IrishGunner

My gunnery instructor when I was in the artillery basic course in the 80s told stories of calling for naval gun fire in Vietnam and getting the Jersey!

Wouldn't it be great though to be on a battleship with the 16" guns firing full broadsides? Their 2700 pound shells weighed more than a Volkswagen bug in the '60s (less than 2000 pounds). Notice how the ship appears to move sideways! That's the pressure wave from the muzzle blast.

Look at the guy to the left in the picture... He looks like a French Foreign Legion sapper with his beard, apron, and axe...

Thanks Hans! Do you know the rank and time period?

No worries... I could translate.... I speak several foreign languages... the Queen's English being only one... (Sorry, "mates" couldn't resist.... )

I am not sure, but I think this is a photo of either a Finnish officer with the ribbon for Cross of Liberty in his button-hole. I have no idea what the second ribbon may be...

A photo...

Of course, you did... Actually, though, in artillery terms, caliber is the bore diameter. In naval guns, caliber is the length of the gun (which is why you see naval guns 5"/25 or 16"/L50). In artillery, we refer to length, well, simply as length of barrel. But to answer your question about the Long Tom's length expressed in calibers... The Long Tom would be then... 6.97 m (22 ft 10 in) L/45 or 274" / 6.1" = 44.91 or L/45 (length divided by bore diameter)

Hugh, I don't have anything specific on the guns at Fort Monroe (by the way, only 3-4 hour drive down the Bay from me...), but it very well could have had 14"/50 naval guns. Not large at all for the purpose. This was the standard gun on ships at the time and since Coast Artillery was meant to engage ships, it would make sense they would have similar armament. Several of the 14" guns also made it to France as railway artillery in WWI. I know Fort Story, just up the coast from Fort Monroe had 16" naval guns by WW2. Fort Monroe was the Coast Artillery School as well; so, all Coast Artillerymen would have passed through. Most Coast Artillery forts had "disappearing guns" in calibers 6" to 14". This is an image of a 14" "disappearing gun" at Fort Hancock outside New York City: Edited to add: Fort Monroe had 5 12-inch Gun M1895 at Battery DeRussy and Battery Parrott (according to wiki...) Here is a 12" Gun M1895"

Hugh, 155mm or 6.1"

Should've saved that dollar...

Pack 75 has to be one of my most favorite howitzers...

Dad!

Take a deep breath before you pop a vein and you need two medics.

An icon to American artillerymen, far in the distance on the highest point is Block House, Signal Mountain. Originally, used as a signalling post and weather station from the 1870s, has been on Fort Sill's West Range since the 1940s. Any US artilleryman will know Block House, Signal Mountain as an aiming point for gunnery or observation exercises... I can remember doing "graded shoots" as a forward observer in the artillery lieutenant basic course in 1982... Your gunnery instructor would call out, "To identify, three fingers left of Block House, Signal Mountain, and at a lesser range, your target..." I remember it like it was yesterday, the stop watch would click and you'd have seconds to identify, locate, and initiate the call for fire. This photo is from sometime in the 40s/50s.

An 8" howitzer was also mounted on the M1/M2 carriage...differing only in the gun tube, sleigh, cradle, recoil and equilibrators, and weight due to the heavier barrel. The gun itself had origins with the British BL 8-inch howitzer Marks VI, VII and VIII of WWI. In the 1950s, the gun was re-designated... M115 8 inch howitzer... This photo is from the 1950s.

Prior to WWI, the US Army lacked heavy artillery. In WWI, the AEF was equipped with British and French heavy artillery. After WWI, the US Army began working on a heavy artillery piece based upon the French Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF) mle.1917. The US produced gun was named 155 mm Gun M1917 / M1918 In 1942, that piece was replaced by the 155mm Field Gun M1 - Long Tom. 49 battalions were fielded during WW2 with this gun.

US patriotic card...

This is actually a cigarette card... Navy Recruiting Office, WWI

Thank you, George! I knew you would be the one to come through with the answers. Much appreciated. Do you know what the "shell insignia" represented?

Riding the Pennsylvania Railroad to war...

Artillery officer...

More "self propelled" French artillery. I think these are Canon de 155 C modèle 1881-1912 de Bange-Filloux mounted on trucks...