Where are New Jersey's Original Gun Barrels?
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- čas přidán 9. 11. 2021
- In this episode we're looking at the 16in/50 Cal gun barrels that were removed from the battleship.
For climbing through the barrel: • Climbing through a Bat...
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"Famously crawled through", Love it.
Has anyone else crawled through one of those 16" barrels?
Oh yeah most definitely. There are pictures of navy guys or steel worker guys crawling through them. It was kinda a thing to do if you ever had the chance and could fit.
Having that truck and the barrel is a miracle!
yes its is living history er well actual story history, its a miracle that all 9 origionals are still intact I thought they would have been cut up long ago, with the way people are for pre nuclear age steel, its kind of the same thing for all the monuments of rome italy with all the nasty quakes that hit italy and have hit over the centuries its a miracle anything still stands but its a testament to how well the ancents built things out of brick and cement and cladded with marble.
its crazy though that all 9 are still intact though
yeah that is almost 1000 tonnes of steel that could have been turned into anything like 50 new cars
@@patrickdean9797 No that is a 1000tons of Low-background-Steel the medical/tech industry would spend a fortune on for their detectors/ high-end medical scanners. Last I heard it was $25 per Lb. So thats 1kg circa $50. I'll let you do the maths of 1000 tons.
@@mwnciboo 5 million ? what is low background steel? for what the guns were disigned to do and the forces involved it has to be the very best steel that you can get ?
@@mwnciboo i understand now this steel was produced before the detonation of nuclear bombs but wouldn't the guns still get a dose of radiation or does it not penetrate steel?
When the Navy turned over the Torpedo Works in Alexandria VA to an arts organization they discovered 16"/50 barrel liners underneath the floor. I don't remember how many but it was enough to keep the Iowas supplied for at least one refit.
Bring in more volunteers for guest appearances once in a while. Ryan rocks, and it would be cool to see more other as dedicated souls.
I had a one-of-a-kind opportunity to teach in an apprenticeship for machinists at the Watervliet Arsenal in Watervliet NY. It was built in 1812 to supply cannon for the War of 1812. It was built only a short distance from the Hudson River. In fact, the walls of the buildings facing the river were heavily reinforced in case of British Navy bombardment. This introduction actually ties in with the video. There a few panning shots of the breech end of the tube, that are marked " US Naval Gun Factory WNY", i.e., Watervliet New York. Almost all of the machine tools and heat treating pits (unsafe to use because of asbestos insulation) are still in place. The lathes are really impressive. The heat treating furnaces are oriented vertically, if the tubes were set horizontally the would get horribly warped. They are not "barrels" they are called tubes. They are not "cannons", they are naval rifles. You could probably walk into the Arsenal, to this day, and receive dirty looks and/or correction to use the proper nomenclature. The breech block itself weighs approx. 1500 lbs. I don't the weight of the 18" tube to be 110 tons. The tube for the Iowa-class tubes weighed 110,000 LBS. The complete rifle assembly: tube, breech ring, breech plug and mount totaled 220,000 lbs., or 110 tons. Walking through the Arsenal, even in the 1990's, you could sense the history, since 1812. 6:36 6:36
I drove by there several yrs. back and there were two lg. tubes sitting in the parking lot visible from the highway,, often wondered what they fit.
As a young Marine, I saw New Jersey's 16 inch rounds take out a ridgeline in Vietnam. I was several miles away but an awesome display of firepower.
Many years later I worked on the New Jersey at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard while preparing her for her final trip into history. The workmanship on those battleships was amazing and some of the decks were 6"thick steel. What a glorious vessel.
Those gun barrels are a true monument to the engineering and metallurgical skills of America mid-Century. Casting, cooling, turning, finishing. And think of the quality of metals that formed the alloy steel. Just astonishing.
It is not an insignificant feat, but probably not something one should brag about when considering the competition of the time.
It's a miracle they weren't scrapped
From what I understand, about 15 or so spare barrels located in a Nevada depot were sold for scrap sometime in 2011. Eight more located in Virginia were saved and moved to various museums around the US.
The fact that they're all still in existence is incredible.
Great video!
It's supremely impressive to me that all 9 of NJ's original gun barrels are still in existence as well as the 18" test gun made famous in World of Warships.
4:05 for reference, space is generally considered to start at the Kármán line at 100km or 62miles. The Kármán line was an attempt to calculate the point at which the minimum velocity for aerodynamic effects exceeds the orbital velocity. There's some disagreement as to where space starts, but by this definition this projectile was nearly twice the height needed.
Depends on the trajectory - too flat, no go. too steep, no go.
Lots of answers to this. Half lift from aerodynamic wing, half from the curvature of the earth.
Something like that. Normal planes need enough air for props/jets and wings to work. Without enough air, they don't. Beyond that, you need rockets and Vernier thrusters to move the ship. The X-15 proved it before Mercury had it's first launch. That "line" is as good as any and probably not far off from the right place. (I think the American line was lower, at 50 miles/80KM but the same idea.)
Atmo gradually dilutes and fizzles out. You gotta decide where "flying" ends and "space travel" starts.
Back in the 1980's a freighter, the SS President Adams, loaded some Iowa class gun barrels at the Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines. On the way back across the Pacific it turned out there were a variety of snakes that had been living inside those barrels. Some of them were poisonous. Big stink in the deck department and the sailors refused to go on deck at night. When the ship got back to the States it had to anchor out in San Francisco bay and have exterminators come aboard to deal with the snakes.
Lmao. That's the navy for you. Army or Marines would've just eaten the snakes.
That amazing.
@@WvlfDarkfire Why would they eat snakes when there's far better grub onboard the ship? Your comment makes little sense
@@Zamandu I guess you've never heard the term snake eater for special forces members? It was just a cute joke
@@charlesborlase2238 I have, although it was a bit low-brow in this instance and didn't feel very "earned"
I had wondered if the Navy ever tested any 18" rifles...now I know. Thanks for all the info... very interesting!
Yea read into it, very cool gun. Started life as an 18"/48, converted to a 16"/56 and then converted to what it is now. Had incredible penetration compared to the Yamatos but was never fielded.
@@johnlee8523 I wonder if eight of these guns might have made a good alternate armament for the Montana class.
@@robertf3479 Definitely could, couldn't match the armor though so she'd be like the NCs designed with 12 14" guns in quad turrets and upgunned to 9 16"s in 3 gun turrets but with the 14" style belt. Could possibly make a 9 gun/3 turret ship with those dimensions but I'm not sure if there's enough beam for it.
@@johnlee8523 Really poor liner life as a 16"/56. 125 rounds at full charge. I'm sure it was even worse as an 18"/47.
@@zoopercoolguy Yea the higher velocity wears them out, Italians had the same problem with their 15s. I don't think the 18/47 was worse but I'll have to look it up, definitely was less then the Mk7s BUT with modern propellant they'd be fine.
A large portion of why I watch this channel is Ryan's awkwardness on camera. I feel shortchanged.
I like to think of it as he is one of the few CZcams personalities who isn’t full of himself or come off with a politicians type persona.
He has this subtle pausing between paragraphs. It’s never too long.
I like it, let’s me sorta think on the info briefly.
@@chaseman113 definitely gives you a moment to absorb what he just said. should be a technique taught to teachers.
I noticed, but wont fault him for that.I like what he does, and his passion for the ship.
Also miss Ryan. Sorry new guy
Two more of the 16 inch barrels are welded together in Barbados. The setup is just like the ones at the Yuma Proving Grounds. It ceased firing long ago due to the damage it was doing to buildings in a large portion of the island. It/they are still there rusting away in the salt air.
A full breakdown of 16" barrels manufactured would be interesting. Keeping in mind that there were different lengths ( calibers). I don't know if the breaches were different. My understanding is only the Iowas had the late 16"x 50 caliber guns. More Iowas were laid down and the Montanas were to use the same guns in the final design.
It's great that every single barrel is still around today! Simply amazing.
Great info. Something I had never pondered. Super interesting!! THANK YOU
The rifling looks pretty good in all the barrels they have shown!
A well edited and presented update on New Jersey's original main gun barrels. I didn't realize how interested I was until I actually viewed this----now I am totally stoked!! Thanks
I happened to be driving in New Brunswick when I saw the barrel on the way to the Mahan Collection. Looked so massive on the trailer, instantly I knew what it was
Learn a lot from your video, lived and worked at Dahlgren, in awe of these guns lived in Colonial Beach when the test firings of the guns was being conducted. Knew one of the last men who could install a gun into the mount. Thanks again
During the USS New Jersey's second sea trial in 1982, they test fired each 16" gun one barrel at a time. When they got to mount 16-2, the Admiral observer was notified that the center barrel had a cracked liner, so they fired the right barrel twice. It was quite an experience. When Long Beach Naval Shipyard was in closure mode in 1996-7, they cut up the spare 16" barrels they had on site. They might have shipped one off, I'm not really sure of that.
I remember watching a guy with a big thermo lance doing that...
Fantastic work as always Mr. curator!
Absolutely fantastic video once again
This is a top notch video. Very impressive presentation of this content. Great job guys.
Hi Clark…thanks for the great information about the barrels. Grettings to Ryan and Libby.🤓
Excellent video!! Thank you!
Another great video from the battleship.
5:36 I don't know which episode of Victory at Sea, but one about the supply train needed for war has a scene where a big truck tractor is pulling a big trailer with at least one big gun barrel on it.
A 16" gun from the USS Missouri is in Cape Henlopen, Delaware, guarding the the Delaware river down stream from the USS New Jersey. During WW2 there were two 16" Mark2 guns on the Delaware side of the river. It is really big and worth the drive to see it.
It is still there? Why with today's technology would a 16 inch gun be there?
Nice, sharp rifling on those barrels.
Great info thanks.
Back in the 1990's I was working in area 52 in the Nevada desert not far from the Nevada test site. Sandia maintained a small test station on what was known as the Tonopha Test Range. The Gulf wars were being fought and the scientists were doing development of various weapon including artillery. One day two very large gun barrels were delivered to this facility. I was told that these were battleship gun barrels that were being considered for some project. They were never used a sat where they were offloaded for some years. I inspected them and they were unfinished forgings with no rifling and no finished breeches. Don't know what ever happened to them.
Very well done video!
First thought when it started was "so that's how Ryan looks when he shaves and combs his hair".
More serious, does anyone know which ship is moored in the background behind Clark and barrel #293 at the Philadelphia Naval Yard?
Most likely, USS Shreveport.
It looks like it could be the S.S. United States, which is docked in Philadelphia but not in the Navy Yard. Looking at the Navy Yard via Google Maps and doing some google-fu, the ship nearest the gun barrel is the USS Boulder (LST-1190).
Now, now, be nice.
@@emonticello definitely Shreveport per the wikimapia aerial view
@@TheRealGraylocke thats no newport class lst.
I've visited the barrel on display inside the Philadelphia Navy Yard several times. I was over there a month ago on business and stopped by there to check it out again. The interrupted threads in the breech are intriguing. I have a background in tool and die and machining and I cannot for the life of me figure out how they machined in the that complex geometry.
Outstanding video.
Cool video! It’s hard to believe 1. The barrels still exist and 2, we know where they are! Nice work guys!
Back in the 60's the ship I was stationed on was in the Philadelphia Shipyard for repairs. We were moored near the New Jersey and they had some new 16 inch gun barrels laying on the dock, waiting to be installed. I walked over and bet a shipmate that I could crawl through one of the barrels. I got a bit greasy, but did it. Not these days, I was a bit skinnier back then.
Had my Sumner class destroyer of WW II vintage be repaired in the Philly Yards...back in the late 1950s...never did see any f the NJ barrels...or the battleship...
ahhhh some info on HARP I've been waiting for :):) lol super awesome
czcams.com/video/iKW4ByK37gA/video.html
I seem to remember some 16 inch barrels being sold for scrap a decade or two ago... I would be surprised if that was not them. Glad to see some of them survived. The idea that they could wear out rifling that appears to be at least a half inch deep is incredible..... a .17 remington to the nth power....
It’s amazing that all 9 original barrels are still around.
there isn't much info about that 18 inch gun, an in depth video of that gun's story and testing would be most welcome!
thank you for keeping history alive
At least 1 of the 16 inch Naval Rifle barrels on the USS Missouri, BB63, is marked at the muzzle indicating that it came from Watertown Arsenal, Watertown Massachusetts.
Were I work we have the barrel from some battleship (i'm not certain which one), that we use for high pressure testing of deep submergence items. It's been cut down to just a few feet in length and plugged on one end but it's one of the few ways we can create pressure testing vessels that can create and withstand pressures similar to the deepest point in the ocean.
Great video 🇺🇸
Good to know we have extra. I always like a little back-up for my BOOM.
I love Ryan but Clark has a really professional and soothing way of delivering information. Thank you all keep up the fantastic work.
Very cool that they all still exist and are accounted for
Long Beach Naval Shipyard in the 70s took one or more obsolete 5-inch/38 caliber gun tubes and cut them into 3/4 inch sections as part of ash trays for VIP gifts. Not sure how they did it but seeing the rifling was very interesting.
PS - Hope on crops up on eBay!
Long Beach Naval Shipyard a few barrels for the battleships I know one of the New Jersey’s barrels is outside of Port Of Los Angles Maritime Museum in San Pedro
Outstanding!
This actually raises the question, do the original/spare barrels of the other 3 ships still exist ?
One from the Missouri is on display next a barrel from the Arizona at Wesley Bolin plaza in Phoenix.
Yes they do exist but some are not as good looking as the rest due to rust
@@emersonaz There is another _Missouri_ barrel at Cape Henlopen, mounted in place of a former Coast Artillery 16” gun.
#393 From the Missouri is Located at Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge (Fort John Custis)
#386 from the missouri is located on display at battery townsley in marin headlands, just north of san francisco
My best guess is that the barrels were produced and shipped in sequentially, and when it came time to install them, they started with the last one delivered (#3), in the center position, then #1 and #2 naturally went to the sides. center, left, right is probably just the install order. it also happens to number them for the removal order as well.
That makes sense.
very interesting!
I honestly don't remember where I read this, but I do recall seeing an article about the proposed Montana class, where there was one variation intended to have four turrets, each containing two of these 18"/47 guns. The proposal was rejected when it was determined that the extra weight from the size of these guns and their associated equipment would reduce the speed of the ship below the acceptable design requirements. The Montanas were intended to be Yamato-killers, and it was thought at the time that an 18" gun would be needed.
I recall seeing the guns when I worked at NSWCDD, but they were by the river (where they test-fired them down the Potomac). The one mounted wasn't there when I was there in 95. NSWC Dahlgren - Praise our thunder. I knew they stopped making liners at the end of WWII, and there were only so many of them.
I saw the barrels on the several occasions that I went down for meetings at the JWAC.
One of the 16-inch guns was mounted in the '80s and was test fired in March 1984. I remember test fire rattled the windows in the hangar where my office was.
while the jersey and missouri were in long beach, there was a large pile of barrels sitting not too far away.
And cut up during BRAC
Glad to see that they weren't turned into razor blades!
At least a few of the owners of those barrels is actively taking care of them and not letting rust get to them.
Some early designs of the Iowas had the 18"/47 as their main battery. It was decided against using them, however, because only 2 could be mounted per turret.
Would do a video on the 18 inch barrel. This is a first I knew of this one.
Gonna buy one of these for my new concealed carry....I'm gonna need a bigger coat!
"Is that a Mark VII in your pocket, or are just happy to see me?"
-Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Sweet! Thanks!
In May 2001 a friend and myself went to Dahlgren and took a tour there. The tour guide who looked a bit eccentric took us around to the different places showed us the "barrel yard" where they were in the process of cutting up some of the barrels. He told us how the dredded EPA made it a superfine site because of the peeling lead based paint. A lot of artifacts were probably destroyed. I'm still wondering if the 8" barrel from the Prinze Eugene was cut up or saved.
There is a 16" barrel from the battleship Missouri now on display at Battery Townsley in Marin County just North of San Francisco.
0:53 I like the name of that battery. :D
glad to know that these barrels were not turned into beer cans and that if ever they are needed they are available for reuse. honestly i'm shocked that they still exist. do the other iowa class ships have barrels in storage somewhere too?
No Ryan at the beginning of the video?
Gentlemen we've been betrayed backstabbed and quite possibly *bamboozled*
don't forget Hoodwinked, Duped, Finagled, aaaaand Hornswoggled.
@@MrTexasDan -- we've been keelhauled, set adrift, scuppered and forced to walk the plank!
@@HadToChangeMyName_CZcamsSucks by Scallywags, Rascals, Knaves, Rapscallions, and Ne'er-do-wells.
With some serious skuttlebutt.
It's a good thing someone else DID stand in for Ryan while he was doing something else.
The stand-in (I'm sorry, Sir, but I'm HORRIBLE with names unless I've heard or read them a million times) was good. He should be on the alternate list for Ryan when Ryan can't do the videos. He was knowledgeable about the subject and didn't look bored or worried. Even if you're not jokey or "on" like the late Robin Williams, the worst thing is when people are lethargic and don't know what they're talking about!
YT Channels live and die by how regularly new video uploads happen.
The host, of course, makes a huge difference.
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They had another museum organization -- not gonna name names! -- where the assistant curator who was the lead host of their series left. They had done regularly video uploads with him while he was employed by this organization and they were high-energy videos. Informative and fun. They highlighted a museum exhibit (it was an aviation museum in a decomm'd Air Force Base) in each video and as often as they could interviewed local or visiting pilots who flew those planes.
After he left when he was offered a promotion ELSEWHERE, the video uploads slowed down and when they DID continue, it was never the same. The new hosts were lethargic and the enthusiasm just wasn't there.
I have not bothered to go back and look at that channel much.
It doesn't surprise me there haven't been many uploads lately.
That curator as far as I can tell is doing fine at his new job. His previous employer IMHO blew it and let a vital asset go...
Old battleships and old steam engines still draw a crowd.
Cool idea for videos. Pick any job....follow the common sailor through waking up....doing morning stuff....where did it happen? Breakfast? Go there. Where did they work? Where did they relax. What parts of the ship did they normally not go to. Etc....etc.... I'd be interested in the obscure restroom..... some obscure resting place....
Awesome!
Where is Ryan!
I love the channel but no Ryan was a huge shock.
The odd numbering convention is do to how the guns where installed. I believe that you checked the other triple barrel mounts on other ship they have the same set up as well.
I seem to remember about a dozen 16" barrels coming up for auction anout 4 years ago at Crane Naval Depot in Indiana or Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in California for scrap i wounder if that was the same auction they where talking about. If it was thought it was strange that they where so far in land.
There are two brand new barrels for Iowa class battleships at China Lake. They were brought in by a guy (via some shady means that I won't go into here) that wanted to weld them together and bore them smooth to make a horizontal HARP Gun for reasons. He never got any backing for the idea, but the barrels are still there. They've a bit of cosmetic rust, but the desert has preserved them well.
i understand china lake has one 16-inch gun out at echo range gun line they used for testing rocket assisted saboted rounds and other strange rounds for use in vietnam.
There is also a breach that they turned into a large rocket propellant casting press.
This actually raises the question, where is Ryan?
He's obviously being forced into another tight and microphone unfriendly space
They went up to the Salem over the weekend
He finally got lost in the depths of the ship.
Like the new guy!
Nicely done- good to know some barrels are still available IF...... they were ever needed!
I boarded the Jersey while she was in longbeach, my cousin was serving on her__I got the Grand tour.
I remember seeing 16” barrels on railroad cars in Pittsburgh as a kid in the 80’s when they were being resleeved.
Sadly, i remember a gun barrel being cut up outside Long Beach NSY when it was being decommed in the early 90s...
super awesome
Very interesting
i think some of the barrels were make ar Watervliet Arsenal in Watervliet NY
When I was in the Navy, the chief took me to another base near Norfolk, and while he was inside the building, I went around back, and there were many cannon barrels. so they may be there. I'm talking about about 100 barrels, at least.
I used to work at a company that purchased the lathe used to produce those barrels. The bed had been reduced to 60' by then. Enormous 50 hp electric motor. Not sure what became of it after I no longer worked there. Late 1980s
There were several of them gun barrel boring lathes built back in WWII. Niles Machine Tool built most of them. LeBlond built the others. Most of these lathes were converted into trepanning machines for deep hole boring/drilling for the oilfield industry. I spent my earlier years helping in the retrofitting a few of them. One I worked on had a 150 HP DC motor hooked up direct drive to the spindle. Our government purchased many of these machines and moth-balled them and put in storage up in the salt minds in southeastern Kansas for later needs that never happen. Slowly, the equipment was sold off at auctions over the years, the last sold off sometime in 2005-2008.
The sequence of the barrels was to improve accuracy. Naturally between the outside barrels you know whare the center shot should go.
Thanks.
When I was in the navy I saw gun barrrels in the DRMO lot in Portsmouth Virginia. They were going to scrap them.
Here for the Gerald Bull content.
I saw barrels being shipped through Long Beach harbor in the late 60s when the New Jersey was sent to Vietnam. I saw the same ones? later in the 80s in Subic Bay in the Philippines. Wonder if they are still there.
There is also one of her gun barrels in Los Angeles in Gibson Park.
@Dainiel McCool Thank you, I knew I saw one down there when I was @ the Iowa a few years ago. 👍
In the early 1990's I saw some very large gun barrels in the desert at the Army munition depot at Hawthorne NV. I knew they were naval gun barrels, and surmised that they had come from Navy ships, and as huge as they were, that they must have come from a battleship. I don't know where they came came from. I was Air Force in Vietnam, and don't know what my seafaring brethren were doing storing Navy stuff in the desert.
Am I remembering correctly that the 9 barrels installed on New Jersey, that she sports today, were the ones originally made for her never finished sister ship, the USS Kentucky? The second donor gun for the proving grounds space cannon is an interesting question? Is it known if it was one of the 16”/50’s? Or could it have been one of the 16”/45’s? Possibly from the USS Washington? The 18” gun was I believe an experiment likely intended for the Montana class. The problem they ran into was they required too broad of a beam, which would have restricted any ship built for them from traversing the Panama Canal.
Special favor, if you say in the video that there's going to be a link in the description you might want to make sure that there's links in the description.