Mortira Malleta

Beginning in the fall of 1854, the siege of Sevastopol by the Anglo-French forces revealed an acute shortage of heavy artillery among the allies, without which it was almost impossible to destroy the fortifications of well-built fortresses. To solve this problem, Great Britain began work on the design of large-caliber siege weapons.

A well-known British engineer of Irish descent, R. Mallet, in the 1830s and 40s, having studied the propagation of seismic waves from explosions in the ground, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create tools whose shell explosions would create a local effect similar to an earthquake . In this case, there was no need for an accurate direct hit on the target - only seismic vibrations of the soil could be enough to destroy it. Many sources believe that Mallet was a pioneer in the study of the seismic effect of the explosion ^[1] .

The best seismic effect was achieved with a significant penetration of the projectile into the ground, which could be achieved in those years only when it fell from a significant height; for the projectile itself, it was important to give the maximum possible mass. This, in turn, could be achieved through a sharp increase in the caliber of the gun and the release of the projectile at a high elevation angle. Accordingly, it was necessary to create a mortar (a gun ejecting a projectile at a large angle), firing heavy bombs weighing about a ton. It was such a tool that Mallet planned to design, stopping at an unprecedented large caliber of 914 mm (36 inches or 1 yard ). In this case, the huge weight of such a system - 42 tons with the aforementioned caliber - remained the most difficult problem, which at the then level of technological development did not allow transporting it to any considerable distance with an acceptable speed. The way out was found thanks to the collapsible design of the gun barrel developed by Mallet ^[1] .

Mallet’s project provided for the creation of a typical mortar - a short-barrel (barrel length of only 3.67 caliber) guns designed to fire along a very steep path, but it was unprecedentedly large for the middle of the 19th century. The mortar barrel consisted of nine parts, the weight of each of which already allowed transportation by any transport without significant problems. The charging chamber was much narrower than the main channel of the barrel, since it was believed that a relatively small amount of gunpowder placed in it would be enough to throw a bomb at those distances at which it was supposed to fire ^[2] .

Like all the heavy British guns of that period, Mallet’s mortar was muzzle-loading; bombs were delivered to the muzzle using a winch . Mortira fired spherical bombs, weighing, depending on the type and equipment, from 1067 to 1334 kg (from 2352 to 2940 British pounds ). It was called the weight of the heaviest type of bomb and 1354 kg (2986 pounds) ^[2] . For the convenience of transportation and attachment to the hook, the winch bombs were equipped with "ears". The propellant charge consisted of 37.7 kg (83 pounds) of gunpowder ^[1] .

It was assumed that the guns were transported in a disassembled state, and assembly would be carried out already when installed at the position. The mortar was mounted on a fixed base (in combat conditions it would be an earthen embankment) so that the bottom of the barrel was located at an angle of 45 ° to the vertical, and three layers of wooden beams should be placed under the gun. The necessary elevation angle of the mortar was achieved by changing the location of these bars ^{[1] [2]} .

The mortar project was finally developed by Mallet in 1854. Initially, the designer, promoting his system, did not succeed, but in March 1855 (in conditions when the siege of Sevastopol was prolonged) he managed to get an audience with the Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and make a presentation of the gun. This had an effect: the prime minister, very impressed with the project, authorized the production of two mortars for conducting comprehensive tests.

The order for the manufacture of guns was received by the London company Tames Ironworks at an announced price of 4300 pounds each. The construction of mortars, however, was delayed due to financial difficulties experienced by the manufacturing company. These difficulties led to the bankruptcy of the company and the subsequent transfer of work on tools to three other companies. As a result, the mortars arrived at the customer after the end of the Sevastopol siege.

One gun passed firing tests at the firing range on October 19 and December 18, 1857, July 21 and 28, 1858 . A total of 19 shots were fired. When using bombs weighing 1067 kg, the range was 2523 m (2759 yards); the flight time of the bomb at this distance is 23 seconds. The mortar rate was approximately four shots per hour. After all the shots made, the gun was damaged, which led to the termination of the tests. Mortira Malleta was declared unsuitable for real combat use following the results of firing. Some historians note that the cause of the defects that appeared in the gun barrel was not an unsuccessful design, but rather a poor metal quality, which could not be improved due to the imperfection of metallurgy in the mid-19th century ^[1] .

Both Mullet’s mortars are preserved to this day and are available for viewing: the first, which passed the fire tests, was installed in Woolwich near London. Due to damage caused by shooting, some parts of the gun were replaced with wooden ones. The second, which did not shoot, is an exhibit of the museums of the Royal Armory at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth .

• List of the largest artillery pieces
• " Little David "