Design and Development
The 25 cm schwerer Minenwerfer was a muzzle-loading, rifled mortar that had a hydro-spring type recoil system. It fired either a 97 kg (210 lb) shell or a 50 kg (110 lb) shell, both contained far more explosive filler than ordinary artillery shells of the same caliber. The low muzzle velocity allowed for thinner shell walls, hence more space for filler for the same weight shell. The low velocity also allowed explosives like ammonium nitrate–carbon that were less shock-resistant than TNT, which was in short supply at the time. Shells filled with TNT caused a large number of premature detonations, making the Minenwerfer riskier for the gun crew than normal artillery pieces.
Read more about this topic: 25 Cm Schwerer Minenwerfer
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or development:
“I begin with a design for a hearse.
For Christ’s sake not black—
nor white either—and not polished!
Let it be weathered—like a farm wagon—”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“Such condition of suspended judgment indeed, in its more genial development and under felicitous culture, is but the expectation, the receptivity, of the faithful scholar, determined not to foreclose what is still a question—the “philosophic temper,” in short, for which a survival of query will be still the salt of truth, even in the most absolutely ascertained knowledge.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)