10-inch gun M1895

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10-inch Gun M1895
De Bange type
CarriageM1893 barbette, M1894, M1896, or M1901 disappearing, most manufactured by Watertown Arsenal[3]
Elevationdisappearing: 12°
Traversedisappearing: 170° (varied with emplacement)
Maximum firing rangedisappearing: 14,700 yards (13,400 m)[4]
Feed systemhand

The 10-inch Gun M1895 (254 mm) and its variants the M1888 and M1900 were large

seaports between 1895 and 1945. For most of their history they were operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps. Most were installed on disappearing carriages, with early installations on barbette mountings.[5] All of the weapons not in the Philippines (except four guns in Canada) were scrapped during World War II. Two of the surviving weapons were relocated from the Philippines to Fort Casey in Washington state
in the 1960s.

History

Practice loading of a 10-inch gun at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, NY.
A drawing of an M1896 Buffington–Crozier disappearing carriage for 10-inch guns, showing in-battery and loading positions
Annotated photograph of an M1901 Buffington–Crozier disappearing carriage for an M1900 12-inch gun, generally similar to 10-inch disappearing carriages
10-inch gun M1888 on barbette carriage M1893, Fort Flagler, Washington state.
Surviving M1888 10-inch gun at Fort Cape Spear, St. John's, Newfoundland.

In 1885,

disappearing carriages; when the gun was fired, it dropped behind a concrete and/or earthen wall for protection from counter-battery fire. Detailed descriptions of the M1888 weapon and Buffington–Crozier disappearing carriage are in the US Army's Artillery circular 1895, pp. 183–195, along with a description and illustration of a "modified Gordon" disappearing carriage, an experimental type. Detailed parts lists for the M1888M1 weapon and supporting equipment are in the Ordnance supply manual by George L. Lohrer, United States Army, Ordnance Dept, 1904, pp. 47–113
.

After the

William Taft, was convened in 1905. Taft recommended technical changes, such as more searchlights, electrification, and in some cases fewer guns in particular fortifications. The seacoast forts were funded under the Spooner Act of 1902 and construction began within a few years and lasted into the 1920s. The defenses of the Philippines on islands in Manila Bay and Subic Bay were built under this program.[6]

Experimental gun

A 10-inch "depressing gun" M1896 on an M1894 disappearing carriage was mounted in an experimental battery at Fort Monroe, Virginia in the northeast bastion. The battery was operated from 1900 to 1908, and the concrete portions remain in place.[7]

Railway mounting

After the

Marion Steam Shovel company and delivered to France for finishing by March 1919. Of these, eight sets were shipped prior to the Armistice, then were returned to the US where 22 of the 36 originally contracted mountings were completed.[8][9] A detailed description of the railway mounting is given in Railway Artillery, Vol. I by Lt. Col. H. W. Miller, USA.[10] The range of the railway weapon was 24,700 yards (22,600 m) at 36° elevation.[11] Guns not mounted were returned to coastal defenses after the war; in the late 1920s the 10-inch railway gun was declared obsolete and the mountings scrapped.[12]

World War II

In April–May 1941 eight M1888 guns were sent to Canada under

Fort Prével on the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec. Two of the barbette guns from Fort Worden were deployed to Fort McNutt on McNutts Island, Nova Scotia and remain there, although only part of one still exists. The remaining two barbette guns from Forts Flagler and Worden were deployed at Wiseman's Cove, Botwood, Newfoundland and no longer exist.[16]

Along with other coast artillery weapons, some of the 10-inch guns in the Philippines saw action in the

Japanese invasion in World War II
. Since they were positioned against a naval attack, they were poorly sited to engage the Japanese, and the open mountings were vulnerable to air and high-angle artillery attack.

In 1940–44,

16-inch gun batteries were constructed at most harbor defenses
, and essentially all 10-inch guns not in the Philippines were scrapped 1943–44.

Surviving examples

Nine 10-inch guns (one partial) remain at four locations.[17]

1. Two 10-inch Guns M1895MI (#25 & #22 Watervliet) on Disappearing Carriages M1901 (#14 & #16 Watertown), Battery Grubbs, Fort Mills, Corregidor Island, Philippines. The guns lie behind their mountings, since they were fired while disconnected from the carriages to deny use of them to the Japanese forces.

2. One 10-inch Gun M1895MI (#20 Watervliet) (spare gun), Battery Grubbs, Fort Mills, Corregidor Island, Philippines

3. Two 10-inch Guns M1895MI (#26 & #28 Watervliet) on Disappearing Carriages M1901 (#13 & #15 Watertown), Battery Worth, Fort Casey, Coupeville, WA (guns moved in the 1960s from Battery Warwick, Fort Wint, Grande Island, Subic Bay, Philippines)

4. Two 10-inch Guns M1888 (#41 & #3 Watervliet), Fort

St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada (guns moved in World War II from Battery Harker, Fort Mott, New Jersey
)

5. One 10-inch Gun M1888 (#12 Watervliet) on Barbette Carriage M1893 (#11 Watertown) (with partial remains of other gun (#37) and carriage (#1)), Fort McNutt, McNutts Island, Nova Scotia, Canada (guns moved in World War II from Battery Quarles, Fort Worden, WA)

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

References

  1. ^ Artillery Circular 1895, p. 184
  2. ^ Berhow, p. 61
  3. ^ Berhow, pp. 130–155
  4. ^ Berhow, p. 61
  5. ^ Coast Defense Study Group fort and battery list
  6. ^ Berhow, Mark A. and McGovern, Terrance C., American Defenses of Corregidor and Manila Bay 1898–1945, Osprey Publishing Ltd.; 1st edition, 2003; pages 7–8.
  7. ^ Northeast Bastion Battery at Fort Monroe, FortWiki.com
  8. ^ US Army Railway Artillery in World War I
  9. ^ Crowell, Benedict, America's Munitions 1917–1918, pp. 96–97
  10. ^ Miller, H. W., LTC, USA Railway Artillery, Vols. I and II, 1921, Vol. I, pp. 156-182
  11. ^ Handbook of Ordnance Data, 15 November 1918, pp. 97–108
  12. ISBN 1-86126-104-7
    .
  13. ^ Battery Harker article at Fort Wiki.com
  14. ^ Battery Quarles article at FortWiki.com
  15. ^ Battery Revere article at FortWiki.com
  16. ^ Berhow, p. 225
  17. ^ Berhow, p. 230

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to M1888 10 inch gun.

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