Cannon projectile

[abunaitoo]

Posted this before, but didn't have any dimensions.
Moving some stuff around today, I could move them to measure them.
Height= 17 /12"
Diameter= 7"
Weight= #72
Attachment 264533
Attachment 264534Attachment 264535

[Winger Ed.]

Looks like the projectile from a 7" Naval gun that started out before WWI and was used through WWII
on a few ships and shore/coastal defense batteries.

The longer than usual/pointed tip design was added later for better armor penetration.
That might be what the 'no. 3' means.
There's still a couple of the guns on display there in Hawaii somewhere at a old coastal defense fort.

[TNsailorman]

Who used a 7" gun on a warship in WW II? That does look like a projectile as an armor piercing round. It might be from a coastal battery but I doubt U.S. warship. The last battleships to use 7" guns as secondary batteries were the USS Connecticut and USS Louisiana both commissioned in 1906, the USS Vermont, USS Kansas, and USS Minnesota commissioned in 1907, the USS Mississippi, USS Idaho commissioned in 1908 and USS New Hampshire being the last one with 7" guns in 1908. None of these were still being used as active warships by the U.S. Navy by the time we entered WW I. Two of them had been de-activated and sold to Greece by 1914. All were basically obsolete by the time we entered WW I. All future battleships were equipped with 12", 13", 14" and 16" main batteries and 5" secondary batteries. All American Cruiser were equipped with 5"(anti-aircraft light cruisers), 6" all other light cruisers, and 8" all heavy cruisers. There were several designs for 9" cruisers considered but were never built as the Navy found the 8" to be an ideal battery for heavy cruisers. james

[abunaitoo]

Fort Kamehameha is gone, but Fort Derussey is still standing.
Now an Army museum.
The disappearing cannon is long gone.
They have a more modern coastal cannon in the pit.
We used to have dinners up there.
That cannon used to be outside the Natatorium War Memorial in Waikiki.
I used to play on it back in the 60's.

[Winger Ed.]

Who used a 7" gun on a warship in WW II?

The 2 of the old Mississippi class dreadnaughts that had them were sold/given to Greece.
But they were sunk in 1941. That sort of counts as WWII.... at least for the Greeks.

38 of them got converted to some sort of cobeled together towed field artillery for the Army and Marines
in different applications.

[TNsailorman]

The 2 Mississippi class ships were indeed sunk by German aircraft while sitting almost defenseless in Salamis Harbor in Greece. They had been converted to coastal defense ships and were in no condition to fight on the open sea or against aircraft for that matter. This was the USS Mississippi and the USS Idaho. All of the early dreadnaught battleships ere scrapped in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty. All of the old battleships of WW I were scrapped with the exception of the USS Utah, which was converted to a training ship for machinegun practice and was hit with one torpedo at Pearl Harbor and rolled over on her side. She is still in that position today with some of her crew still entombed inside. Like USS Arizonia, she is considered a grave site and still on the Navy rolls. Of the WW I batttleship, only USS New York, USS Texas, USS Oklahoma, and USS Nevada made it until the start of WW II. The USS Oklahoma was a sitting duck at Pearl Harbor, having all her compartments opened and ready for an Admirals inspection when the attack started. She never had time to close up before being struck by torpedoes and rolled over and sank on her side. In March 1943 salvage operations started on her and in she entered drydock on December 23, 1943. She was deemed unfit for re-modernizing and decommissioned September 1, 1944 and all her guns were removed and she was sold for scrap. While en route to Oakland, California she parted her tow line 17 May 1947 when she was 540 miles out of Pearl and she sank. The USS Nevada had an interesting day during the Pearl Harbor attack. She already had her boilers lit off and very early she got under way heading out to sea looking for a fight. But the japs realized if they could sink her in the channel leading out of Pearl, the harbor would be closed for moths, so they one and all jumped her. She took bomb hit but despite being down by the bow she kept going and fighting until she was ordered to beach herself on the point to keep from being sunk in the channel and blocking the harbor. USS Tennessee was a few feet in front of the USS Arizonia and her stern really took a scorching from flames and heat from Arizonia when she blew up and burned. Tennessee took an almost identical hit from the same type ordinance that blew up Arizonia but as luck would have it, she was hit on the same turret that caused Arizonia to blow up(turret No. 1, between guns 1 & 2, where there was no armor plating to stop them from penetrating). However the bomb that hit Tennessee hit just about 12 inches to the right of where the bomb hit Arizonia and struck no. 2 gun a glancing blow and richocheted onto the thick armor plating of the turret, thus keep it from penetrating and blowing up Tennessee,s magazine like the Arizonia. All these old battleship were too slow for the modern fast carrier. The carriers, cruisers, and destroyers could all do well over 30 knots while the older battleship could only do 24 to 27 knots. They were solid gun platforms though and made excellent gun platforms to pound Pacific landing sites. The old Pearl Harbor battleships did get into one engagement with enemy ship at the San Bernadino Straits where they all but annihilated a squadron of japanese warships including a battleship. If the marines ever have to land on a hostile, heavily defended beach again, those old battlewagons will be sorely missed. The Navy no longer has gun ships, even their "cruiser" only have a couple of 5" guns. The Navy as well as the Air Force are almost totally dependant on electronics, and if the enemy is able to put mirco-burst weapons into play, they will both be in serious do-do. Once the electronics are fried, you will be back to WW II technology and we can't go there right now. james

[John Boy]

Maybe one can find the bullet on this chart ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...uns_by_caliber

[HumptyDumpty]

In keeping with current trends, I vote that you craft a braced pistol for these bad boys.Should make the ultimate suppressed, sub-sonic, home-defense gun.

[Bwana John]

I think you might get more "bang for your buck" just burying them by the front gate as an IUD.

[BamaNapper]

An IUD ?????

I hope that's a typo.

[Bwana John]

An IUD ?????

I hope that's a typo.

damn autocorrect!

[Winger Ed.]

It'll make a great door stop.

[abunaitoo]

Have no idea what I'm going to do with them.
Friend was going to take the to the recyclers, and thought I might like them because of the markings.
Would hate to see them melted down and disappear forever.
These are a part of history.
Today, many people want to erase these from history.

[toallmy]

It is the beginning of a new wildcat cartridge .

[mattw]

Those are works of military art. I have never been lucky enough to find something like that, that was affordable.

[abunaitoo]

Sure would be fun to shoot one .........................................

[HumptyDumpty]

In all seriousness, if you have any military surplus stores around, they might be able to point you in the direction of a collector, or perhaps even a museum. I have a small, privately-owned military museum about six hours away from me. There is also a surplus store nearby, but it is due to close soon. However, the proprietor has been in the business for a long time, perhaps he can give you some useful information: https://amsurplus.com/. He's just outside of Omaha, NE.

[Jsm180]

Interesting video of WWII 3" anti aircraft shells being made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPGqLjnNIJY

[TNsailorman]

Mighty interesting video. Thanks, james