16 inch, 125 ton gun moving on Delmarva

[VaCentralRwy]

A surplus 16" 125 ton gun from WWII will be moving from Norfolk toLewes, DE in late March/early April. Should be fun to watch it go around the curve in Harrington

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/2 ... |text|Home

John

[CarterB]

Says the gun is from the Big Mo? A spare? or one of the actual guns taken off the MO?

[CREEPING DEATH]

There were several of these for sale on the government auction site last year or the year before - might be one of those.

Cd

[litz]

Didn't they remove 1 turret during the last big rebuild/redesign where they added the guided missile launcher assemblies?

[Teutobergerwald]

These 16" Mk. 7's are kept in storage at Dahlgren Naval Weapons Station. They are for the four Iowa-class battleships. The gun in question is going to the site of Fort Miles in Cape Henlopen State Park, at the end of the DCL's Lewes Branch. It will be placed in the Battery Smith gun emplacement, which was a 16" gun emplacement when Fort Miles was an Army Coast Artillery Corps installation, guarding the mouth of Delaware Bay.

[CarterB]

Yes, but is that particular gun from the USS Missouri, as the article states, or was it just a 'spare'?

[litz]

And if it IS from the Missouri ... what's on the ship now?

It quite clearly has gun turrets still on it ... and turrets that are tourable by tourists.

[Teutobergerwald]

The gun in question is a spare from Dahlgren Naval Weapons Station.

[CarterB]

Found this @ http://usna70.org/whatsnew/USSMISSOURI.pdf
"...specifically Barrel #371, an original 16" gun from the USS MISSOURI (BB-63) - this barrel was the middle barrel on mount one and is now scheduled for scrap on March 2, 2012. The USS Missouri was the site of the Japanese Surrender in Tokyo Harbor and now she is on location in Pearl Harbor as a museum. After the Korean War, the USS Missouri was re-gunned and the barrels were put in storage, currently located at the Dahlgren Navy Yard, VA."

[gpp111]

Fort Miles is located at Cape Henlopen Delaware, near Lewis. This was one of the most heavily fortified locations on the Atlantic coast in WWII. There were two large concrete
bunkers, one had two 16" guns, and one had two 12" guns. There were also a bunch of other guns, railroad guns, and 3" guns, all designed to protect Delaware Bay from German attack.
One of the bunkers is being restored and now houses a 12" gun. These are the same type of guns used on battleships. The barrel from the Battleship Missouri, which is being transported
to the Fort in April, was on the ship during the Japanese surrender. It will be transported by truck, barge, and rail to Fort Miles and will be dedicated in a special ceremony the last
weekend in April. The Fort is not sure how the barrel will be displayed in the future.

While there was no German naval attack, a German U-boat surrendered at the end of the war off the coast of NJ, was brought to Fort Miles, where the German crew was taken off of
it and put under watch at the camp there. This was the first foreign ship to surrender to US forces since the war of 1812. German U Boats regularly operated off the coast here.

http://www.fortmiles.org/

[RedbirdR33]

<i>A surplus 16" 125 ton gun from WWII will be moving from Norfolk toLewes, DE in late March/early April. Should be fun to watch it go around the curve in Harrington</i>

Maybe its just the kid in me or just being a railroader but you have to take pride in the fact that the railroads can move just about anything.

Larry, RedbirdR33

[Teutobergerwald]

Especially one of the 16" Mk. 7's from the Mighty Mo that helped crush Imperial Japan. Good for the Navy to have not scrapped this gun between then & now, and good for Delaware Coast Line for stepping up and saying they can handle the job. I wonder which locomotive will get the assignment that day??? Post videos of the move on Youtube, gentlemen !!!

[Sand Box John]

I am going to try to find out when the Norfolk Southern train comes up from Pokomoke City. The turn, out of Pokomoke City to Delmar has been running in the late PM through Salisbury for the last couple years. We don't know if this load will be special handing or be just another load in that train. Schedule permitting I will try to get some pictures.

[Teutobergerwald]

Hopefully, because of the historical significance of the cargo for the move, NS & DCL will do something special, i.e., freshly washed motive power, special markers on the power, etc, and of course, a daylight run by NS to the interchange with DCL. Anyone down there who is in the know- keep the updates coming. Thanks.

[gpp111]

The 16" gun, which was on the battleship during the Japanese surrender, will be dedicated at Fort Miles DE on April 28th at 1PM, so the gun will arrive by rail sometime before that date.
A pic of the train crossing the canal swing bridge in Lewes would be great, if someone could capture that.