Continuing my examination of the 13-inch mortars, it is time to look at the Navy’s use of the weapon. Two types of naval craft carried the 13-inch mortar and both became very active at this time 150 years ago. Admiral David Farragut brought schooners armed with mortars to the lower Mississippi River, to use them against the forts defending New Orleans. Far upstream, Flag Officer Andrew Foote used similar mortars mounted on rafts to bombard Island No. 10 and later Fort Pillow. It’s those river mortar boats – the mortar on a raft – that I’ll look at first.
Since the post is about ships and boats, I figured it fit best over at the Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial Blog. So please click over to that post for more on the little unpowered mortar boats.
Related articles
- Mortars for the Army and Navy (markerhunter.wordpress.com)
- Shells, Carcasses, and Fireballs: Projectiles for the 13-inch Mortars (markerhunter.wordpress.com)
- Lincoln Pushes Development of Mortars (abrahamlincolnandthecivilwar.wordpress.com)
- Evolution of the Big Mortars: 13-inch Mortars Model 1861, Part 1 (markerhunter.wordpress.com)
To the Sound of the Guns 
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