Fort Miles volunteers muster to obtain 16-inch gun

An extremely rare piece of military history could become part of the arsenal on display at Cape Henlopen State Park.

Fort Miles Historical Association and state park staff are working quickly to put together a plan requesting a 16-inch, Mark-7 gun barrel – Number 371 – that was on the USS Missouri, the ship where the Japanese signed surrender documents Sept. 2, 1945, ending World War II. There are only two original gun barrels remaining from the historic ship and the state of Arizona is in the process of getting one as well, said Gary Wray, president of the association.

The remaining barrels are stored at St. Julien’s Creek Annex, which is part of Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

Money and time are working against the association. There is no cost for the actual barrel itself, but hiring crane companies to lift the 116-ton, 67-foot barrel and transporting it by barge and train could cost as much as $80,000, Wray said.

In addition, the Navy is aggressively in the process of scraping surplus materials, including the gun barrels from the Missouri, which were scheduled to be cut up for scrap by the end of July. Because of interest shown by the association, the Navy has extended the date to Sept. 30.

Several barrels were scraped recently at a storage facility in Nevada, and that spurred the association into action. The group has been searching for a 16-inch gun (diameter of the barrel) similar to the two in the fort’s Battery Smith during World War II to add its arsenal of 8-inch and 12-inch guns. Wray said if the project becomes reality, the park would be the only location housing displays of all three guns.

Wray said once the plan is submitted the association hopes the Navy extends the deadline so the association can mount a serious fund-raising campaign. But, he said, there is no guarantee more time will be granted.

“Our plan is that we will get the barrel within a year or sooner and we want the Navy to guarantee we will get Number 371,” he said.

He said the association has credibility to back up its plan because the group has already secured and restored a massive 12-inch gun on display in the fort’s Battery 519.

Michael Rogers, Cape Henlopen State Park historian, said the park has a proven track record of restoration and preservation. “You have to prove you will be a good steward,” he said.

Wray said the logistics of moving the barrel from Norfolk to Lewes are not as complicated as they might seem. He has already made contacts with a crane company, the railroad lines involved and a barge company. He said Cranemaster from Richmond could lift and rig the massive barrel onto a railroad car that would be transported on a barge to be ferried across the Chesapeake Bay to Cape Charles, Va.

The railroad car would then be picked up for transport to Lewes via rail where it would be removed by crane and loaded onto a truck to be taken to the state park. The exact location where it would be on display in the park is being discussed.

Wray said the trip by rail could be turned into an historic event with stops at towns along the way. “I can see a lot of angles to make this a massive event,” he said.

Fort Miles was home to pair of 16-inch guns

The two massive 16-inch guns at Fort Miles were fired once a month starting Oct. 31, 1942, until the end of the war. As the story goes, the concussion was so severe most window panes in Lewes were shattered. Rogers said Fort Miles veterans have told him stories about panes of glass available to residents at the fort’s front gate.

“Were all window panes shattered in Lewes? Probably not, but we can assume some were,” Rogers said. “We have found receipts for glass.”

He said firing the fort’s 3-inch guns with 1-pound of powder breaks light bulbs in the fort complex. The 16-inch guns required 670 pounds of powder and could fire a 2,240-pound projectile up to 25 miles.

The guns, along with all others in the fort, were torch-cut in place after the war and taken to scrap yards, Rogers said. “Nothing was left but the buildings,” he said.

Missouri is among most famous ships in history

The Missouri was launched on Jan. 29, 1944, and commissioned on June 11, 1944, assigned to the Pacific Third Fleet. The USS Missouri was part of the force that carried out bombing raids over Tokyo and provided firepower in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During the war’s final month, the Missouri served as Admiral William “Bull” Halsey’s flagship.

The Missouri secured its place in history as the site of Japan’s surrender ending World War II. Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur conducted the ceremony for the signing of the surrender.

But her story does not end there. The Missouri’s main battery firepower became a legend in Korea, with her nine 16-inch guns hurling 1,800-pound shells over 23 miles in defense of U.S. land forces.

In 1955, the Missouri was decommissioned and mothballed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. But in 1986, the USS Missouri was recommissioned after undergoing an extensive modernization and refurbishment. In 1991, the Missouri was deployed to the Persian Gulf where it fired its 16-inch guns and launched Tomahawk missiles against Iraqi positions during Operation Desert Storm.

The Missouri’s final mission occurred Dec. 7, 1991, when the battleship led a contingent of ships into Pearl Harbor as part of the commemoration to mark the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack. In 1992, the Missouri was decommissioned for the second time. In 1995, it was removed from the Navy’s ship registry, clearing the way for the battleship to be donated for preservation as a memorial museum.

In August 1996, the Navy selected the nonprofit USS Missouri Memorial Association as caretaker for the battleship and Pearl Harbor as its permanent home. On May 4, 1998, the Navy made it official, transferring the Missouri’s care to the association.