Ordnance
Notes -- by Bob Stoner GMCM (SW) Ret.
Mk
2 Mod 0 and Mod 1 .50 BMG/81mm Mortar
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A
Mk 2 Mod 1 mortar/machine gun mount (aka Mount 52) aboard a PCF
(about 1967-1968). This gun has the 100-round box tray and is set-up
for right hand feed. The recoil cylinder for the mortar is above the
barrel. Note the prominent ventilated basket. This is a guard to
prevent injury to the gunner when the mortar recoils when fired. The
mushroom-shaped knob in the background is the mode of fire selector
for the mortar: DROP or TRIGGER fire. (Photo: RD2 Dave Pendergrass) |
This
81mm mortar was unique to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard small
craft of the Viet Nam and post war-era. The mortar itself is entirely
different in design from all other mortars in U.S. service. This
mortar is designed for direct and indirect fire. The difference
between the Mk 2 Mod 0 and Mk 2 Mod 1 are mostly cosmetic and that
the Mod 1 mounts an AN/M2HB .50 Browning machine gun above its recoil
cylinder and either a 100 or 400 round ammunition box on its right
side.
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Front
view of a Mk 2 Mod 1 gun mount on another PCF. This gun has a flash
hider attached to the muzzle of the .50 BMG and a 400-round
ammunition box is fitted. (Photo: US Navy) |
The
mortar itself is mounted on a very robust tripod and uses clamps to
control traverse and elevation angles. Unless fitted with NO FIRE
zone mechanical stops, the mortar has 360 degrees of traverse and -30
degrees of depression and +71.5 degrees of elevation. Its rate of
fire is 18 rounds/minute at 45 degrees elevation in DROP FIRE mode
and 10 rounds/minute in TRIGGER FIRE mode. Sights for the mortar are
attached to the left side of the elevation arc. Weight of the Mk 2
Mod 0 was 593 pounds; the weight increased to 677 pounds in the Mk 2
Mod 1 (with machine gun). Range of the 81mm (direct) was 1,000+
yards; (high angle, indirect) was 3,940 yards. Maximum effective
range of the .50 Browning machine gun was 2,000 yards; maximum range
was 7,440 yards.
The Mk 2 was developed by the Naval Weapons
Station, Crane, Indiana, in the early 1960s to provide offshore
patrol boats with a light weight direct and high-angle fire weapon
that could engage both surface and shore targets. It was adopted by
the USCG in 1962 where it was first mounted on their large WHEC
cutters in the Atlantic and Pacific. These mortars were used to fire
illumination flares to aid commercial and military aircraft forced to
ditch at sea. Tests in the Caribbean showed that the 81mm mortar
illumination round was more effective than the 3"/50 gun's star
shell. Not only was the illumination of the 81mm round better, but it
fired at a higher rate and had less fouling problems than the 3"/50.
In
mid-1964 the USCG recommended the fitting of a .50 Browning machine
gun in "piggyback" fashion above the mortar's recoil
cylinder. The prototype was built by the USCG at its Curtis Bay, MD,
yard and it worked very well. The mortar's tripod mount was more than
adequate for taming the .50 Browning's recoil. In late 1964, the Navy
fired the Mk 2 Mod 1 at its Dahlgren, VA range. The Mk 2 Mod 1 was
successful in its tests. Two Mk 2 Mod 1 units were then taken to sea
aboard USCG 95-foot cutters for demonstration and operational
evaluation. Both units passed with flying colors.
The
Mk 2 Mod 0 and Mod 1 were deployed by the hundreds aboard many kinds
of craft in Viet Nam. A short, but by no means exhaustive list would
be: APLs and YRBMs (non-self propelled barracks barges); USCG 82-foot
cutters; USCG 95-foot cutters; Navy 50-foot coastal patrol craft
(PCF); Navy 75-foot fast patrol boats (PTF, "Nasty"-class);
Navy 95-foot fast patrol boats (PTF, "Osprey"-class); Navy
patrol gunboats (PG, "Ashville"-class); miscellaneous
riverine craft which were mostly converted LCM-6 landing craft: MON
(monitor); CCB (command and control boat); Zippo (flame thrower
boat); ASPB (assault support patrol boat); HSSC (heavy SEAL support
craft); and advanced tactical support bases such as SEA FLOAT/SOLID
ANCHOR (Nam Can) and BREEZY COVE (Song Ong Doc).
Typical
ammunition used with the .50 Browning was armor piercing incendiary
(API), incendiary (INC), and armor piercing incendiary tracer
(API-T). It was linked two API, two INC, and one API-T.
Ammunition
for the 81mm mortar was the M43 series HE; M362 series HE or TP; M374
series HE; M301 series ILLUM; M57 series FS or WP smoke; M375 WP
Smoke; Mk 112 Leaflet; Mk 115, Mk 133 to Mk 135 Chaff; and Mk 120
APERS. Fuzes were either point detonating, proximity, or mechanical
time -- except for the Mk 120 which had none. Ranges of the mortar
projectiles varied by the addition or removal of propellant bags (8
maximum). All illumination (ILLUM) and Chaff rounds used mechanical
time fuzes. Proximity or VT (variable time) fuzes were used with the
M375 WP Smoke and M362 or M374 HE rounds. All other rounds (except Mk
120) used point detonating fuzes.
The
Mk 120 Mod 0 APERS (anti-personnel) round was specifically-designed
for Navy and USCG use. The round made the mortar into an 81mm shotgun
which fired 1,200 13-grain steel flechettes (these resemble nails
with fins) that were effective to 600 feet. The APERS round had no
bursting charge or fuze. Instead, the flechettes were launched by the
gas produced by the burning propellant bags clustered about its tail
fins.
The
Mk 120 Mod 0 APERS round resembled an old-fashioned potato masher. It
was approximately 13 inches long, had a warhead filled with 1,200
flechettes that was 81mm in diameter by 5 inches long, with a 30mm
diameter by 7-inch long tail boom. The tail boom contained the M34
primer and M6 ignition cartridge along with the fin assembly and
eight M2A1 propellant increment charges clipped between the fins.
There was a 6-petal shaped drag ring 7-1/4 inches from the nose of
the projectile on the tail boom.
When
the APERS round was fired, the burning propellant gases forced the
round out of the mortar tube. During the time it was confined by the
81mm warhead, part of the gas was directed against a lead plug in the
bottom of the warhead. The plug would melt and allow gas pressure to
build-up in an internal chamber in the base of the warhead. The gas
pressure would push against the bottom of a piston that had 1,200
flechettes stacked in two packs of 600 above it. The expanding gas
against the piston forced the flechettes through the plastic nose cap
where they were free to spread out. The drag ring ahead of the fin
assembly slowed the carrier projectile after the flechettes had left.
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The
Heavy Seal Support Craft of MST-2. in early 1969 with its bow ramp
lowered, Its Mk 2 Mod 0 81mm mortar has its muzzle at full
depression to keep the bore dry to prevent the collection of rain
water that might lead to the misfire of a mortar round. By early
1970, this HSSC had been fitted with bar armor along its sides to
defeat rocket projectiles and the mortar upgraded to the Mk 2 Mod 1
version.
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©
2005 Bob Stoner R3
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