Is there any ordnance left? Don’t forget the gun mechanical stuff and barrel liners. I doubt any is left that is remotely usable. Sad in a way.
Finally, all four of these arguably antique ships and their remaining 20,000 rounds of 16-inch shells were stood back up in the 1980s
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The Navy held on to 22 of these giant, slightly used barrels as late as 2011, when it decided that it just didn’t need them anymore. These barrels had all seen wartime service and were rotated out into storage during refits. In a fit of spring-cleaning on a massive scale, 14 of the barrels, stored in Hawthorne, Nevada, were cut into 8-foot sections and sold for scrap. Eight barrels, located at the St Juliens Creek Naval Annex in Chesapeake, Virginia, were given a brief reprieve to see if anyone wanted them or they would suffer the same fate.
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the last two remaining barrels at St Juliens are only being held on a month to month basis.
Each gun weighs 120-tons and is over 68-feet long, which would require special lift cranes and a dedicated oversize hauler or rail flatbed that could transport the immense load from Chesapeake, Virginia.
Some 1,500 inert 16-inch projectiles, each 65 inches tall and weighing 1,750 pounds, are also up for donation. More centrally located, they are stored at Crane Naval Weapons Center in Indiana. If you know some organization that could take a shell or twenty, that’s good, if you know one that can take a cannon, that’s great. Contact Terry McGovern with the CSDG at tcmgovern@att.net or 703-934-3661.
On October 1, 2012, a 16-inch naval gun was transported to Fort Cronkhite for display at Battery Townsley. The giant weapon, 68 feet long and weighing 120 tons, was once on the battleship USS Missouri and is identical in size and caliber to the ones that protected the bay during World War II.
You can find Battery Townsley on the Hill 88 hike in the Marin Headlands.
Yes, this really is in California!
There were some barrels used for the HARP testing in the late 60’s or 70’s.
Back in the 50s or 60s I’ve heard they used a bunch of these and other old large caliber barrels to dispose of high level radioactive waste.