Fort Miles gun parts to arrive in Lewes

Fort Miles Historical Association says with new gun parts set to arrive Thursday, Oct. 23, the association will soon begin work to complete its display of a 16-inch gun that stood on the deck of a battleship during World War II.

The centerpiece of the display is a 16-inch gun barrel that served as a backdrop of Japanese surrender to end the war Sept. 2,1945, on board the USS Missouri. The association saved the barrel from the scrapheap in April 2012, when it was moved to Fort Miles from St. Julien’s Creek Annex of Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia by barge and rail.

Earlier this month, Oct. 3-4, Lockwood Brothers moved the gun’s 90,000-pound girder, or base; a 70,000-pound slide; a 38,500-pound yoke; and other parts from two range areas at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, in Virginia, to a nearby field where they can be more easily accessed for transport to Fort Miles.

The Hampton, Va., company plans to load the parts on truck trailers Oct. 21, drive them to Delaware Wednesday, Oct. 22, and unload the parts at Fort Miles Thursday, Oct. 23, said Dan Clark of Lockwood Brothers. A detailed plan of times and routes has not been finalized, he said.

Association President Gary D. Wray said the parts’ arrival culminates a three-year effort. “We’ve been looking forward to getting all the parts here since before the 16-inch barrel arrived,” he said. “This completes the set.”

The gun parts include a 17.5-inch-thick slab of armor plate that was penetrated by a 2,700-pound armor-piercing projectile fired from a 16-inch gun. This armor plate will show fort visitors the destructive power of the weapon, Wray said.

Fort Miles housed two 16-inch guns, two 12-inch guns and smaller weapons during World War II to defend Delaware’s coast and vital industry in Philadelphia from enemy surface ships. The U.S. Army scrapped the fort’s guns after the war.

The association wanted one of each kind of gun that had been on site at the fort during WWII and has borrowed examples from the Navy, including at 12-inch gun from the USS Wyoming that is in the fort's Battery 519.

Once the gun parts arrive, association volunteers will remove decades of rust. The clean parts will be painted and assembled into a static display facing New Jersey, near the entrance of the World War II museum that is planned for the fort.

“Our work is just beginning,” Wray said. “We have many hours of restoration ahead of us. We can use more volunteers, and we can use more funds to complete this job.”