Mortar, 60mm M19

History

The M19 60mm mortar (the US equivalent of the British 2" mortar) was developed during WWII for infantry-level support operations to provide a reusable high-fire small arms system to replace the of M2 mortars. The M19 can be asked to "fire from above" and deploy a variety of conventional high-explosive and special munitions depending on the situation. However, the lightweight M19 can become very inaccurate when not mounted on a standard baseplate, and when so mounted, it becomes heavier than the M2 it is intended to replace - and therefore has a shorter effective range. Despite this intent, the M19 failed to live up to expectations and was eventually replaced by the M224 system in the U.S. Army inventory.

The few M19s in service were primarily supplied to airborne troops capable of using the light weapons system, and many were further exported to pro-American countries at the time.

Introduced in 1942, the M19 was in many respects a traditional mortar design, very similar to the British 2-inch mortar range. The launch tube can accommodate 60mm caliber projectiles with warheads including high-explosive (HE), illuminator and smoke grenades.

Mortar crews are often accused of attacking excavated enemies by firing ammunition at or around them to kill or remove enemies. In addition to its lethal intent, the M19 could be required to "illuminate" the battlefield at night, or provide a protective "wall" of moving smoke to help hide Allied operations during the day.

Crews operate the M19 by dropping an armed projectile into the smoothbore muzzle (the M19 is a "muzzle-loading" weapon). The base of the projectile will then touch the waiting firing pin and release the projectile's propellant, launching it to a predetermined trajectory based on the elevation and traversal set by the mortar group, and eventually hitting the target area.

Muzzle velocity is rated at 550 feet per second and effective range is 5,870 feet (1,790 meters).

To keep the system light, a simplified spade base plate was installed as part of the M1 bracket. This gives the operator complete freedom to adjust the pitch and roll angles.

While well-intentioned, this made the M19 unsatisfactory for seasoned mortar crews, and there was a general distaste for the new weapon. Therefore, a more traditional mount - the M5 - was developed to compensate and improve accuracy, but at the cost of reduced range and increased weight.

Elevation arc - when using the M5 bracket - is set between +40 and +85 degrees, while lateral is limited to 14 degrees.

Beginning in 1982, M19s were replaced by long-range M224 series mortars (which also replaced the aging M2 series) due to inherent limitations with and without M5 mounts, while M19 stocks were exported to the Belgian Army, Canada, Lithuania and Turkey . At the time of writing, the Canadian Army is believed to still be using M19 mortars.

It should be noted that the M19 has been in U.S. inventory long enough to be used by the Army and Marine Corps in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Mortar, 60mm M19 spec

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Dimensions

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Changes