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Little help for a reader.

By The Armorer on November 23, 2005 | | Comments (4)

I got an email this morning from Jon, who asks for help identifying this gun from the Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts, museum. I believe I know what it is, I thought I'd just throw it out here in case someone else would like to try to figure it out. I'll narrow it down for you - US Navy or US Army Coast Defense, caliber is in the 3.5-6 inch range.

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The same view, higher res.

Second view, from the rear (breech construction makes a difference).

I suppose a loyal reader in the same area code as Battleship Cove *could* just call and ask... or visit!

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4 Comments

By DE644 on November 23, 2005 9:35 AM
I think that the pic. is a 4" 50cal. This was a type used on the old 4 Piper Tin Cans.
 
By ibm on November 23, 2005 4:23 PM
I was tempted to say 5"/51 off a BB but the Jeremiah O'Brien moored in SF has one at the stern. I've clambered over that piece and this isn't different. Too big for 3". Not likely to be a bag charge gun since there doesn't appear to a place for an ignitor of any sort. I'll go with a 4" of some sort, at least 50 cal.
 
By Steve Skubinna on November 24, 2005 6:32 AM
The pedestal is much more robust than was used for the 4"/50. Based on the barrel profile I'm going to go with the 5"/40 of 1895, which was mounted on cruisers and battleships until most were replaced with 5"/51s.
 
By Old Fat Sailor on November 24, 2005 7:05 PM
It predates me by a long shot but that sure looks like an interrupted screw breach hence a bag gun and it also seems to have a primer port in the breech-also a bag gun feature. If I were to guess its a secondary gun off a pre-dreadnaught era BB. The early DDs had "quick firing" (cased fixed round)guns as their mission was to act as torpedo-boat destroyers. Of course I could be wrong.
 
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