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58-881: The Royal Arsenal Gatehouse or Beresford Gate is the main gatehouse of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich , South East London , England . It was built in 1828, enlarged several times and is now a Grade II-listed building. The gate was named after the Anglo-Irish general William Beresford , Master-General of the Ordnance and Governor of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. The Royal Arsenal Gatehouse

116-655: A lanyard or trigger mechanism . Ammunition for mortars generally comes in two main varieties: fin-stabilised and spin-stabilised. Examples of the former have short fins on their posterior portion, which control the path of the bomb in flight. Spin-stabilised mortar bombs rotate as they travel along and leave the mortar tube, which stabilises them in much the same way as a rifle bullet. Both types of rounds can be either illumination ( infrared or visible illumination), smoke , high explosive , and training rounds. Mortar bombs are often referred to, incorrectly, as "mortars". Operators may fire spin-stabilised rounds from either

174-478: A rifled barrel ) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil ) with a lightweight bipod mount and a sight . Mortars are typically used as indirect fire weapons for close fire support with a variety of ammunition. Historically mortars were heavy siege artillery . Mortars launch explosive shells (technically called bombs) in high-arching ballistic trajectories . Mortars have been used for hundreds of years. The earliest reported use of mortars

232-484: A GPS-guided kit fitted to standard 120 mm smoothbore mortar rounds that includes the fitting of a nose and tail subsystem containing the maneuvering parts. The Strix mortar round is a Swedish endphase-guided projectile fired from a 120 mm mortar currently manufactured by Saab Bofors Dynamics . STRIX is fired like a conventional mortar round. The round contains an infrared imaging sensor that it uses to guide itself onto any tank or armoured fighting vehicle in

290-525: A bell tower. The building features several plaques, inserted in the buttresses and below the windows. The inscriptions are "1829 B" and "G.R. IV"; one bears a shield with three guns. Two cattle drinking troughs of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association from the 1890s and two modern stone benches have been placed on the south side of the building. Gatehouse Gatehouses made their first appearance in

348-589: A great advantage over standard field guns in the rough terrain of the West Highlands of Scotland. The mortar had fallen out of general use in Europe by the Napoleonic era , although Manby Mortars were widely used on the coast to launch lines to ships in distress, and interest in their use as a weapon was not revived until the beginning of the 20th century. Mortars were heavily used by both sides during

406-425: A higher payload in a thinner skin than rifled artillery ammunition. Because of the difference in available volume, a smooth-bore mortar of a given diameter will have a greater explosive yield than a similarly sized artillery shell of a gun or howitzer. For example, a 120 mm mortar bomb has approximately the same explosive capability as a 152 mm/155 mm artillery shell. Also, fin-stabilised munitions fired from

464-402: A mid-1830s lithograph shows. In 1859 an office with a bell tower above were added on the west side, and in 1889 the east side was extended too. Two years later, the original gate was built over to create three extra waiting rooms. The wall along Plumstead Road was built around 1778 and then raised to about 6 m height and extended further east in 1804. It was probably built by penal labour ,

522-554: A mortar, either outside or inside of the cabin. The Israeli Merkava tank uses a 60 mm (2.4 in) mortar as a secondary armament. The Russian army uses the 2S4 Tyulpan self-propelled 240 mm (9.4 in) heavy mortar which is one of the largest mortars in current use. Gun-mortars are breech-loaded mortars usually equipped with a hydraulic recoil mechanism , and sometimes equipped with an autoloader . They are usually mounted on an armoured vehicle and are capable of both direct fire and indirect fire . The archetypes are

580-445: A near vertical descent, the mortar can land bombs on nearby targets, including those behind obstacles or in fortifications , such as light vehicles behind hills or structures, or infantry in trenches or spider holes . This also makes it possible to launch attacks from positions lower than the target of the attack. (For example, long-range artillery could not shell a target 1 km (0.62 mi) away and 30 m (98 ft) higher,

638-659: A new form of naval ship, the bomb vessel . Mortars played a significant role in the Venetian conquest of Morea , and in the course of this campaign an ammunition depot in the Parthenon was blown up. An early use of these more mobile mortars as field artillery (rather than siege artillery ) was by British forces in the suppression of the Jacobite rising of 1719 at the Battle of Glen Shiel . High angle trajectory mortars held

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696-477: A niche in, for example, providing a multi-role anti-personnel, anti-armour capability in light mobile formations. Such systems, like the Soviet 120 mm 2S9 Nona , are mostly self-propelled (although a towed variant exists). The AMOS (Advanced Mortar System) is an example of an even more advanced gun mortar system. It uses a 120 mm automatic twin-barrelled, breech-loaded mortar turret, which can be mounted on

754-422: A separate feature free-standing or attached to the manor or mansion only by an enclosing wall. By this time the gatehouse had lost its defensive purpose and had become more of a monumental structure designed to harmonise with the manor or mansion. Mortar (weapon) A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon , consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use

812-574: A short-barrelled rifled muzzle-loading mortar called the Minenwerfer . Heavily used during World War I , they were made in three sizes: 7.58 cm (2.98 in), 17 cm (6.7 in), and 25 cm (9.8 in). It was not until the Stokes mortar was devised by Sir Wilfred Stokes in 1915 during the First World War that the modern mortar transportable by one person was born. In

870-550: A similar calibre – all characteristics of infantry mortars. This produces a hybrid weapon capable of engaging area targets with indirect high-angle fire, and also specific targets such as vehicles and bunkers with direct fire. Such hybrids are much heavier and more complicated than infantry mortars, superior to rocket-propelled grenades in the anti-armour and bunker-busting role, but have a reduced range compared to modern gun- howitzers and inferior anti-tank capability compared to modern anti-tank guided weapons . However, they do have

928-420: A smooth-bore, which do not rely on the spin imparted by a rifled bore for greater accuracy, do not have the drawback of veering in the direction of the spin. From the 17th to the mid-20th century, very heavy, relatively immobile siege mortars were used, of up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) calibre, often made of cast iron and with an outside barrel diameter many times that of the bore diameter. An early example

986-428: A smoothbore metal tube fixed to a base plate (to absorb recoil) with a lightweight bipod mount. When a mortar bomb was dropped into the tube, an impact sensitive primer in the base of the bomb would make contact with a firing pin at the base of the tube and detonate, firing the bomb towards the target. The Stokes mortar could fire as many as 25 bombs per minute and had a maximum range of 800 yd (730 m), firing

1044-420: A smoothbore or a rifled barrel. Rifled mortars are more accurate but slower to load. Since mortars are generally muzzle-loaded, mortar bombs for rifled barrels usually have a pre-engraved band, called an obturator, that engages with the rifling of the barrel. Exceptions to this are the U.S. M2 4.2-inch mortar and M30 mortar , whose ammunition has a sub-calibre expandable ring that enlarged when fired. This allows

1102-683: A steel frame. These weapons may fire standard mortar rounds, purpose-made shells, repurposed gas cylinders filled with explosives and shrapnel, or any other type of improvised explosive, incendiary or chemical munitions. These were called " barrack busters " by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) . Improvised mortars used by insurgents in the Syrian civil war are known as hell cannons . Observers have noted that they are "wildly inaccurate" and responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths. Improvised mortars used in

1160-487: A target easily accessible to a mortar.) In trench warfare , mortars can use plunging fire directly into the enemy trenches , which is very hard or impossible to accomplish with long range artillery because of its much flatter trajectory. Mortars are also highly effective when used from concealed positions, such as the natural escarpments on hillsides or from woods, especially if forward observers are being employed in strategic positions to direct fire, an arrangement where

1218-400: A variety of armoured vehicles and attack boats. A modern example of a gun-mortar is the 2B9 Vasilek . A spigot mortar consists mainly of a solid rod or spigot , onto which a hollow tube in the projectile fits—inverting the normal tube-mortar arrangement. At the top of the tube in the projectile, a cavity contains propellant , such as cordite . There is usually a trigger mechanism built into

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1276-648: Is 70 kg (150 lb) and it is filled with TNT. It had a range of 15 to 25 km (9.3 to 15.5 mi). The rocket has since then undergone some modifications. The Pasilan 2000 was more lethal than Baba mortar. But it was not heavily used for ground attacks during the Eelam War IV . Most modern mortar systems consist of four main components: a barrel, a base plate, a bipod and a sight. Modern mortars normally range in calibre from 60 mm (2.36 in) to 120 mm (4.72 in). However, both larger and smaller mortars have been produced. The modern mortar

1334-429: Is a muzzle-loaded weapon and relatively simple to operate. It consists of a barrel into which the gunners drop a mortar round. When the round reaches the base of the barrel it hits a fixed firing pin that fires the round. The barrel is generally set at an angle of between 45 and 85 degrees (800 to 1500 mils), with the higher angle producing a shorter horizontal trajectory. Some mortars have a moving firing pin, operated by

1392-487: Is situated in central Woolwich, between the town's main square, Beresford Square , and the Royal Arsenal , from which it is separated by a busy dual carriageway, Plumstead Road ( A206 ). It is also situated close to the Woolwich Arsenal railway and DLR stations and the future Crossrail station . The construction of a new gate for the Royal Arsenal was ordered in 1828 by the newly appointed Master-General of

1450-459: The 81 mm L16 mortar . The XM395 Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) is a 120 mm guided mortar round developed by Alliant Techsystems . Based on Orbital ATK's Precision Guidance Kit for 155 mm artillery projectiles, XM395 combines GPS guidance and directional control surfaces into a package that replaces standard fuses, transforming existing 120 mm mortar bodies into precision-guided munitions. The XM395 munition consists of

1508-639: The American Civil War . At the Siege of Vicksburg , General Ulysses S. Grant reported making mortars "by taking logs of the toughest wood that could be found, boring them out for 6 or 12 lb (2.7 or 5.4 kg) shells and binding them with strong iron bands. These answered as Coehorns , and shells were successfully thrown from them into the trenches of the enemy". During the Russo-Japanese War , Lieutenant General Leonid Gobyato of

1566-532: The Brandt Mle CM60A1 and Brandt 60 mm LR , which combine features of modern infantry mortars together with those of modern cannon. Such weapons are most commonly smoothbore, firing fin-stabilised rounds, using relatively small propellant charges in comparison to projectile weight. While some have been fitted with rifled barrels, such as the 2S31 Vena and 2S9 Nona . They have short barrels in comparison to guns and are much more lightly built than guns of

1624-480: The Imperial Russian Army applied the principles of indirect fire from closed firing positions in the field; and with the collaboration of General Roman Kondratenko , he designed the first mortar that fired navy shells. The German Army studied the Siege of Port Arthur , where heavy artillery had been unable to destroy defensive structures like barbed wire and bunkers. Consequently they developed

1682-522: The M3 half-track and M113 armored personnel carrier , to vehicles specifically intended to carry a mortar. Simpler vehicles carry a standard infantry mortar while in more complex vehicles the mortar is fully integrated into the vehicle and cannot be dismounted from the vehicle. Mortar carriers cannot be fired while on the move, and some must be dismounted to fire. There are numerous armoured fighting vehicles and even main battle tanks that can be equipped with

1740-648: The Micklegate Bar. The French term for gatehouse is logis-porche . This could be a large, complex structure that served both as a gateway and lodging or it could have been composed of a gateway through an enclosing wall. A very large gatehouse might be called a châtelet (small castle). At the end of the Middle Ages, many gatehouses in England and France were converted into beautiful, grand entrance structures to manor houses or estates. Many of them became

1798-516: The Pumhart von Steyr , were large and heavy and could not be easily transported. Simply made, these weapons were no more than iron bowls reminiscent of the kitchen and apothecary mortars whence they drew their name. An early transportable mortar was invented by Baron Menno van Coehoorn in 1701. This mortar fired an exploding shell, which had a fuse that was lit by the hot gases when fired. The Coehorn mortar gained quick popularity, necessitating

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1856-561: The Sri Lankan civil war by the rebel Tamil Tigers are known as "Pasilan 2000", also known as a "rocket mortar" or "Arti-mortar" like the 122 mm (4.8 in) cannon, successor to the Baba mortar used by the LTTE for ground operations since the 1980s. As Baba mortar rounds contained tar, they caused a fire when they hit the ground. The Baba, the prototype mortar, was crude. But with time

1914-491: The Ordnance , William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford (1768–1854). Its construction was supervised by Colonel John Thomas Jones , Chief Royal Engineer , who also made the design. The new gate replaced an older one of 1720 and was preceded by the clearance of some cottages which stood in the way of the main approach road to the Arsenal. Its appearance in the early 19th century was very different from its current state, as

1972-512: The Royal Arsenal Gatehouse, or Beresford Gate as it was originally called, took place in stages. The oldest parts (1828, 1859, 1889) are of plain yellow stock brick with some stone detailing. The last additions of 1891 are of red brick and feature three large windows on each side and a clock at the top of its south-facing gable. The central part has three openings, which are currently closed off by iron fences. The middle opening

2030-592: The Stokes mortar as the Brandt Mle 27 , further refined as the Brandt Mle 31 ; this design was widely copied with and without license. These weapons were the prototypes for all subsequent light mortar developments around the world. Mortar carriers are vehicles which carry a mortar as a primary weapon. Numerous vehicles have been used to mount mortars, from improvised civilian trucks used by insurgents , to modified infantry fighting vehicles , such as variants of

2088-572: The Trench Warfare Supply Department (who reported to Lloyd George) to expedite manufacture of the Stokes mortar. The weapon proved to be extremely useful in the muddy trenches of the Western Front , as a mortar round could be aimed to fall directly into trenches , where artillery shells, because of their low angle of flight, could not possibly go. The Stokes mortar was a simple muzzle-loaded weapon, consisting of

2146-780: The ancient defenses of Trier in Germany. Strongly fortified gatehouses would normally include a drawbridge, one or more portcullises , machicolations , arrow loops and possibly even murder-holes where stones would be dropped on attackers. In some castles, the gatehouse was so strongly fortified it took on the function of a keep , sometimes referred to as a "gate keep". In the late Middle Ages , some of these arrow loops might have been converted into gun loops (or gun ports). Urban defences would sometimes incorporate gatehouses such as Monnow Bridge in Monmouth . York has four important gatehouses, known as "Bars", in its city walls including

2204-419: The base of the spigot, with a long firing pin running up the length of the spigot activating a primer inside the projectile and firing the propellant charge. The advantage of a spigot mortar is that the firing unit (baseplate and spigot) is smaller and lighter than a conventional tube mortar of equivalent payload and range. It is also somewhat simpler to manufacture. Further, most spigot mortars have no barrel in

2262-471: The conditions of trench warfare , there was a great need for a versatile and easily portable weapon that could be manned by troops under cover in the trenches. Stokes' design was initially rejected in June 1915 because it was unable to use existing stocks of British mortar ammunition, and it took the intervention of David Lloyd George (at that time Minister of Munitions ) and Lieutenant Colonel J. C. Matheson of

2320-408: The conventional sense, which means ammunition of almost any weight and diameter can be fired from the same mortar. The disadvantage is that while most mortar bombs have a streamlined shape towards the back that fits a spigot mortar application well, using that space for the spigot mortar tube takes volume and mass away from the payload of the projectile. If a soldier is carrying only a few projectiles,

2378-566: The convicts being housed in prison hulks moored in the Thames . An extra gate, Middle Gate, was added in 1830 and renewed in 1843. A third one, Third Gate, followed in 1856 but has not survived. In 1969 plans were presented by the Greater London Council (GLC) for the widening of Beresford Street and Plumstead Road, necessary because of traffic congestion and made more urgent by the massive construction scheme at Thamesmead . In

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2436-612: The early antiquity when it became necessary to protect the main entrance to a castle or town. Famous early examples of such gates are those such as the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. Over time, they evolved into very complicated structures with many lines of defence. The Romans began building fortified walls and structures throughout Europe such as the Aurelian Walls of Rome with gates such as Porta San Paolo and Porta Nigra from

2494-598: The fire. The way the tube is installed is similar to the positioning of rocket pods. The length and calibre of the barrel indicate Pasilan 2000 system has common features to the Chinese made Type 82 130 mm (5.1 in) 30-tube MLRS (introduced by the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) in the early 1980s) rather than rail-guided Katyusha variants such as the Qassam Rocket. The warhead weight

2552-489: The mortar is in relatively close proximity both to its forward observer and its target, allowing for fire to be quickly and accurately delivered with lethal effect. Mortars suffer from instability when used on snow or soft ground, because the recoil pushes them into the ground or snow unevenly. A Raschen bag addresses this problem. Fin-stabilised mortar bombs do not have to withstand the rotational forces placed upon them by rifling or greater pressures, and can therefore carry

2610-589: The mortar. The first use in siege warfare was at the 1453 siege of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror . An Italian account of the 1456 siege of Belgrade by Giovanni da Tagliacozzo states that the Ottoman Turks used seven mortars that fired "stone shots one Italian mile high". The time of flight of these was apparently long enough that casualties could be avoided by posting observers to give warning of their trajectories. Early mortars, such as

2668-442: The original cylindrical unstabilised projectile. A modified version of the mortar, which fired a modern fin-stabilised streamlined projectile and had a booster charge for longer range, was developed after World War I; this was in effect a new weapon. By World War II, it could fire as many as 30 bombs per minute and had a range of over 2,500 yd (2,300 m) with some shell types. The French developed an improved version of

2726-464: The original plans, Beresford Gate was to be demolished, as were Holy Trinity Church and the Century Cinema in the northwest corner of Beresford Square. The plans were delayed and a possible reconstruction of the gatehouse further north was considered. In 1984–86 the road was led through a section of the Arsenal north of the gatehouse, which by that time had been listed. A new gate for the Arsenal

2784-475: The projectile to slide down the barrel freely but grip the rifling when fired. The system resembles the Minié ball for muzzle-loading rifles. For extra range, propellant rings (augmentation charges) are attached to the bomb's fins. The rings are usually easy to remove, because they have a major influence on the speed and thus the range of the bomb. Some mortar rounds can be fired without any augmentation charges, e.g.,

2842-410: The projectile weight disadvantage is not significant. However, the weight of a large quantity of the heavier and more complex spigot projectiles offsets the weight saved. A near-silent mortar can operate using the spigot principle. Each round has a close-fitting sliding plug in the tube that fits over the spigot. When the round is fired, the projectile is pushed off the spigot, but before the plug clears

2900-577: The spigot it is caught by a constriction at the base of the tube. This traps the gases from the propelling charge and hence the sound of the firing. After World War II the Belgium Fly-K silent spigot mortar was accepted into French service as the TN-8111. Spigot mortars generally fell out of favour after World War II and were replaced by smaller conventional mortars. Military applications of spigot mortars include: Non-military applications include

2958-486: The use of small-calibre spigot mortars to launch lightweight, low-velocity foam dummy targets used for training retriever dogs for bird hunting. Simple launchers use a separate small primer cap as the sole propellant (similar or identical to the cartridges used in industrial nail guns ). Insurgent groups often use improvised, or "homemade" mortars to attack fortified military installations or terrorise civilians. They are usually constructed from heavy steel piping mounted on

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3016-435: The vicinity where it lands. The seeker is designed to ignore targets that are already burning. Launched from any 120 mm mortar, STRIX has a normal range of up to 4.5 km (2.8 mi). The addition of a special sustainer motor increases the range to 7.5 km (4.7 mi). The GMM 120 ( Guided Mortar Munition 120 ; known as Patzmi ; also referred to as Morty ) is a GPS and/or laser -guided mortar munition, which

3074-439: The weapon has improved. The Pasilan 2000, the improved version, has been developed with characteristics similar to a rocket launcher. The Pasilan 2000 was a heavy mortar fired from a mobile launcher mounted on a tractor. The shell does not emit constant muzzle flares like artillery or MBRL. This is ideal for LTTE's camouflage and conceals attacking style. Once a round is fired, forward observers/spies/civilian spotters can correct

3132-545: Was Roaring Meg , with a 15.5 in (390 mm) barrel diameter and firing a 220 lb (100 kg) hollow ball filled with gunpowder and used during the English Civil War in 1646. The largest mortars ever developed were the Belgian " Monster Mortar " (24 in (610 mm)) developed by Henri-Joseph Paixhans in 1832, Mallet's Mortar (36 in (910 mm)) developed by Robert Mallet in 1857, and

3190-492: Was always wider and was meant for horses and carriages; the flanking openings were for pedestrians. The latter were widened in 1936. The gate openings on the south side of the building correspond with those in the north side and lead into a covered plaza. The rooms above rest on metal beams with arched floors. The central section of the gate is flanked by two lodges from 1828, both adorned with recessed rectangular panels and surmounted by brass mortars . The western annexe of 1859 has

3248-641: Was built further north in 1985–86, re-using twin stone piers with urns from the Paragon on the New Kent Road , built by Michael Searles in 1789–90, and rescued from there by the GLC in the 1960s when the road was widened. The old gatehouse in Beresford Square was restored by the new owner, Greenwich Council , in 1991–92, and again in 1995–96. The lodges were adapted for offices. The construction of

3306-721: Was developed by Israel Military Industries . Another Israeli guided mortar is Iron Sting , developed by Elbit . The Russian KM-8 Gran is also laser-guided. Modern mortars and their ammunition are generally much smaller and lighter than long range artillery , such as field guns and howitzers , which allows light (60 mm (2.4 in)) and medium (81 mm (3.2 in)/82 mm (3.2 in)) mortars to be considered light weapons; i.e. capable of transport by personnel without vehicle assistance. Mortars are short-range weapons and often more effective than long range artillery for many purposes within their shorter range. In particular, because of its high, parabolic trajectory with

3364-515: Was in Korea in a 1413 naval battle when Korean gunsmiths developed the wan'gu (gourd-shaped mortar) (완구, 碗口). The earliest version of the wan'gu dates back to 1407. Ch'oe Hae-san (1380–1443), the son of Ch'oe Mu-sŏn (1325–1395), is generally credited with inventing the wan'gu . In the Ming dynasty , general Qi Jiguang recorded the use of a mini cannon called the hu dun pao that was similar to

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