Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!cbnews!military From: rbeville%tekig5.pen.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Bob Beville) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Seacoast Mortars and Nukes Summary: confirm mortar re-arrangement Message-ID: <8891@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 9 Aug 89 03:58:07 GMT References: <8630@cbnews.ATT.COM* <8675@cbnews.ATT.COM> <8800@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. Lines: 40 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Bob Beville From the tour brochure of the Fort Stevens State Park: "BATTERY CLARK (1899) - Named for William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, this is the only mortar battery at Fort Stevens. Originally Battery Clark was armed with eight 12-inch mortars; then in 1917 four of the mortars were moved across the river to Battery Guenther in Fort Canby. The move was made to provide mortar fire froma another location at the mouth of the Columbis River and to make the operation of Battery Clark more efficient. With eight mortars, about thirty men were re- quireed to operate each pair of guns. As a result, the gun pits were overcrowded, dangerous and inefficient. The removal of four mortars removed these problems and about the same number of shots could be fired with the new arrangement..." The museum has a eight minute film showing the firing of these mortars... you can 'see' the concussion wave flow thru the gunners standing by with their mouths open and ears covered; the trees in the background get a wave-jolt, too. And while we are at it, the formal name for those "disappearing" cannon apparatus'' in the large concrete gun pits is the "Buffington-Crozier" DC(disappearing carriage) mount. SOURCES: _The Cape Forts_ Guardians of the Columbia_ by Marshall Hanft, Oregon Historical Society Press, 1986, 2nd Printing. _SILENT_SIEGE_II_ Japanese Attacks on North America in World War II by Bert Webber, Webber Research Group, 1988 Tour Brochure, Fort Stevens State Park. that's -OWARI- from GLOWWORM-7-9-4 best regards, rbeville@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM Bob Beville, Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR 97077