Where Are the Original 16in Barrels From USS NEW JERSEY?

Comments · 139

• WA

  @wayneparris3439 · 1 year ago

  I hav a friend who was a welder that worked at Long Beach ship yard in the 80s<br> He was once tasked with scraping a battleship barrel. &nbsp;He cut out the manufacturing data from the breach end of the barrel and turned it into a plaque. &nbsp;We have lost touch with each other over the years but that very likely could be the missing barrel. &nbsp;I emailed this information to Ryan&apos;s listed email address on the New Jersey website but never heard back. I suspect it was just lost in the shuffle.

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• JA

  @jackncoke8527 · 1 year ago

  Anyone take a moment to admire the beautiful Mack they hauled the barrel with?

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• DA

  @danbickell · 1 year ago (edited)

  There is another barrel that was at least meant for New Jersey, on display at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, down the street from Iowa. As Dick Landgraff used to tell the story, it was part of a set of replacement barrels that were lined up in Long Beach, in the event they might need to swap barrels on NJ for a second Vietnam deployment. Long story short, the crane operator had a problem while moving the barrel, and was forced to set it down on the wrong side of the channel, along Harbor Blvd. It was eventually decided to just put the barrel on display there, rather than jump through the logistical hoops needed to get it back into proper storage. For anybody from the area who ever wondered why that display is where it is, that&apos;s the story. It has been there since &apos;68, when the Maritime Museum was still the Munincipal Ferry Terminal.

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• DY

  @dyson9422 · 1 year ago

  Our Captain knew the Captain of the battleship USS New Jersey. Whether in port or at sea the New Jersey’s 16-inch guns were always aimed at our Captain. One day I was up on the bridge repairing a port running light when the New Jersey came over the horizon steaming straight at us. The sum of our speeds must have been over 60 miles per hour. As we passed, her turrets kept her 16-inch guns pointed at our bridge.

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• MA

  @marlomontanaro3233 · 1 year ago

  I was there and photographed the delivery of the barrel at Battery Lewis in Rumson, NJ. &nbsp;I was there with several veterans of Battleship New Jersey and when the barrel came home to her namesake state, there wasn&apos;t a dry eye in the house.

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• 72

  @72polara · 1 year ago

  The rifling in those big guns always makes me think of Marlin Microgroove.

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• PR

  @prozac756 · 1 year ago

  My grand mother worked in the big gun shop during WW2. In the 60s she took me to open house/reunion there. It was awesome.

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• BA

  @BalshazzarWastebasket · 1 year ago

  god. the temptation of working in a warship museum and not taking a barrel or two of the main guns for yourself. i applaude your professionalism!!

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• BR

  @brownwrench · 1 year ago

  I have seen the lathe that was used to make them at my place of work many years ago. The bed had been cut down to 60 feet at that point. Gigantic 50hp motor on it.

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• 2N

  @2nd2sign · 11 months ago

  This episode made me think about a barrel on display at Bethlehem Steel. It&apos;s a 14&quot; from the USS Mississippi

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• SO

  @Sommyie · 1 year ago

  A wild Killdozer appears...

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• WH

  @whatever8282828 · 10 months ago

  I suppose I have learned via this channel that center barrel of turret 2 is most heavily used because it is used for sighting shots! It is closest to centerline of the whole agglomeration of the guns.

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