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After the 1750 standardisation, British SBML mortars remained virtually unchanged for the next century and carried on in their allotted roles.
Following the introduction of rifled ordnance during the 1860s the British Army carried out a number of experiments involving the demolition of fortified works to determine whether or not the new elongated shell was any better at battering masonry than the old spherical type. Having concluded the new shell was by far the more effective, they decided the SBML mortar had had its day.
The British had tried to rifle mortars in 1853 but without success so they dropped the idea. The Germans who tried it about 1864 did better; history records they successfully employed heavy rifled mortars on siege operations during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).
Mallet's Mortar
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Figure 8 |
The largest British mortar made was Mallet's, the calibre of which was 36 inches (914 mm). Intended for the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimea, by the time it was completed the war was over. Constructed of iron rings supported by longitudinal bars, it is now at Woolwich Arsenal in the United Kingdom.
The last major conflict in which the SBML played a major part was the American Civil War.
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