From the Feb. 21, 2012, Columbus (Ind.) Republic, AP "USS Missouri Gun to Delaware."
It is 66 feet long and weighs 250,000 pounds and will be taken by train from Norfolk, Virginia, to Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware, where it will join two similar Army guns. Park officials and the Fort Miles Historical Association have been developing a section of the former base into a World War II attraction.
They estimate that in four years they will have it all in place.
The 16-inch gun (so-called because of the diameter of the shell it fired) could fire a one-ton shell up to 23 miles. Two Army 16-inch guns are already there. (I didn't know that the Army had 16-inch guns.)
The Association has raised $110,000 to acquire and transport the Missouri gun by train. It was made at the Washington Navy Yard. It began its journey in late March or early April 2012.
Originally there were two 16-inch guns at Fort Miles and they were only fired in practice. After the war, these two were probably cut up for scrap.
The new guns and emplacements will be part of a $6 million World War II museum.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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