We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:06:05 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification This is the subject of an upcoming post. Have fun.... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:42:52 -0600 a picture of the USS West Virginia entering San Francisco Harbor in the 30's - you can see the guns below the superstructure. With the new designs mandated by the limitations imposed by the WNT, and general advances in naval technology, marks the period when we went to turret or deck-mounted 5in/50/51/54s. Any sailors or naval-history geeks got better data?]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7934 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7934 Sat, 23 Oct 2004 09:12:10 -0600 My question, for my edification, would be: When were broadside guns (are they called sponson guns when they are actually inside the ship, not on platforms?) last used in the US Navy, and why were they eliminated. I know the wood ships used in the Civil War had them, and the Virginia Class in the early 1900s seemed to carry the same into into steel. What replaced them? Deck guns? Hey, my Dad was Army and I was Army, so my knowledge of the Navy is very limited. Maybe I'll "do a google search" and find the answer. Thanks again for your confirmation, guys. I'll be doing a post on the first USS Georgia within days. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7931 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7931 Sat, 23 Oct 2004 06:22:02 -0600 that would be a trivia question worthy of the Armorer! ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7910 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7910 Fri, 22 Oct 2004 09:07:01 -0600 Sounds like you nailed it, John. I'm still waiting on a confirming call from GT Navy ROTC, but I'm pretty sure it's one of the 12 broadside guns on the USS Georgia, which was a Virginia Class, commissioned in 1906. If you do a google search, you can see pictures of the ship and the 6 6in. guns on each side. Thanks for your help. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7795 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7795 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 23:10:18 -0600 Actually Bill, I was thinking more along the lines of convoy duty in WWI on the Virginia-class BBs, or mebbe a cruiser. But I think your instincts are pretty good - my guess is that it's a 6inch/50 caliber gun, which, after they left naval service, soldiered on as Coast Defense guns in the Endicott forts until 1943 when we shut down the Coast Artillery. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7787 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7787 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:52:13 -0600 Olympia-class battleships. Best guess on the caliber is six-inch. No, I never manned one at Manila Bay, John, but I know that's what you're thinking... ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7784 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7784 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:32:14 -0600 THIS is. If your comments don't accept html, here's the link: http://airbornecombatengineer.typepad.com/airborne_combat_engineer/2004/10/name_that_weapo.html I realize you're not a navy person, but cannons and naval guns having something in common, don't they? Sorry if it looks like I'm horning in on a thread. I just need to confirm what I think it is. (I'm waiting on a confirmation call.) Thanks for the recent link, Sir, and keep up the good work.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7779 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7779 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 13:42:41 -0600 A single granule of smokeless powder. Without scale I can't tell if it's the great big granule of cannon powder or the little one of small arms powder. It looks very much like a highly magnified granule of IMR 4350 or 4831. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7776 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7776 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 12:38:44 -0600 The helicoptor pilot's seat was too good to pass up. I'd really like to get to that Dallas gun show again someday! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7768 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7768 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:51:25 -0600 Boy are you guys gonna be surprised! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7767 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7767 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 10:19:49 -0600 The highlights and damage to it make me think wood, but the color is wrong. Looking closely at it, the left end looks slightly crimped, not round but slightly squashed ovaloid. The right end looks like it has been cut straight into to make a tenon joint, making the right end either D or rectangular. I think the right end is meant to fit into a socket. I think it is perhaps a brace used to hold something in place. Considering the Armorers background, maybe its an old bracestock they used to hold a fieldpiece in a certain position while they worked on it, kind of like you might have an old piece of wood you wedge in between two parts while you work on the guts of the hardware. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7765 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7765 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:33:13 -0600 =P ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7758 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7758 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 07:42:51 -0600 No details were harmed in the making of this picture... I just put the thing on a white background. While the Arsenal at Castle Argghhh! does have some esoteric stuff - it does not yet contain helo rotors. It *does* have a helo cockpit seat from the old Choctaw, which the Armoress pretty much forced the Armorer to buy back in the early days of the Courtship. Which is pretty cool if you think about it. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7757 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7757 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 06:35:50 -0600 Hmm... not flat, I see the highlights. Slight (very) enlargement at the left-hand end. Scraped-out dent in one place. Looks like it's made of metal, but some bad person has deliberately cropped all background and maybe even some details of the image of the thing itself. My conclusion: A picture of an old object made of some kind of metal, which could be _anything_. P.S. Glad yer gettin back to Gun Pr0n, the politics are making me crazy! (more than usually) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7755 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7755 Thu, 21 Oct 2004 04:11:54 -0600 Actually, being black and straight, it looks like it could be part of the main rotor from an MH/AH-6, Little Bird. Other than that, I haven't a clue... SangerM http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7751 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7751 Wed, 20 Oct 2004 23:07:30 -0600 A piece of a main rotor of an old Kiowa or maybe a cobra? How about a scale? :-) http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7746 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/10/a_little_teaser.html#comment-7746 Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:18:46 -0600