battery Laidley at Fort De Soto Park. There were originally 8 of these guns, 4 in each pit; these are the two that remain in Pit "A". The M 1890-MI breech-loading and rifled mortars, which were built by Watervliet Arsenal of Watervliet, New York, had a maximum range of 1.25 miles at a 70 degreeelevation and 6.8 miles at 45-degrees. The guns required a crew of 12 to manually load the 800-, 824- or 1,046-pound projectiles, insert the 54 to 67 powder charge, and to aim the guns. Sightings were related from two observation posts to the two "data booths", from which the crew read the necessary elevations and azimuths. The four mortars remaining at Fort De Soto are the last four of their type remaining in North America. (Source: Fort De Soto Historic Guide)
Title: 2018 Fort De Soto - 12-inch steel coastal defense mortars
Credit: Own work
Author: Beyond My Ken
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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