The Coehorn Mortar - Civil War Artillery 💣

[@ThePerfectRed]

My favorite cannon is the Basillica or Dardanelles Gun, built in 1464 and used 340 years later to severely hit a British Ship. Good tech never fails.

[@theministryforhistory]

An excellent one!

[@samuelclayton4405]

I am a Mortarman. Maned an m-29 81mm. Good to see where my gun came from.

[@theministryforhistory]

Thanks for watching! 🇺🇸

[@teru797]

@@theministryforhistory how long to reload?

[@tatumergo3931]

​@@teru797. How long to reload a modern mortar?..... As fast as it takes for someone to pass the next shell, or are you asking for the rate of fire?

[@TheGrenadier97]

Excellent presentation! Brief and dense.

[@theministryforhistory]

Thanks very much! I always endeavour to be a bit brief and a bit dense!

[@Bayan1905]

At Fort Ticonderoga in Ticonderoga, NY they have some French mortars of all sizes including some smaller coehorns, and these are older bronze guns, some have dates on them into the 1730's and you can only imagine the work these things were doing in the French & Indian War. The most notable siege was probably Fort William Henry in Lake George (I live about 20 miles from there) in 1757 where the French were lobbing mortar shells of all sizes over the walls of the fort into the courtyard and barracks practically round the clock once they got in range and their trenches dug.

[@johnheuser5000]

My favorite cannon obsession might be the M1841 6 pdr field gun used in US Civil War. It is limber (pun intended) and versatile with a few people and horses to operate it. Mainly, it makes for a fun and attractive miniature model to build and shoot.

[@Evlogite19]

I absolutely love this little bugger. Used to do the demonstration for the coehorn we had when I worked and volunteered at Fort Delaware. Grand times.

[@veteranironoutdoors8320]

Parrott cannons are my favorite. I love the way they look.

[@theministryforhistory]

And they shoot quite far indeed!

[@EasternRomanHistory]

My favourite cannon from the Tower of London, which I had the great opportunity to work with, was the 30 pounder Portugese cannon from 1627 with a lion decorating the mussel so it looked like a lion shooting. Several Coehorns were also there.

[@theministryforhistory]

Brilliant! I don't remember that gun - is it on display outdoors or tucked away in the armouries?

[@EasternRomanHistory]

@@theministryforhistory It is in the basement along with many of the other cannons. You have several other lovely pieces such as a Henry VIII naval cannon and a nine shot mortar battery. If you are a cannon fan and have not been to the basement of the White Tower, I certainly recommend it. Although, the main collections are in Fort Nelson and Leeds Armoury.

[@hancock63]

I saw a live fire demonstration of a Coehorn Mortar at Pamplin Park years ago. It was a real treat to see it in action!

[@colvinator1611]

Another great snapshot of American history. Thanks a lot. Colin UK 🇬🇧

[@keithagn]

Very interesting. Thank you!

[@SStupendous]

Awesome video. My FAVORITE cannon of all time has to be the 8-inch, 150-lb RML Armstrong Cannon that saw extensive use by the US and UK in the 1860s.

[@johnsobery]

Modern US Navy 5 inch, it’s had a very long service life

[@theministryforhistory]

Great one!

[@therainbowgulag.]

America. The only country in the world where you can play with your Coehorn mortar.

[@constantinekorkousky3363]

Great video!

[@Palaemon907]

I love the Armstrong breech loaders from the 1860s, there's a nice pair near me, and a couple more than need lots of love.

[@Kowalski089]

My favorite historical gun is that which was mounted on Iowa and her sisters: the 16 inch/50-caliber Mark 7 gun, firing the Mark 8 Super-heavy shell, of course :)

[@fordprefect80]

Mine is the BL 6-inch Mk VII gun. Two of them were the main guns at Fort Scratchley in Newcastle Australia and were used to repel an attack on the city by the Japanese sub I-21 on the 8th June 1942.

[@justdustino1371]

Local Confederate reenactors have a full scale repro Coehorn mortar, albeit it is sub caliber. The bore is golf ball sized which is 1-7/8" if I remember. At one of the battlefield museums I have seen an iron Confederate Coehorn. Edit: the 2.6 inch Wiard rifle, Dahlgren 24 pdr boat howitzer and Dahlgren 50 pdr rifle fascinate me, as well as the Brooke 3 inch, 6.4 inch, and 7 inch. My favorite field gun is Griffin's 3 inch Ordnance rifle.

[@finnl6887]

The space program lol

[@jimodell405]

As a battleship sailor aboard the USS New Jersey 5" 38 and Powder room Capt Turret Three on Missouri. The 16 inch 50 guns are amazing Desert Storm busting bunkers the biggest guns of the Navy made them dirt devils run all over

[@harrisonlewis6853]

I have two favorites. 12lb naval cannon and a coehorn 12lber.

[@williamhower3636]

Recently after touring several CW battlefields, say in the last 2 years or so, I was always drawn to the various artillery pieces. The more I looked, the more I wanted to know. So it went from, WOW THATS A COOL CANNON to, I wonder if thats a '57 Napoleon or a 12 pounder mountain Howitzer? And the more I looked up, the more I wanted to know. I dont know if I have a favorite artillery piece yet, but being a Navy Vet, Dahlgren guns look pretty sexy. Also, right now Im more looking into specific tactics used and how battles were fought with artillery. That lead me to Major Pelgram at Fredericksburg. So now Im devouring as much info as I can find about him. LOL Wow, long reply, scatter brained, not cohesive....But my fingers go faster than my brain. I liked and sub'd. Thanks for the videos!

[@theministryforhistory]

Dahlgrens are awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@entertainmentwithme2633]

I like the British Armstrong guns on ships during the late 1840s

[@PaulMclauchlin]

I'm rather fond of Mons Meg, it looks great, has a lot of history, and I've had my head down the barrel.

[@theministryforhistory]

Brilliant! 😂

[@joshuathomas8529]

best American gun ever made the 16in 50 caliber gun used on the Iowa class battle ships. Best field gun used by the U.S would be the 8 inch M110 howitzers

[@torycsummers7328]

Too kool. I'd love to own one

[@Bayan1905]

I've got a small coehorn, the size of the bore is that of a golf ball and it's a replica of a Confederate design. The thing is a hilarious amount of fun to shoot and I use golf balls in mine. I them painted in bright colors so you can see them arc through the air. A charge of 200 grains can make one disappear with ease well more than 200 yards. I am getting a mold for it to make some solid shot to see how far I can get a ball to go.

[@johnfisk811]

Nothing has Impressed me more than a Wombat at night.

[@finnl6887]

Favorite gun though? Not an artillery piece of antiquity, but the M119 makes me smile every time I see it

[@tatumergo3931]

Not my favorite per se, but I do like the versatility of the design. Much better than the old M102...

[@GrimTheRealReaper]

What powder charge do you use to shoot a 12 lb ball? I just bought one of these

[@TheCrusaderRabbits]

How effective was it

[@Verdunveteran]

My favorite piece of artillery must be 42 cm kurze Marinekanone 14 L/12 aka Minenwerfer-Gerät, more commonly known as the "Dicke Berta". On a close second place comes the 38 cm SK L/45 "Langer Max". Third olace would have to be shared by the 7,58 cm leichter Minenwerfer, the 17 cm mittlerer Minenwerfer and the 25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer.

[@jamesbleess5282]

3 ' Ordinance Rifle for service. 12 pound Blakley for looks.

[@Polymath9000]

Effective range?

[@Dav1Gv]

Fascinating, thanks very much. I remember in training we 'fired' a 3" mortar but the bomb stayed where it was. I was No 1 so my job was to lift the tube to that the bomb would slide out gently into the hands of the No 2. | told him this and without moving he was at least 10 yds away. We got him back and everything went smoothly after that. In theory it was perfectly safe because the bomb's fuze need the bang of launghin to activate it but, of course, if one bit of the bomb had failed one did wonder what else might be wrong..

[@tatumergo3931]

One of the most hairy situations for an 11C.

[@pipebear7036]

My favourite is the 100 ton Armstrong gun on Malta

[@ak9989]

Good channel. As a us army veteran it's rather odd but I collect Victorian Campaign medals 😆 110 so far😳

[@theministryforhistory]

That’s impressive! I would love to get an original Crimean War medal and Turkish medal one day. What’s your favourite campaign medal?

[@robertking3825]

Does anyone have the table of fire for a 12 pound cohorn?

[@ak9989]

Oh I'm partial to the 12 pdr Napoleons of 1861-65

[@piatpotatopeon8305]

I've always been partial to the heavily embellished early cannons. The ones where each one looked like a work of art. Edit: No, wait! The Zalinski dynamite gun! The invention that used steam and compressed air to hurl a bomb of dynamite without jarring it into detonation during firing.

[@dhss333]

Could have shown more of range, impact-effect of shells.

[@ExopMan]

I was hoping to see a shell land

[@noahgibsonspeninsularwarsa1134]

Space program lol. My favorite is the British 6 pounders in 1809.

[@DudeInWalmart]

Not a 12pdr. With a 3in bore it's more like a 3-4pdr.

[@fahey5719]

Not a VERTICAL trajectory unless you are suicidal. You mean a HIGH ANGLE trajectory

[@patiunus8542]

Similiar Ottoman bombard

[@anonimosu7425]

ww1 enthusiasts when they found out Constantinople fell by trenches

[@ml50486965]

A 12 pound mortar with a 30 inch bore? You can´t be serious!!

[@theministryforhistory]

Three inch bore!

[@williambullock7167]

12 lb napoleons!

[@Jimmy_Watt]

German 75mm

[@Oscuros]

Another excellent piece, many thanks, always seen Coehorns in illustrations, never seen a real one fired in anger or their composition explained, broader context was also nice, but for me specifically the formers were more interesting. The French Soixante-Quinze (Canon de 75 modèle 1897), as a memoire to French classes and not being able to count past 60, plus that funny bit under the Muzzle that gives it such a distinctive profile. First modern field artillery piece, ubiquity in various armies over a long period, service in specific battles like at Verdun. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_de_75_mod%C3%A8le_1897