Aasen mortar

The Aasen mortar (Mortier Aasen) was a 3.5-inch (88.9-mm) gun-mortar (or bomb thrower under the classification of the time). The Aasen was invented in France in 1915 by Nils Aasen, a Norwegian arms designer. It was adopted by the Russian Empire in 1915-1916, and was used during the First World War.

The barrel of the mortar was steel. Aasen mortar was a breech loading weapon so a shell was loaded separately and the bolt action discharging a blank rifle round connected to a barrel. This device was a modified form of the obsolete Gras rifle, which was transferred to Russia by France in substantial numbers. The hoisting mechanism was made of two slats, attached to the rear of the barrel, and rod folding rack. The weight of the mortar in firing mode was approximately 1.5 pood (54.2 lbs).

Comparison of Russian Front mortars (1915—1917)
Mortar weight	Calibre in mm	Total weight of shell	Explosive shell	Muzzle velocity in meters/second	Rate of fire, rounds/minute	Maximum range (meters)
G.R. 9 cm mortar	91	bomb 3,3	0,7	100	4-5	500
Aasen	75	grenade 1,2	0,4	—	—	400
20-мм	20	grenade 2,45	0,17	61	—	—
Lihonina mortar	20	bomb 3,0	0,34	16,8	—	500

External links

Russian Empire Small Arms & Ordnance of the First World War

Rifles

Machine guns

Side arms

Nagant M1895

Hand grenades

Model 1914 grenade

Artillery

Infantry guns	37 mm trench gun M1915

Field Artillery	76 mm gun M1900 76 mm divisional gun M1902 87 mm light field gun M1877 42-line field gun M1877 107 mm gun M1910 QF 4.5-inch howitzer 122 mm howitzer M1909 122 mm howitzer M1910

Mountain artillery	76 mm mountain gun M1909

Howitzers, medium, and heavy artillery	BL 60-pounder gun 152 mm howitzer M1909 152 mm howitzer M1910 BL 6-inch 26 cwt howitzer 152 mm siege gun M1910 BL 8-inch howitzer Mk VI – VIII

Siege artillery	42-line siege gun M1877 6 inch siege gun M1877 6-inch siege gun M1904 280 mm Schneider Mortar Model 1914/15 BL 9.2-inch howitzer 305 mm howitzer M1915

Mortars	9 cm Mortar Type GR Aasen mortar

Anti-aircraft guns	76 mm air-defense gun M1914/15

Coastal artillery

Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.