A bit of History comes to Perry’s Back Yard, well, almost.
Missouri gun barrel now rests at park on Delaware shore
Fort Miles Historical Society has it transported from Norfolk to Cape Henlopen
By Frederick N. Rasmussen, The Baltimore Sun
1:45 p.m. EDT, May 5, 2012
There’s a new exhibit waiting to greet summer visitors at Delaware’s Cape Henlopen State Park. And it’s big.
It’s a 16-inch gun barrel that once roared from the deck of the battleship Missouri during World War II, and it now rests — 120 tons, 68 feet long — at the Battery 519 Museum at Fort Miles, which is part of Cape Henlopen State Park.
The gun — officially known as Barrel 371 — arrived at Fort Miles last month. It is similar to the two 16-inch Army guns that defended the coast and the Delaware Bay from German U-boats.
Barrel 371, which was one of the war’s more lethal naval weapons, could fire 2,700-pound shells more than 25 miles, with deadly accuracy.
Its new home dates to 1873, when the Army acquired 140 acres along the Delaware Bay and Atlantic for coastal defense. With the coming of World War II, another 1,000 acres were added to the site.
In 1941, the fort became home to the 261st Coast Artillery, whose mission was to defend the E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co. complex in Wilmington, Del., the city of Philadelphia and the oil refineries that lined the Pennsylvania and New Jersey shorelines of the Delaware River.
The fort was named for Lt. Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who had been commanding general of the Army from 1895 to 1903.
In addition to the two 16-inch guns, the fort’s defenses included four 12-inch guns in two separate batteries; four 6-inch guns that could swivel; eight 8-inch guns that were affixed to railroad flatcars, with four hidden in bunkers; 16 155-mm mobile guns; three four-gun batteries of 90 mm; and four 3-inch guns that were permanently mounted.
In addition to the heavy armament, 11 concrete cylindrical observation towers, some nearly 100 feet tall, were constructed to spot enemy shipping and help direct the fire from shore batteries. They stretched from Cape Henlopen to Fenwick Island.
Similar concrete towers across from Cape Henlopen at Cape May Point, N.J., were also part of the defense network protecting the bay approaches.
After World War II, the two 16-inch guns were removed (one story said they were cut up to make razor blades), and the rest of the fort was eventually disarmed.
No longer needed for defense, Fort Miles was deactivated in 1958. Six years later, 543 acres were returned to Delaware, including the old fort, which is part of today’s Cape Henlopen State Park. The park has grown to more than 3,200 acres of beach grasses, bayberry and black pines.
In its collection, Fort Miles had a 12-incher but not a 16-inch gun, and when volunteers and members of the Fort Miles Historical Society heard that there were eight Iowa-class battleship barrels moldering on the ground at St. Julien’s Creek Annex, part of the Navy’s Norfolk, Va., complex, they decided to get one for their fort.
“We were trying to get one for the last seven years. It’s been a quest for a long time because the Navy wouldn’t let them go,” said Gary D. Wray, president of the Fort Miles Historical Association. “Finally, in 2010, the Navy declared them surplus.”
Wray and his associates knew there were other barrels stored at naval facilities around the country, but many were being scrapped.
Wray and a friend visited St. Julien’s Creek Annex, where they were astonished to learn that three of the barrels were from the Missouri. The guns had been aboard the vessel on Sept. 2, 1945, when Japanese envoys came aboard to formally surrender.
The other barrels were from the battleships New Jersey and Iowa.
They had been removed from the Missouri after World War II and the Korean War. The rifling of their liners was worn from many firings and needed to be replaced. Since that time, they had been kept in storage.
The Navy agreed to donate one of the barrels, but Wray and his organization had to pay for its shipment and develop a display that the Navy would approve.
“This was June 1, 2011, and we had no money in the bank, and the Navy gave us six months to get it off the ground,” Wray said in a telephone interview the other day.
By year’s end, the group had raised $115,000, and “not one bit of it was state money,” he said.
“We were very close to losing it,” said George Ward, a retired WMAR-TV photographer and engineer, who is a member of the fort’s historical society and helped raise money to save the barrel. “I visited St. Julien’s, and they had already marked the barrel in orange every 8 feet so it could be cut up for scrap.”
Moving an object that large 170 miles by truck, water and rail to Cape Henlopen was no easy matter.
After being loaded aboard a specially built flatbed truck, Barrel 371 departed the naval facility March 7 and was taken to Chesapeake, Va.
On April 3, it was placed aboard a Bay Coast Railroad barge and conveyed across the Chesapeake Bay to Cape Charles, Va., where it was then turned over to Norfolk Southern Railroad for the journey up the Delmarva Peninsula.
At Harrington, Del., the barrel was turned over to the Delaware Coast Line Railroad, whose four-car train transported it (at a speed of 10 mles per hour) from Georgetown, Del., to Cape Henlopen, arriving April 17.
Placed on a 96-wheel flatbed truck because there was no rail line into the fort, it arrived at Fort Miles the next day. Unveiling ceremonies were held April 28 at Fort Miles.
It will take at least two years to complete Barrel 371′s restoration, which will include additional parts such as a 50-ton girder, 50-ton slider and a 10-ton yoke. Those can be easily trucked to Fort Miles.
The other barrels from the Missouri will go on display in Cape Charles and at a museum in Arizona.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-backstory-park-gun-20120504,0,5353339.story
Imagine this, not political. Pictures at the website.
It’s a great story, Yorkshire, with kudos to Dr Wray, Mr Ward, the Historical Society, and the many donors for this successful project.
Cape Henlopen State Park is a Delaware treasure, and well worth a visit if you are ever in the area.
Fort Miles is located on the highest dune on the Cape, and offers fantastic vistas of the shore line, the two lighthouses, the Delaware Bay with all the shipping activity, and of course the Atlantic Ocean and the dolphins leaping out of the water like they do.
There is also camping, a fishing pier, the Biden Center, an observation tower in which one can climb to the top, a Nature Center which exhibits beach plant, animal, and aquatic life, educational programs for children and adults, bird watching, you name it.
And then nearby is the historical city of Lewes (pronounced lewis), first city in the first state, where the Dutch landed in 1639, angered the resident Indians who then wiped them out to the last person. Lewes is a small city with historical monuments and sites which relate to the aquatic history of the place from the days of whaling to those of the later menhaden fishing period. On the main street there are quaint shops, good restaurants, and of course a couple of banks.
We live in the City of Lewes, but on the outskirts of the Old City.
Google ‘Cape Henlopen State Park’ and ‘Lewes, DE’, to see what we have here to see and enjoy.
Yorkshire, you got me going about my back yard, and it is all your fault!
PS: We also have three outlet malls in the Lewes – Rehoboth area on Route 1, filled with all sorts of stores where you can buy clothes, electronics, sporting, and miscellaneous items at discount prices and sales tax free.
The Ferry Terminal is nearby for a 70 mile/2 hour trip to hiistoric Cape May, NJ, from which you can visit the Jersey shore points like Wildwood, Ocean City, and Atlantic City.
I’ve been to Lewes, Rehobeth, and taken the ferry to Cape May to get a Bus to the Casinos at Atlantic City. For about 25 years we vacationed in Bethany Beach and of course had to do the Outlets. Bought a cordless drill at the Black & Decker store. Still running like new after over 10 years.
But, you DID NOT mention Grotto Pizza.
Dutch Influence in Lewes, DE
True, Yorkshire. I also forgot to mention “Go Brit”. For anyone fond of fish and chips, Go Brit is owned by a Brit, and is the real thing.
Your photo is of the Zwaanendael Museum, which focuses on the Dutch heritage and the history of Lewes exhibiting artifacts going back in time.
On the ferry and bus to the Casinos, in the summer for $8 you get the ferry, the bus, and a free meal at one of the Casinos and $20 to get you started at the betting tables and/or slots.
In the early Spring of 1954 my father arranged for me and my brother to go for a day sail on the USS Missouri from Hampton Roads out past the Virginia Capes and back to NOB.
The Mighty Mo was just out of the Norfolk Navy Yard after returning from Korean War duty. She was freshly painted and shipshape. Captain and crew were proud sailors all, kind and gracious to visitors and dignitaries and happy to show off their splendid fighting ship.
It was a very special day. I was able to tour the 16″ and 5″ gun mounts and watch simulated loading operations, later on they fired
a few of the 3″ guns and I got one of the brass shell casings as a souvenir.
My Father was a WW2 Navy vet. He served on the USS Wyoming which was an old tub by then. It was more in the Arizona class of Battleships, rather than the Iowa Class which the Missouri was in. His job was gunners mate and fed ammo to the big barrels, but they were smaller than the Mighty Mo. Their tour of duty was to go from Norfolk, VA to Portsmouth, NH, and back, and back. I kind of had a taste of that last September when we took a cruise to New England and Canada. We sailed from Baltimore by way of Chesapeake Bay mouth at Norfolk and went to Portland, ME.
That sounds like quite a day, ropelight!
I slipped over to see our newly acquired 16 inch gun.
Everyone knows what 16 inches looks like, but for one who has never been up close to a gun which could accurately deliver a 2,700 ton missile over a range of 25 miles, who has only seen pictures of them in place on a battleship, this gun is outright enormous.
Moreover, to consider the engineering design and fabrication of such a gun and it’s mount, it is just amazing!!!
Perry, in your comment at 14:49 you’ve confused pounds with tons.
Here’s a little history from the Military Analysis Network, edited to highlight the USS Missouri’s recent history:
Mark 7 16-inch gun
The Mark 7 16-inch gun was the primary armament of the IOWA-class battleships. The IOWA class are the only battleships to mount this weapon… The Mark 7 gun fires two basic rounds, a 2,700 pound AP (Armor Piercing), which can penetrate up to 30 feet of concrete, and a 1,900 pound HC (High Capacity) shore bombardment projectile.
The silk bags of propellant and the projectiles are elevatored to (the turret) from the powder magazines and the shell decks below and then loaded into the gun in the gun room. To fire it, the gunner and his numerous mates complete a carefully choreographed sequence of events, first sliding the projectile into the breech, then gingerly placing the cylindrical silk bags of black powder, then ratcheting the breech shut. An ominous red stripe on the wall of the turret just inches from the railing marks the boundary of the gun’s recoil.
During Operation DESERT STORM battleships USS WISCONSIN and USS MISSOURI fired more than 1000 rounds of 16″ ammunition in support of ground operations. USS MISSOURI alone fired more than one million pounds of ordnance. Using Remotely Piloted Vehicles and Marine spotters ashore, targets included artillery, mortar and missile positions, ammunition storage facilities and a Silkworm missile site.
On 03 February 1991 the battleship USS MISSOURI (BB-63) fired eight 1.25-ton shells from its 16-inch guns at prefabricated concrete command and control bunkers Iraq was moving into Kuwait, destroying the bunkers. The barrage, totalling 18,000 pounds of high explosives, marked the first combat firing of the MISSOURI’s 16-inch guns since the Korean War, and was in support of Marines and coalition ground forces.
And on 03 February USS MISSOURI destroyed an Iraqi artillery emplacement. On 06 February USS MISSOURI destroyed 4 artillery emplacements and a command bunker with another 16-inch gun barrage in support of Marines. In a second salvo, the MISSOURI fired 28 16-inch rounds against a radar control site complex, completely destroying it. 5-inch batteries also engaged. MISSOURI had fired a total of 112 16-inch shells and 12 five-inch rounds in 8 fire support missions over 48 hours…
On 24 February CINCCENTCOM announced the initiation of the ground offensive, and USS MISSOURI and USS WISCONSIN fired at targets in occupied Kuwait in support of the ground offensive. The next day USS WISCONSIN and USS MISSOURI continued naval gunfire support, with MISSOURI alone firing 133 rounds or 125 tons of ordnance on targets.
WW:
Everyone knows what 16 inches looks like, but for one who has never been up close to a gun which could accurately deliver a 2,700 ton missile over a range of 25 miles, who has only seen pictures of them in place on a battleship, this gun is outright enormous.
Having seen how mischievious the Navy is, especially lauching other than planes off the catapault on a carrier, wonder if they ever fired a VW from Big MO.
I think on either the WISCONSIN or the MISSOURI one of the turrets was modified to lauch cruise missiles.
http://www.military.com/video/guided-missiles/cruise-missiles/uss-missouri-fires-tomahawk-missiles/946203213001/
Absolutely correct, Yorkshire.
Your USS Missouri stories are fascinating!
Sorry:
YorkshireropelightThanks, ropelight, for the information you provided!