The Mortier de 12 pouces Gribeauval (Gribeauval 12-inch mortar) was a French mortar

Mortar (weapon)

A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....

 and part of the Gribeauval system

Gribeauval system

The Gribeauval system was an artillery system introduced by Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval during the 18th century. This system revolutionized French cannon, with a new production system that allowed lighter, more uniform guns without sacrificing range. The Gribeauval...

 developed by Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval

Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval

Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval was a French artillery officer and engineer who revolutionized French cannon, creating a new production system that allowed lighter, more uniform guns without sacrificing range. His Gribeauval system superseded the de Vallière system...

. It was part of the siege artillery. The measurement of the mortar is expressed by the diameter of the ball, using the French ancient system of measurement

French units of measurement

France has a unique history of units of measurement due to radical attempts to adopt a metric system following the French Revolution.In the Ancien régime, before 1795, France used a system of measures that had many of the characteristics of the modern Imperial System of units...

, in which 1 pouce (1 inch) is worth 2.707 cm.

The Mortier de 12 pouces Gribeauval was used extensively during the wars following the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, as well as the Napoleonic wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. However, its first major operational use was even earlier, during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, in General Rochambeau

Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau

Marshal of France Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French nobleman and general who participated in the American Revolutionary War as the commander-in-chief of the French Expeditionary Force which came to help the American Continental Army...

's French expeditionary corps, from 1780 to late 1782, and especially at Yorktown

Siege of Yorktown

The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...

in 1781.
The Mortier de 12 pouces used a cylindrical chamber, which, although quite efficient used to wear easily. It was superseded by the Gomer system using a conical chamber, which was incorporated in Gribeauval's system in 1789.

Some of the Mortier de 12 pouces were used in coastal defenses, in which case they were fixed on solid metal platforms.