shadyde, a mortarman? I just have to mention, the all-wood-hull minesweeper I was on (MSO 489) had a mortar as a main battery. Does this sound as crazy to you as it seemed to me? A trajectory weapon on a round-bottomed ship that continually rolled, pitched, and yawed, always unpredictably. As I was reassigned off the ship, they were installing a twin barreled machine gun emplacement, but the mortar should have never been there at all. What do you think. It (the mortar) had a rare military career. All we ever used in the combat zone was 50 cal. fired off an upper deck, to warn down junks suspected of running weapons. Of course, grandma and grandpa's junk was left behind to tie us up, and the guns went on in the faster boats, maybe. Probably. All the minesweepers, scores of them, have now been replaced by Littoral Combat Ships, but that's a whole discussion. Nifty but perhaps too high concept, now getting shaken down to usable formats. One big concept is a multitasking crew, but that was true on our old wooden ship too, Admiral.