US 9.45-Inch Trench Mortar

By Crusader1307

Entering the War late, US Forces needed to deploy a light Trench Mortar for field use immediately. The first model was the 9.45-Inch Mortar. The weapon was 4-feet long and was capable of a 45 degree traverse elevation. Using an innovative “impact strike” percussion fuse, it allowed the shooter to simply “drop” the shell down the Mortar tube. A fixed firing pin at the bottom of the tube would ignite the shell charge cap (at the end). The average detonation time was fixed at 10-seconds. The 9.45-Inch Mortar would set the stage for the standard ignition system still in used by many Countries today.