Yes, 2 of the San Pedro guns were 14 inch model 1920 (RG)
railway guns - a ring (not unlike a turntable) was prepared, trucks
rolled away and ...instant emplacement. But there were a half
dozen Taft period batteries at Fort MacArthur. 4 were of the
14" (RG) disappearing model. They also had mortars and smaller
guns.
Note that the railway guns and the disappearing models arrived by freight
trains. The guns typically built on the East coast & proofed
there, (which means some assembly required upon arrival). San Pedro
also had one of the larger cranes and facilities for battleships and
lesser - which meant, just as for Mare Island, Puget Sound & San
Francisco (Hunter's Point) , there were semi-regular
shipments of tubes, barrels liners, etc. The Oregon and most
of these other areas had various ilk of weaponry that required training
and replacement. So that gun flat (or pairs of them) were seen on
Sherman Hill. This is especially true as ships were brought in to
these yards in the 30s for modernization. Barrels were frequently
rotated, and, not unlike trucks on some cars, they rarely matched the
carriage (serial numbers).
That white stuff is used to forestall hurricanes & tornadoes, powder
liberally sprinkled. Note it can clump and become slippery.
..
At 07:51 AM 11/16/2019, Bruce Smith wrote:
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Bob,
I don't think that the gun tube on the PRR F22 flat cars is the same as
the "installed" photo. I'm away from my sources, but the latter
guns at Fort McArthur were railway mounts, as is shown in your second
photo, whereas the gun tube on the flats is most likely for a fixed
mount. IIRC, the two railway guns for Fort McArthur were completed and
shipped to the fort on their own chassis and wheels.
Regards,
Bruce Smith, temporarily in Rochester New York (Shee-eet, what is that
white stuff on the ground????)
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io
<main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of Bob Chaparro via Groups.Io
<chiefbobbb@...>
Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2019 12:21 AM
To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Subject: [RealSTMFC] Photo: Gun Barrel On Flat Cars
Photo: Gun Barrel On Flat Cars
Photo taken at the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Yard, Los
Angeles:
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mtcPFD6LBeI/TZUQcJ50CPI/AAAAAAAAN8s/Vj20tEdXvTw/s1600/1917-03-24_FortMacArthurGun-LAYards-SaltLakeRR_01c.jpg
Caption:
1917: 14” diameter gun-tube (weighing 110,000 pounds) for the new
“state-of-the-art” port fortifications at San Pedro’s Fort MacArthur
(established 10/31/1914) are a “tourist attraction” at the downtown LA
yards of the Salt Lake railway; when each gun arrived in San Pedro it had
to be slowly and painstakingly snaked up San Pedro hill (sometimes moving
only a few feet in a day) to the Upper Reservation using house mover
dollies which left increasingly deep gouges in the pavement; the land for
the Upper Reservation had been purchased in 1910 from William G.
Kerckhoff and George H. Peck for $249,000—about $31.6 million in 2009
dollars using the nominal GDP per capita index; the four 14” gun-tubes
were mounted on disappearing carriages at Batteries Osgood-Farley and
Leary-Merriam (built at a cost of $462,788, or $83.4 million in 2009
dollars using the relative share of GDP index); each of the 14” guns
could fire a 1,560-pound projectile 14 miles; the number 2 gun at Battery
Osgood-Farley was mounted on 06/30/1917 and by the time the number 1 gun
was installed on 07/31/1923 the installations were already obsolete; the
big guns were rarely fired, due to the damage they caused to San Pedro
homes and businesses, before they were cut up for scrap in the mid
1940s.
Installed Gun:
https://www.gettyimages.be/detail/nieuwsfoto%27s/army-personnel-standing-with-a-14-inch-railway-gun-at-ft-nieuwsfotos/50622595
Today Ft. MacArthur is home to the N scale Belmont Shore Model Railroad
Club and the O scale Angels' Gate Hi-Railers club. Each club has its own
building.
Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA
Bob Webber
