Before & After: 15" gun and mounting

[Mike Serpa]

Washington, D.C., vicinity. 15-in. gun and mounting. August 1864. LOC #044350

The cracks to the left of the pole took 99.9% of the repair time. Very challenging!

 

[redbob]

Great job, these were beasts of a weapon to be sure.

 

[Mr. King]

I've worked in steel erection, crane rental, and heavy rigging for my whole career, and I can attest that handling weight like that is no walk in the park even today. Granted, I could do it much faster and safer than they could, but it'd be at least $3,500 to $5,000 just to pick it up and set it down.

The men who did this were what I would refer to as "bull riggers". Picking up extremely heavy objects using nothing but ropes, chains, pulleys, block and tackle, and muscle. It takes a lot of planning and manpower. It's challenging and exciting. We still use it today in tight spots, inside existing buildings where crane use is impossible.

 

[Patrick H]

Yes, the sheer size of this cannon is pretty staggering. The bore size is, too. I can barely imagine the process of loading this thing. It has a bigger bore than some WWII era battleships!

 

[redbob]

To give you some idea of the size and weights, the tube by itself weighed 43,000 pounds, the shells weighed 352 pounds with the solid bolts weighing 440 pounds; both took a 35 pound powder charge.

 

[Mr. King]

Yes, the sheer size of this cannon is pretty staggering. The bore size is, too. I can barely imagine the process of loading this thing. It has a bigger bore than some WWII era battleships!

The AP rounds on an Iowa Class or South Dakota Class Battleship with 16" guns weighed 2,700 lbs each. That's like shooting a car out of the barrel. I believe the barrel weighed about 95 tons on a 16"/50 cal. Mark 7 that was carried by the Iowa Class.

I believe that artillery, naval or otherwise, was perfected during WW2, considering the technology of the day.

I read somewhere that the analog Ford computers that aimed the guns on the WW2 era US Battlewagons was superior in accuracy to anything the navy tried to replace them with during the 1980s refit and modernization of the Iowas. It was decided to just leave them as they were. Those "computers" are literally the size of a studio apartment.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

To give you some idea of the size and weights, the tube by itself weighed 43,000 pounds, the shells weighed 352 pounds with the solid bolts weighing 440 pounds; both took a 35 pound powder charge.

Or more... Capt. Nicholson of the monitor USS Manhattan used 60 pounds of powder with a solid shot at Mobile Bay, in a partly-effective attempt to breach the CSS Tennessee's armor. (While it did not actually penetrate the casemate, reports indicate that the shot broke all layers of iron and wood, and by an eyewitness account aboard the Confederate ironclad, "admitted daylight through our side." Doubtless another such shot in the same place would have come through.)

 

[redbob]

Or more... Capt. Nicholson of the monitor USS Manhattan used 60 pounds of powder with a solid shot at Mobile Bay, in a partly-effective attempt to breach the CSS Tennessee's armor. (While it did not actually penetrate the casemate, reports indicate that the shot broke all layers of iron and wood, and by an eyewitness account aboard the Confederate ironclad, "admitted daylight through our side." Doubtless another such shot in the same place would have come through.)

I have a 15" shell that was fired by the Monitor Lehigh in Charleston that overshot and ended up on James Island, I have trouble just rolling it around; much less loading it and I can only imagine what it took to get it out of the swamp.

 

[Mr. King]

Or more... Capt. Nicholson of the monitor USS Manhattan used 60 pounds of powder with a solid shot at Mobile Bay, in a partly-effective attempt to breach the CSS Tennessee's armor. (While it did not actually penetrate the casemate, reports indicate that the shot broke all layers of iron and wood, and by an eyewitness account aboard the Confederate ironclad, "admitted daylight through our side." Doubtless another such shot in the same place would have come through.)

I bet that was a bell ringer...

 

[Mr. King]

Is that a US Marine with the white leather on in the far left corner?

 

[redbob]

Is that a US Marine with the white leather on in the far left corner?

I believe that it is.

 

[James N.]

Washington, D.C., vicinity. 15-in. gun and mounting. August 1864. LOC #044350
View attachment 70351
View attachment 70352
The cracks to the left of the pole took 99.9% of the repair time. Very challenging!

We should probably get back to Civil War XV-inch guns... Sorry!

Agreed; considering these were/are in the "Washington, D.C. vicinity" these might be the same guns today at Ft. Foote:

 

[James N.]

To give you some idea of the size and weights, the tube by itself weighed 43,000 pounds, the shells weighed 352 pounds with the solid bolts weighing 440 pounds; both took a 35 pound powder charge.

According to the muzzle marking, this one weighs 49,392! Note that it's also No. 1 meaning it was the very first to be cast at the foundry, in 1863.

 

[Mr. King]

Agreed; considering these were/are in the "Washington, D.C. vicinity" these might be the same guns today at Ft. Foote:

Where in the DC Vicinity is that?

 

[chellers]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Just a friendly reminder to please stay on topic. If you wish to discuss topics other than the OP please do so in a new thread.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

Chellers
Moderator

 

[James N.]

Where in the DC Vicinity is that?

http://civilwartalk.com/threads/fort-foote-maryland.103832/

"Fort Foote was the southernmost in the chain of some 68 earthen forts and 93 gun batteries, connected by 20 miles of rifle pits and 32 miles of military roads that comprised the Civil War defenses constructed to protect Washington, D. C. (Note on the map above that south is to the left and Foote is indicated by an arrow.) The fort, named in honor of Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote who died from the effects of an injury received during the 1862 attack on Fort Donelson in the Western Theater, appropriately guards the Potomac River approach from the south and lies only a little north of the much older permanent brick-and-mortar Fort Washington, featured here in another thread. Foote consisted of an earthen-walled fort and its outlying barracks and officers' quarters for its garrison..."