Over the past couple of years I've been reading and studying the main guns of battleships. In the process, I saw that the Battleship Texas Foundation was using volunteers to help with the restoration so I signed up and started working one day a week. The deck guns smaller than 5" have all been removed and taken to a warehouse for restoration. The elevation and azimuth mechanisms are being repaired and the exteriors of the guns are being stripped, sandblasted and painted to as close to new appearance as possible. The 5" guns will be removed in the coming months and they, too will be brought in for restoration.
The guns smaller than 5" are all WWII additions since battleships had little threat from aircraft in WWI. There are 20mm Oerlikons, 40mm Quads on hydraulic mounts and eleven 3" antiaircraft guns. The mass of these guns is impressive. A 3" barrel assembly complete with the sighting systems and recoil assembly weighs around 3,500 pounds and "a bit more" on the deck mount.
3" Guns:
40mm A-A having paint removed