Mortar Test Page
The first Endicott Period mortar batteries were based on experiments by Colonel Henry L. Abbot (Cullum 1632) with muzzleloading 13" mortars. Abbot configured the mortars into "quads", four mortar pits with four mortars in each pit arranged in a rectangle. The objective was to salvo the mortars so that they provided a pattern of coverage that greatly increased the probability of hitting a moving target.
As the first 12" breech loaded mortars (BLM) became available (M1886) the first batteries were constructed along the lines of Colonel Abbot's quad design. The service battery at Sandy Hook (later Fort Hancock) was one of the first built and because of the proximity to the proving ground at Sandy Hook the first set of set of proof firings yielded important test results. Volleys of all sixteen mortars at the same time took place on 11 Apr 1895 and yielded important results that seemed to validate his earlier experiments.
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Colonel Abbot reflected in 1896 that some 40,000 rounds of mortar ammunition were expended in perfecting the quad concept and that group control was essential to achieving perfection. He also acknowledged that the enormous expenditure of munitions required to equip a battery "(1700 tons to equip a sixteen-mortar battery with 200 rounds)" presented "troublesome engineer conditions."
Five mortar batteries were under construction at the time of the tests, all using the Abbot quad configuration and a total of six were built, Battery Lincoln-Kellogg, Battery Haskin-Overton, Battery Reynolds-McCook, Battery Rodney-Best, Battery Capron-Butler, and Battery Howe-Wagner. Two "Half Quad" were constructed, Battery King and Battery Whitman. After the salvo tests it became clear to some that the servicing of sixteen mortars simultaneously in confined spaces presented challenges in terms of the numbers of people required, the efficiency of the crews in the crowded mortar pits and safety. The first change came by arranging the four mortar pits in-line all with open backs. This change was followed in most batteries constructed after 1896.
In 1906 the batteries with sixteen mortars were administratively divided into two batteries of eight mortars each (2 mortar pits). This was followed with a longer term program of physical removal of two mortars from many of the mortar pits. All of these changes combined with improved fire control improved the efficiency and accuracy of the mortar batteries. Naval armament improvements and aircraft soon rendered most coast mortar batteries obsolete because of their limited range and vulnerability to air attack. Most mortar batteries remained in service until 1942 when their value as scrap exceeded their military value.
| Fort | Battery | HD | Config | Mortars | Final Mort/Carr | Start-Cmp-Xfer | Stop | Cem | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort McKinley | Battery Ingalls | Portland | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1903-1904 | 1942 | P | *V |
| Fort Preble | Battery Kearny-Chase | Portland | Four Pits | 16/6 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1896-1901-1901 | 1942 | P | * |
| Fort Banks (2) | Battery Lincoln-Kellogg | Boston | Abbot Quad | 16/12 | M1890MI/M1896 | 1892-1896-1896 | 1942 | R/B | *V |
| Fort Andrews (1) | Battery Whitman | Boston | Abbot Half-Quad | 8/6 | M1890Mi/M1896 M1908/M1908 |
1898-1901-1902 | 1942 | R | *N |
| Fort Andrews (1) | Battery Cushing | Boston | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896 | 1901-1904-1904 | 1942 | P | *N |
| Fort Adams (1) | Battery Greene-Edgerton | Narragansett Bay | Four In Line | 16/8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1896-1898-1898 | 1942 | R-PF | *V |
| Fort Greble | Battery Sedgwick | Narragansett Bay | Two Pits | 8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1900-1901 | 1942 | R-PF | *N |
| Fort H.G. Wright | Battery Clinton | Long Island Sound | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1900-1902-1902 | 1942 | B | *N |
| Fort Terry | Battery Stoneman | Long Island Sound | Two Pits | 8/ | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1900-1901 | 1942 | P | *N |
| Fort Slocum (2) | Battery Haskin-Overton | Eastern New York | Abbot Quad | 16 | M1886/M1891 | 1892-1892-1897 | 1919 | B | *N |
| Fort Totten | Battery King | Eastern New York | Abbot Half-Quad | 8 | M1890MI/M1896 | 1898-1900-1900 | 1935 | P | *V |
| Fort Tilden | Battery at NAS Rockaway | Southern New York | ? | 4 | 1917 | 1919 | ? | N | |
| Fort Hamilton (1) | Battery Piper | Southern New York | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1899-1901-1901 | 1942 | P | *N |
| Fort Hancock (2) | Battery Reynolds-McCook | Southern New York | Abbott Quad | 16/12 | M1890MI/M1896M | 1891-1894-1898 | 1920 | R | *V |
| Highlands MR | Battery Hartshorne | Southern New York | Four In Line | 4 | 1917 | 1920 | ? | V | |
| Fort DuPont (1) | Battery Rodney-Best | the Delaware | Abbot Quad | 16/8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1897-1899-1900 | 1942 | B | *V |
| Fort Howard (1) | Battery Key | Baltimore | Two Pits | 8 | M1896/M1896MI | 1897-1898-1900 | 1927 | P | * |
| Fort Washington | Battery Meigs | the Potomac | Two Pits | 8 | M1890MI/M1896 | 1898-1902-1902 | 1915 | R | * |
| Fort Monroe | Battery Anderson-Ruggles | Chesapeake Bay | Four In Line | 16/8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1896-1898-1898 | 1942 | R | * |
| Fort Caswell | Battery Bagley | Cape Fear River | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890/M1896 | 1898-1899-1903 | 1926 | R | * |
| Fort Moultrie | Battery Capron-Butler | Charleston | Abbot Quad | 16/8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1897-1898-1898 | 1942 | R | * |
| Fort Screven | Battery Habersham | Savannah | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1900-1900 | 1942 | P | *
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| Fort Taylor (2) | Battery Seminole | Key West | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1897-1903-1904 | 1943 | B | * |
| Fort De Soto | Battery Laidley | Tampa Bay | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1900-1900 | 1931 | P | * |
| Fort Pickens | Battery Worth (2) | Pensacola | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896 | 1897-1899-1899 | 1942 | B | * |
| Fort Morgan | Battery Dearborn | Mobile | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1900-1901-1901 | 1931 | ? | |
| Fort San Jacinto | Battery Mercer | Galveston | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1897-1899-1899 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Crockett | Battery Izard | Galveston | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1899-1900-1911 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Rosecrans | Battery Whistler | San Diego | Two Pits | 4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1916-1919-1919 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort Rosecrans | Battery White | San Diego | Two Pits | 4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1915-1919-1919 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort MacArthur | Battery Barlow-Saxton | San Diego | Four In Line | 8 | M1912/M1896MIII | 1915-1919-1919 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Funston | Battery Howe (2) | San Francisco | Four In Line ns | 4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1917-1918-1919 | 1945 | ? | |
| Fort Miley | Battery Livington-Springer | San Francisco | Four In Line | 16/8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1899-1902-1902 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Winfield Scott (2) | Battery Howe-Wagner | San Francisco | Abbot Quad | 16/8 | M1886M/M1891 | 1893-1895-1900 | 1920 | ? | |
| Fort Winfield Scott (2) | Battery Stotsenburg-McKinnon | San Francisco | Four In Line | 16/8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1897-1898-1900 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort Barry | Battery Alexander | San Francisco | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1901-1903-1905 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Stevens | Battery Clark | the Columbia | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1901-1903-1905 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Canby | Battery Guenther | the Columbia | Two Pits | 4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1918-1922-1922 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort Flagler | Battery Bankhead (1) | Puget Sound | Two Pit | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1900-1902-1902 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort Casey (1) | Battery Schenck | Puget Sound | Two Pits | 8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1899-1902 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort Casey (1) | Battery Seymour | Puget Sound | Two Pits | 8/4 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1898-1899-1902 | 1942 | ? | |
| Fort Worden | Battery Brannan | Puget Sound | Two Pits | 8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1899-1901-1902 | 1943 | ? | |
| Fort Worden | Battery Powell (1) | Puget Sound | Two Pits | 8 | M1890MI/M1896MI | 1899-1901-1902 | 1943 | ? |