English: This U.S. Army photo shows a 12-inch mortar, Model 1908, in Pit A of Battery Whitman, Fort Andrews, Boston, MA. This mortar and its carriage were 1 ton lighter and were more compact than the M1890 and had about the same range as the older weapon. However, only four of these were emplaced in the U.S., the remaining 20 being deployed overseas in the territories.
Also shown here, at left rear, is the data booth for the mortar pit. Azimuth and elevation data received from the plotting room were chalked onto pieces of blackboard (or slate) that were mounted on the "billboard" visible at the extreme left edge of the booth. These data were used by the mortar crews to aim their weapons. The boxes mounted on the wall outside the door of the booth are likely the safety switches for the mortars in this pit (enabling them to fire electrically or not) and the firing magneto for the pit, which was cranked to provide firing current for up to four mortars.
Date
Unknown date. Likely c. 1935
Source
(Original text: Original image, likely taken by the U.S. Army (Signal Corps or Coast Artillery Corps) is unsourced, but was reprinted in Butler, Gerald, "The Military History of Boston's Harbor Islands, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC, 2000, p. 57., from whence is was scanned by the contributor.) Original uploader was Pgrig at en.wikipedia (30 August 2010 (original upload date))
The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia.
2010-08-30 17:24 Pgrig 605×450× (368136 bytes) This U.S. Army photo shows a 12-inch mortar, Model 1908, in Pit A of Battery Whitman, Fort Andrews, Boston, MA. This mortar and its carriage were 1 ton lighter and were more compact than the M1890 and had about the same range as the older weapon. However,
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