USS Maryland

From the February 19, 2024, National Interest.

The USS Maryland was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked and sustained damage, but not seriously.  It later played a significant role in the Pacific War.

The battleship featured eight 16-inch guns in four turrets and entered service in 1920.  As such, she was one of America's most modern battleships due to the Washington Naval Treaty's limitations on new battleships.

Post Pearl Harbor, the Maryland underwent a rapid refit to modernize for operations in the Pacific, including improved anti-aircraft capabilities and torpedo protection.

Throughout the war, she served primarily shore bombardment roles, terrifying defenders with her formidable firepower.  Despite taking a torpedo hit and suffering from kamikaze attacks, she continued to support U.S. advances, including the critical Battle of Leyte near the Philippines.

After the war, she was placed in reserve, and, despite her historical significance, efforts to preserve her as a museum ship were not pursued and she was scrapped.

--GreGen

About Those Unused Battleship 16-Inch Cannons-- Part 3

**  Another USS Missouri barrel went by rail to the Arizona Capitol Museum to become part of its World War II Memorial.  It joined a 14-inch barrel from the USS Arizona.

**  A USS New Jersey barrel went by rail to the Hartshorne  Woods Park in Monmouth County Parks in New Jersey (location of the former Battery Lewis at the Navesink Highlands Military Reservation), to be placed in the battery's casemate.

**  Another New Jersey barrel went to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in Pennsylvania for display on its parade ground.

**  Yet another USS New Jersey barrel went to the Battleship New Jersey  Memorial in Camden, New Jersey, to be on display next to the ship.

**  Another New Jersey barrel went to the Mahan Collection Foundation in New Jersey where it will be displayed with a transportation truck and trailer that was used during World War II to move barrels to coast defense batteries.

--GreGen

About Those Unused 16-Inch Battleship Cannons-- Part 2:

As these barrels  also saw wartime service in World War II and the Korean War, organizations that might want to preserve them were approached.

These barrels were placed at St. Julien's Creek in the 1980s as replacements when the four Iowa-class battleships were brought back into active service.

Now, in 2022, we have good news. Seven of the barrels now have found a new home despite the challenge of raising the money to do so.  The remaining barrel hopefully will be preserved soon.

Here are relocations since 2011:

**  A USS Missouri barrel to Cape Henlopen State Park (location of the former Battery Smith at Fort Miles) in Delaware to be part of the Fort Miles Museum

**  Another USS Missouri gun to the U.S. Fish  and Wildlife Refuge at Cape Charles, Virginia, (location of the former Battery  Winslow at Fort John Custis) to be placed in the battery's casemate.

--GreGen

About Those Unused 16-Inch Battleship Cannons-- Part 1

From the December 2022 U.S. Naval Institute  "Homes for the big guns:  Preserving U.S. Navy Heritage" by Terrance McGovern.

In June 2011, the Coast Defense Study group (CDSG) was asked to find homes for  eight historic 16-inch Mark 7 barrels located at St. Julien's Creek Naval Annex in Chesapeake, Virginia, or the barrels would be auctioned off  through the internet with the requirement that they be cut into six-foot sections.

At the time, the Navy was purging all the Iowa-class materials in its inventories.  They had already liquidated another 14 similar 16-inch barrels in storage at Hawthorne, Nevada.

The CDSG was able to convince the Navy to allow more time to find homes for the barrels who would pay for the cost of relocating each of the  68-foot long objects weighing in at about 119 tons.

As these barrels were similar to the ones that were once located in World War II coast defense sites, the owners of those sites were first approached.

--GreGen

USS Iowa-Class Battleships-- Part 3: Saving One of Those Big Guns

There is yet another reasoon why we won't be seeing these warships returning to active duty again and that is a serious lack of spare parts.  Warships require specialized parts and to maintain the USS New Jersey museum, workers have to travel over to the nearby inactive fleet in Philadelphia Navy Yard to scavenge what they can find.

And, there us also the fact that the Navy continues its policy of getting rid of  equipment it doesn't need.

OVER A BARREL

Storing and maintaining equipment from  retired warships can be  costly, but recently it was reported that a nonprofit group managed to save several battleship barrels (cannons) produced for the U.S. Navy during World War II.  One that had been destined for a scrapyard will now get a new lease on life in Virginia Beach.

The Coast Defense  Study Group was able to acquire a 120-ton barrel, one of nine that had been stored in Chesapeake.  These were capable of firing a  projectile weighing between 1,900 pounds and 2,700 pounds for up to 24 miles.

It was manufactured during the war for the Iowa-class battleships.

--GreGen

World War II History Comes Alive at Fort Miles

From the May 2, 2016, Sussex County (NJ) Post by Glenn Rolfe.

Gunfire echoed across Cape Henlopen State Park on Saturday (April 30) as  the surrender of the German U-boat-enactment of the surrender of the German U-boat-enactment of the surrender of the German U-boat U-858.

Military vehicles as well as uniformed American and German soldiers staged events.

This is was through the efforts of the Fort Miles Historical Association, the 261st Coast Artillery and 1252nd Service Command living history groups and Delaware State Parks.Special presentations focused on Delaware military history, the Civil Air Patrol during World War II, the Navy presence at Cape Henlopen and plans for the USS Missouri's 16-inch gun barrel.

Fort Miles was declared operational just before the attack on Pearl Harbor and was built to protect Delaware Bay and the Delaware River.

--GreGen

USS Missouri 16-inch Gun Comes to San Francisco

From the October 1, 2012, Huffington Post, San Francisco "WWII Gun in San Francisco" Weapon Finds New Home in Marin Highlands."

A 16-inch gun from the USS Missouri which was on the ship when the Japanese surrendered is to be installed on a cliff at the entrance to San Francisco Bay.

The 68-foot-long, 236,000 pound gun will be painted and displayed at the Battery Townsley fortification in the Golden gate National recreation Area.  It made a two-day trip from the naval weapons station at Hawthorne, Nevada.

The gun was one of three on the turret that have long since been removed.  It could fire a 2,100 pound shell to a 25-mile distance.

The battery and another one like it at Fort Funston became models for other ones planned for defense on the east and west coasts of the United States during the war.

Battery Townsley fired its guns for the first time in 1940 during practice.

--GreGen

"Big Mo" Gun On Delaware Coast

From the April 29, 2012, Newsworks Beta "Big Mo final home is on the Delaware coastline" by John Husson.

A gun from the USS Missouri that was present at the Japanese surrender in 1945 was dedicated Saturday, April 28th at the historic Fort Miles.  The 16-inch, 66-foot long, 116 ton gun could fire a 2,700 pound shell 23 miles in 50 seconds.

It had been in a storage facility in Norfolk, Virginia, and was headed for the scrap yard until the Fort Miles Historical Association raised $113,000 to bring it to Delaware where it is to be the centerpiece of the Fort Miles Museum.

--GreGen

USS Arizona Gun Barrel Headed for Arizona in 2012

From the April 11, 2012, Navy.Mil.  "USS Arizona Gun Barrel Begins Trek to Arizona Capitol Museum after 63 years at Virginia Naval Base" by John J. Joyce.

The huge gun was lifted onto a trailer that departed Navy Support Facility Dahlgren on April 10, 2012.

The 14-inch gun will join a 16-inch one from the USS Missouri at a dedication expected to happen in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 7, 2012.

The Arizona gun, however, was not on the ship that fateful day.  It had been removed to be relined before the attack came and was at Dahlgren the day of the event.  It was on the Arizona from 1925 to 1938.  It was later installed on the USS Nevada in 1942.

Between June 25, 1943, and August 26, 1944, it fired 224 rounds and was at D-Day.

In the 1950s, no longer having use for battleships, the Navy scrapped 38 of these barrels which were cit up and melted down.  The Navy now plans to do the same with eight more of them, one of which was the Arizona's, but now it has a new home.

The barrel weighs in at 147,000 pounds.

--GreGen

Battleship USS Missouri's Big 16-Inch Gun

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