In Their Words

3 Inch Stokes Mortar

The 3 inch Stokes mortar was well known and widely used by the men of the A.E.F. Originally developed and manufactured by British companies, production of Stokes mortar shells was contracted out to American firms for faster production, though most of the American-made mortars never saw service. Like all mortars, the Stokes was undeniably effective at removing machine gun nests, sniping posts, barbed wire, and other designated targets at ranges where proper artillery or grenades were not able to do the job. In this capacity, the Stokes (and other mortars) enabled trench bound forces to directly attack enemy positions or advancing enemy infantry during an attack.
The high explosive shell was composed of three components: a screwed on dome containing a modified hand grenade fuse, the 11 inch chamber which typically contained 2.75 pounds of nitrostartch explosive, and a propellant cartridge container attached to the base of the mortar and used to launch the shell. The domed fuse has two holes drilled into it for attaching a safety pin used to prevent premature detonation while handling the shell.

To fire the Stokes, the safety pin was removed to both arm the shell and allow it to fit inside its launcher. Then, the entire shell was dropped down the launch tube, at the bottom of which a firing pin struck a primer on the propellant cartridge. This action ignited the propellant charge and launched the shell. Once launched, the shell detonated after a predetermined amount of time dependant upon the time of the fuse. Stokes mortars had a maximum effective range of 1,200 yards.

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