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Krupp 1883 light 75mm mortar

Bellifortis

Well-Known Member
Some days ago somebody placed a link, on this site, for the spanish defence ministry historical website. There I found the PDF of a 19th century Krupp Artillery Export catalog. In this I found the picture of an 1883 Krupp light 75mm mortar. The picture shows a soldier just inserting a cylindrical shell into the muzzle of the mortar. The mortar is very small and nearly looks like a toy. I searched the WWW but could not find any info on this mortar. my question is : What type of ammunition was used in this mortar, what type of propellant did it use and how was it ignited ?
Regards,
Bellifortis.
 
Hi guys,
I'm sorry, but I can not find the link again. It was posted here on BOCN somewhere in the last 10 days. I clicked around, but did not find it back again. I think that it was a spanish member that posted the link to the "Spanish Defence Ministry Historical Site". If, like me, you don't speak spanish, you just have to click around. With the help of the stupid translation mashine you will find your way around. There were also some nice photography books about 19th century spanish arms factories there. I hope that somebody else here will find the link and post it.
Regards,
Bellifortis.
 
I found the Krupp catalogs. I believe this is the photo in question, see below.

I will upload the catalogs to BOCN when time permits. Page links to particular items in Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa do not stay constant so I cannot post a direct link to the catalogs.

Brian
 

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I found the Krupp catalogs. I believe this is the photo in question, see below.

I will upload the catalogs to BOCN when time permits. Page links to particular items in Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa do not stay constant so I cannot post a direct link to the catalogs.

Brian
Yes, that's it. Thanks for having taken the trouble to search. The catalog is split into 2 files. I found 2 Krupp catalogs on the website, 1892 and 1896, so these are 4 files.
regards,
Bellifortis.
 
I found the site :http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/BVMDefensa/i18n/consulta/resultados_ocr.cmd I hope it works. I just tried, and the link takes you only to the main-site. If you enter : Krupp Artillerie-Material in the search box, this should take you to the page with the 4 catalog-files. I just tried and you can not search directly. You first have to click on the linkbox Portal De Patrimonio Cultural and then enter Krupp Artillerie-Material in the search-box there.
Enjoy,
Bellifortis.
 
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I don’t think that what you see is a soldier loading a cylindrical shell into the muzzle of the mortar, but loading a shell pointed down into the back end of the barrel. When loaded the other soldier screws on the breech part (with chamber for the propelling charge) he is holding. The Dutch colonial army used the heavy version of this Krupp mortar (7 cm Mr A ). Perhaps the same shells were used by both mortars.
 
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Yes, looking at the 2 mortars more exactly, I think you are right. The photo is not precise enough. You say "screwed on". Were the barrel and the breech threaded ? I have never seen a system like that before. Was the propellant used Black Powder or already more modern NC propellant ?
Regards,
Bellifortis.
 
It was just a guess, I don't have any information on the light mortar. I have though some info (Dutch drawings) on the heavy 75 mm mortar and I have a few projectiles of that one in my collection.
Regards,
greif
 
Hallo Greif,
judging by the photo, the heavy and light mortars are very similar. Could you post any technical drawings you have of the heavy mortar. 1883 is the timeframe 1880-1890 when the switchover from Black Powder to NC-powder occured. The projectiles for the mortars I would expect to be lead-cased. Is the heavy mortar you know a smooth-bore ?
Regards,
Bellifortis.
It was just a guess, I don't have any information on the light mortar. I have though some info (Dutch drawings) on the heavy 75 mm mortar and I have a few projectiles of that one in my collection.
Regards,
greif
 
Hello Bellifortis,

Sorry for my late answer.
Both the Dutch colonial army (NIL) and the Dutch Navy were using the heavy mortar. It was put into service in 1894. The colonial army used it as a fortress gun under the designation "Mortier van 7 cm Achterlaad".
The navy used it as a landing gun under the designation "Mortier van 7,5 cm Achterlaad".

Some data: 7,5cm L/6,4
Weight of the steel barrel: 50 kg
Rifling: 12 grooves
Weight of the platform: NIL 49 kg; Navy 59 kg
Black powder bag charged with friction tube.
In a 1906 handbook it is mentioned that trials with smokeless powder were going on.
The projectiles were equipped with 2 copper driving bands.

Below two instruction plates. The first one is showing the colonial army mortar. The second is showing the navy mortar. Also 2 photo's of shells which were fired from a mortar.

Regards,
greif.
 

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The Krupp Export Catalog of 1892 and the 1896 supplement PDFs are now available in the Download section, filed under Guns.

Brian
 
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