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Old 07-07-2009, 04:37 PM
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Default Mortaio da 210/8 DS

The Italian Mortaio da 210/8 DS was designed in the last years of the 19th Century, as a piece (technically speaking a howitzer, and not, as the designation will lead us to think, a mortar) intended for static use against fortifications and similar well-protected targets. Getting the Mortaio da 210/8 in and out of action required quite an effort, as the gun must be disassembled when moved, even just a tiny distance, all parts loaded onto trailers or transporters.



When setting the gun up a heavy timber firing platform (not included in transport weight) had to be erected on a carefully leveled area, and then the howitzer was assembled. This work usually took between 6 and 8 hours. (The weight of the gun I traveling mode was 7.8tons, emplaced 5.79tons. Once emplaced, however, the howitzer had a full 360° traverse. The relative immobility of the gun was not such a big problem as can be imagined for its Italian users, at least not at that time, as the front lines along the border with Austria-Hungary for the most time was pretty static.



The barrel was only 9.7 calibres long overall (2048mm), the length of bore being just 7.1 calibres. The elevation was from -15 to +70°. A five-charge propellant system could hurl the 101.5kg projectile with a muzzle velocity of 340m/s up to a maximum range of only 8,450m, but adding to the explosive effects by the trajectory being almost vertical when the shell hit. The rate of fire was low: normally 1 shot per 7-8 minutes. The gun used a variant of the so called De Stefano carriage – therefore the “DS” in the designation. (Small modifications were introduced to the DS carriage as production progressed, making it hard to find two examples that looks quite the same in detail. There was also an older and simpler carriage, called De Angelis, which was just a short inclined ramp, that the gun slid upon.) This meant that most of the recoil forces were absorbed by the cradle on which the barrel rested. As the gun was fired, the cradle slid back along short inclined ramps. At the same time the whole upper carriage also rolled back on four wheels, along two inclined rails. It was then returned to the original position by a combination of gravity and return springs.



The Mortaio da 210/8 DS was employed in batteries consisting each of 4 guns, 4 trucks and 1 ammo vehicle. A battery on the move had a length of some 420m, and a maximum speed of 6-8km/h. The gun was used in WW2 as well, even though it obviously was obsolete.
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