1.
Coastal artillery
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Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. The advent of 20th-century technologies, especially aviation, naval aviation, jet aircraft, and guided missiles, reduced the primacy of cannon, battleships. In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquired amphibious capabilities, in littoral warfare, mobile coastal artillery armed with surface-to-surface missiles still can be used to deny the use of sea lanes. Land-based guns also benefited in most cases from the protection of walls or earth mounds. The Martello tower is an excellent example of a widely used coastal fort which mounted defensive artillery, during the 19th century China also built hundreds of coastal fortresses in an attempt to counter Western naval threats. Coastal artillery could be part of the Navy, or part of the Army, in English-speaking countries, certain coastal artillery positions were sometimes referred to as Land Batteries, distinguishing this form of artillery battery from for example floating batteries. In the United Kingdom, in the later 19th and earlier 20th Centuries, then, following the Spanish–American War and the report of the Endicott Board, U. S. harbor defenses were greatly strengthened and provided with new, rifled artillery and minefield defenses. Shortly thereafter, in 1907, Congress split the field artillery, the first decade of the 20th Century, the United States Marine Corps established the Advanced Base Force. The force was used for setting up and defending advanced bases, during the Siege of Port Arthur, Japanese forces had captured the vantage point on 203 Meter Hill overlooking Port Arthur harbor. The battleship Sevastopol, although hit 5 times by 11-inch shells, after 3 weeks, the Sevastopol was still afloat, having survived 124 torpedoes fired at her while sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging six other vessels. The Japanese had meanwhile lost the cruiser Takasago to a mine outside the harbor, the Blücher had entered the narrow waters of the Oslofjord, carrying 1,000 soldiers and leading a German invasion fleet. The first salvo from the Norwegian defenders, fired from Oscarsborg Fortress about 1 mile distant, disabled Blüchers main battery, fire from the smaller guns swept her decks and disabled her steering, and she received several torpedo hits before the fires reached her magazines and doomed her. Singapore was defended by its famous large-caliber coastal guns, which included one battery of three 15-inch guns and one with two 15-inch guns, AP shells were designed to penetrate the hulls of heavily armoured warships and were ineffective against personnel. The Japanese defended the island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll with numerous 203 mm coastal guns, in 1943, these were knocked out early in the battle with a combined USN naval and aerial bombardment. Nazi Germany fortified its conquered territories with the Atlantic Wall, the intent was to destroy the Allied landing craft before they could unload. During the Normandy Landings in 1944, shore bombardment was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers, for example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had for the Dieppe Raid in 1942. In addition, there were modified landing-craft, eight Landing Craft Gun, twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried Priest self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches, on June 25,1944 the American battleship Texas engaged German shore batteries on the Cotentin Peninsula
2.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
3.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
4.
Watervliet Arsenal
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The Watervliet Arsenal /ˈwɔːtərvliːt/ is an arsenal of the United States Army located in Watervliet, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River. It is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States, and today much of the artillery for the army, as well as gun tubes for cannons, mortars. It has been a National Historic Landmark since 1966, the arsenal was founded in 1813 to support the War of 1812, and was designated as the Watervliet Arsenal in 1817. It occupies 142 acres of land, approximately 8 miles north of Albany, the location is adjacent to the Hudson River. The site contains manufacturing, administrative offices and storage areas and it also houses the Armys Benet Laboratories, which does product development, improvement, research, and testing. The Arsenal has the historic Iron Building, which served as the home of the Watervliet Arsenal Museum, however, the museum was closed on October 1,2013 for security reasons. Recruiting Station Albany, the headquarters of a United States Marine Corps recruiting station, is located on the Arsenal, during the early stages of the War of 1812, attacks could be expected from many key ports and other locations. The original plot of land acquired by the Department of Ordnance was 12 acres, the cost for the land was US$2,585. During this period, production moved from the manufacturing of saddles, remnants of this period are still in operation today as evidenced by the continued use of historic Building 110, “The Big Gun Shop, ” for manufacturing missions. This gun shop once produced 16-inch guns and many weapons for the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
5.
Caliber (artillery)
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In artillery, caliber or calibre is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length. Rifled barrels introduce ambiguity to measurement of caliber, a rifled bore consists of alternating grooves and lands. The distance across the bore from groove to groove is greater than the distance from land to land, the depth of rifling grooves increases in larger calibers. United States Navy guns typically used rifling depth between one-half and one percent of caliber, projectile bourrelet diameter specification was 0.015 inches less than land to land diameter with a minus manufacturing tolerance so average clearance was about 0.012 inches. Driving band diameter was groove to groove diameter plus 0.02 inches, the length of the barrel is often quoted in calibers. For example, US Naval Rifles 3 in or larger, the effective length of the barrel is divided by the barrel diameter to give a dimensionless quantity.81 As an example, the main guns of the Iowa-class battleships can be referred to as 16/50 caliber. They are 16 inches in diameter and the barrel is 800 inches long, the bore to barrel length ratio is called caliber in naval gunnery,81 but is called length in army artillery. Before World War II, the US Navy used 5/51 caliber as surface-to-surface guns, by the end of World War II, the dual purpose 5/38 caliber was standard naval armament against surface and air targets. All three had a diameter of 5 inches. At sea, a weapon had to perform, without fail, there was no ready replacement, nor one that could be readily supplied. Over time, the terms of pound and bore became confused and blurred, eventually, when the technology existed, the bore came to be the standard measure. For naval rifles, the change was to actual bore. They then began to measure the length of the weapon in calibers. These were a measure of the bore of the barrel versus the rifled bore of the barrel. In other words, a 12/45 is 12×45= the length of the bore of that gun in inches. This explains the differences in both penetration and long range performance of naval rifles over the years. In addition to the improvements in overall performance, the increase in barrel length also allowed, in some circumstances. For example, the American 14/45, as introduced in the New York-class battleships, later improvements to the design, lengthening the rifle itself and also altering the breech, allowed a 1400 lb. projectile and, overall, a greater barrel life
6.
Shell (projectile)
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A shell is a payload-carrying projectile that, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used, originally, it was called a bombshell, but shell has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages, shells are usually large-calibre projectiles fired by artillery, combat vehicles, and warships. Shells usually have the shape of a cylinder topped by a nose for good aerodynamic performance, possibly with a tapering base. Solid cannonballs did not need a fuse, but hollow munitions filled with something such as gunpowder to fragment the ball, needed a fuse, percussion fuses with a spherical projectile presented a challenge because there was no way of ensuring that the impact mechanism hit the target. Therefore, shells needed a fuse that was ignited before or during firing. The earliest record of shells being used in combat was by the Republic of Venice at Jadra in 1376, shells with fuses were used at the 1421 siege of St Boniface in Corsica. These were two hollowed hemispheres of stone or bronze held together by an iron hoop, as described in their book, these hollow, gunpowder-packed shells were made of cast iron. At least since the 16th Century grenades made of ceramics or glass were in use in Central Europe, a hoard of several hundred ceramic greandes were discovered during building works in front of a bastion of the Bavarian City of Ingolstadt, Germany dated to the 17th Century. Lots of the grenades obtained their orignal blackpowder loads and igniters, most probably the grenades were intentionally dumped the moat of the bastion before the year 1723. Early powder burning fuses had to be loaded fuse down to be ignited by firing or a portfire put down the barrel to light the fuse, other shells were wrapped in bitumen cloth, which would ignite during the firing and in turn ignite a powder fuse. Nevertheless, shells came into use in the 16th Century. By the 18th Century, it was known that the fuse towards the muzzle could be lit by the flash through the windage between the shell and the barrel, the use of exploding shells from field artillery became relatively commonplace from early in the 19th century. Until the mid 19th century, shells remained as simple exploding spheres that used gunpowder and they were usually made of cast iron, but bronze, lead, brass and even glass shell casings were experimented with. The word bomb encompassed them at the time, as heard in the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, typically, the thickness of the metal body was about a sixth of their diameter and they were about two thirds the weight of solid shot of the same calibre. To ensure that shells were loaded with their fuses towards the muzzle, in 1819, a committee of British artillery officers recognised that they were essential stores and in 1830 Britain standardised sabot thickness as a half inch. The sabot was also intended to reduce jamming during loading, despite the use of exploding shell, the use of smoothbore cannons, firing spherical projectiles of shot, remained the dominant artillery method until the 1850s. By the late 18th century, artillery could use canister shot to defend itself from infantry or cavalry attack and this involved loading a tin or canvas container filled with small iron or lead balls instead of the usual cannonball
7.
Caliber
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In guns, particularly firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it fires, in hundredths or sometimes thousandths of an inch. For example, a 45 caliber firearm has a diameter of.45 of an inch. Barrel diameters can also be expressed using metric dimensions, as in 9mm pistol, when the barrel diameter is given in inches, the abbreviation cal can be used. Good performance requires a bullet to closely match the diameter of a barrel to ensure a good seal. While modern cartridges and cartridge firearms are referred to by the cartridge name. Firearm calibers outside the range of 17 to 50 exist, but are rarely encountered. Larger calibers, such as.577.585.600.700, the.950 JDJ is the only known cartridge beyond 79 caliber used in a rifle. Referring to artillery, caliber is used to describe the length as multiples of the bore diameter. A 5-inch 50 calibre gun has a diameter of 5 in. The main guns of the USS Missouri are 1650 caliber, makers of early cartridge arms had to invent methods of naming the cartridges, since no established convention existed then. One of the early established cartridge arms was the Spencer repeating rifle, later various derivatives were created using the same basic cartridge, but with smaller-diameter bullets, these were named by the cartridge diameter at the base and mouth. The original No.56 became the. 56-56, and the smaller versions. 56-52. 56-50, the. 56-52, the most common of the new calibers, used a 50-cal bullet. Optionally, the weight in grains was designated, e. g. 45-70-405. Variations on these methods persist today, with new cartridges such as the.204 Ruger, metric diameters for small arms refer to cartridge dimensions and are expressed with an × between the bore diameter and the length of the cartridge case, for example,7. 62×51 NATO. This indicates that the diameter is 7. 62mm, loaded in a case 51mm long. Similarly, the 6. 5×55 Swedish cartridge has a diameter of 6.5 mm. An exception to rule is the proprietary cartridge used by U. S. maker Lazzeroni. The following table lists commonly used calibers where both metric and imperial are used as equivalents
8.
Disappearing gun
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A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a disappearing carriage, is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. Either way, retraction lowered the gun from view and direct fire by the enemy while it was being reloaded. It also made reloading easier, since it lowered the breech to a level just above the loading platform, some disappearing carriages were complicated mechanisms, protection from aircraft observation and attack was difficult, and almost all restricted the elevation of the gun. With a few exceptions, construction of new disappearing gun installations ceased by 1918, the last new disappearing gun installation was a solo 16-inch gun M1919 at Fort Michie on Great Gull Island, New York, completed in 1923. In the U. S. due to lack of funding for sufficient replacements, although some early designs were intended as field siege guns, over time the design became associated with fixed fortifications, most of which were coastal artillery. A late exception was the use in fortifications in Switzerland. The disappearing gun was moved down behind the parapet or into its protective housing by the force of its own recoil. Before firing, the crew tripped a catch on the counterweight, causing it to fall, some disappearing guns also used compressed air, while a few were built to be raised by steam. Captain Alexander Moncrieff, improved on existing designs for a gun capable of rising over a parapet before being reloaded from behind cover. His design, based on his observations in the Crimean War was the first widely adopted, the first experimental carriages of this type were wheeled. His key innovation was a counterweight system that raised the gun as well as controlled the recoil. Moncrieff promoted his system as an inexpensive and quickly constructed alternative to a traditional gun emplacement. The usefulness of such a system had been noted earlier, and experimental designs with raisable platforms or eccentric wheels, some used paired guns, in which one cannon acted as the others counterweight. An unsuccessful attempt at a carriage was Kings Depression Carriage, designed by Rufus King. This used a counterweight to allow a 15-inch Rodman gun to be moved up and down a ramp, so the weapon could be reloaded, elevated. Part of a test installation at Fort Foote, Maryland remains, Kings design was better suited for breech-loaders, had the US not had a plethora of new muzzle-loaders just after the Civil War it may have seen wider use. Buffington and Crozier further refined the concept in the late 1880s by allowing the counterweight fulcrum to slide, the Buffington–Crozier Disappearing Carriage represented the zenith of disappearing gun carriages, and guns of up to 16-inch size were eventually mounted on such carriages. Disappearing guns were popular for a while in the British Empire
9.
Gun laying
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Gun laying is the process of aiming an artillery piece, such as a gun, howitzer or mortar on land, or at sea, against surface or air targets. It may be laying for direct fire, where the gun is aimed similarly to a rifle, or indirect fire, the term includes automated aiming using, for example, radar-derived target data and computer-controlled guns. Gun laying means moving the axis of the bore of the barrel in two planes, horizontal and vertical. A gun is traversed – rotated in a horizontal plane – to align it with the target, Gun laying is a set of actions to align the axis of a gun barrel so that it points in the required direction. This alignment is in the horizontal and vertical planes, Gun laying may be for direct fire, where the layer sees the target, or indirect fire, where the target may not be visible from the gun. Gun laying has sometimes called training the gun. Laying in the vertical plane uses data derived from trials or empirical experience, for any given gun and projectile types, it reflects the distance to the target and the size of the propellant charge. It also incorporates any differences in height between gun and target, with indirect fire, it may allow for other variables as well. With indirect fire the horizontal angle is relative to something, typically the guns aiming point, depending on the gun mount, there is usually a choice of two trajectories. The dividing angle between the trajectories is about 45 degrees, it varies due to gun dependent factors. Below 45 degrees the trajectory is called low angle, above is high angle, the differences are that low angle fire has a shorter time of flight, a lower vertex and flatter angle of descent. All guns have carriages or mountings that support the barrel assembly, early guns could only be traversed by moving their entire carriage or mounting, and this lasted with heavy artillery into World War II. Mountings could be fitted into traversing turrets on ships, coast defences or tanks, from circa 1900 field artillery carriages provided traverse without moving the wheels and trail. The carriage, or mounting, also enabled the barrel to be set at the elevation angle. With some gun mounts it is possible to depress the gun, some guns require a near-horizontal elevation for loading. An essential capability for any elevation mechanism is to prevent the weight of the barrel forcing its heavier end downward and this is greatly helped by having trunnions at the centre of gravity, although a counterbalance mechanism can be used. It also means the elevation gear has to be enough to resist considerable downward pressure. However, mortars, where the forces were transferred directly into the ground
10.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
11.
Port
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A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land. Port locations are selected to optimize access to land and navigable water, for commercial demand, Ports with deeper water are rarer, but can handle larger ships. Since ports throughout history handled every kind of traffic, support and storage facilities vary widely, may extend for miles, some ports have an important military role. One of the worlds oldest known artificial harbors is at Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea, along with the finding of harbor structures, ancient anchors have also been found. Guangzhou was an important port during the ancient times as far back as the Qin Dynasty, canopus was the principal port in Egypt for Greek trade before the foundation of Alexandria. Athens port of Piraeus was the base for the Athenian fleet, lothal is one of the most prominent cities of the ancient Indus valley civilisation, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of Gujarāt and dating from 3700 BCE. Ostia Antica was the port of ancient Rome with Portus established by Claudius, Ports often have cargo-handling equipment, such as cranes and forklifts for use in loading ships, which may be provided by private interests or public bodies. Often, canneries or other processing facilities will be located nearby, some ports feature canals, which allow ships further movement inland. Access to intermodal transportation, such as railroads and highways, is critical to a port, so that passengers, Ports with international traffic have customs facilities. Harbor pilots and tugboats may maneuver large ships in tight quarters when near docks, the terms port and seaport are used for different types of port facilities that handle ocean-going vessels, and river port is used for river traffic, such as barges and other shallow-draft vessels. An inland port is a port on a lake, river, or canal with access to a sea or ocean. An example of this is the St. Lawrence Seaway which allows ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean several thousand kilometers inland to Great Lakes ports like Duluth-Superior, a fishing port is a port or harbor for landing and distributing fish. It may be a facility, but it is usually commercial. A fishing port is the port that depends on an ocean product. In recent decades, regulations to save fishing stock may limit the use of a fishing port, a dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport and operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. A warm-water port is one where the water does not freeze in wintertime, because they are available year-round, warm-water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest. A seaport is further categorized as a port or a cargo port. Additionally, cruise ports are known as a home port or a port of call
12.
Panama Canal Zone
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The Panama Canal Zone was an unincorporated territory of the United States from 1903 to 1979, centered on the Panama Canal and surrounded by the Republic of Panama. Its border spanned two of Panamas provinces, when reservoirs were created to assure a steady supply of water for the locks, those lakes were included within the Zone. On February 26,1904, the Isthmian Canal Convention was proclaimed, from 1903 to 1979 the territory was controlled by the United States, which had built the canal and financed its construction. Proposals for a canal across the Isthmus of Panama date back to 1529, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón, a lieutenant of conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa, suggested four possible routes, one of which closely tracks the present-day canal. Saavedra believed that such a canal would make it easier for European vessels to reach Asia, although King Charles I was enthusiastic and ordered preliminary works started, his officials in Panama soon realized that such an undertaking was beyond the capabilities of 16th-century technology. One official wrote to Charles, I pledge to Your Majesty that there is not a prince in the world with the power to accomplish this, the Spanish instead built a road across the isthmus. Although additional canal building proposals were made throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the late 18th and early 19th centuries saw a number of canals built. The success of the Erie Canal in the United States and the collapse of the Spanish Empire in Latin America led to a surge of American interest in building an interoceanic canal. Beginning in 1826, US officials began negotiations with New Granada, jealous of their newly obtained independence and fearing that they would be dominated by an American presence, New Granadan officials declined American offers. The new nation was politically unstable, and Panama rebelled several times during the 19th century and his agreement was repudiated by the Jackson administration, which wanted rights to build a canal. In 1846, the new US envoy to Bogotá, Benjamin Bidlack, was surprised when, soon after his arrival, the resulting Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty allowed the United States to intervene militarily to ensure that the interoceanic road would not be disrupted. The treaty led the U. S. government to contract for service to Panama from ports on both coasts. When the California Gold Rush began in 1848, traffic through Panama greatly increased and this first transcontinental railroad opened in 1850. There were riots in Panama CIty in 1856, several Americans were killed, US warships landed Marines, who occupied the railroad station and kept the railroad service from being interrupted by the unrest. The demand was dropped in the face of resistance by New Granadan officials, through the remainder of the 19th century, the United States landed troops several times to preserve the railway connection. At the same time, it pursued a canal treaty with Colombia, one treaty, signed in 1868, was rejected by the Colombian Senate, which hoped for better terms from the incoming Grant administration. Under this treaty, the canal would have been in the middle of a 20-mile zone, under American management but Colombian sovereignty, the Grant administration did little to pursue a treaty, and in 1878, the concession to build the canal fell to a French firm. The French efforts eventually failed, but with Panama apparently unavailable, the Spanish–American War of 1898 added new life to the canal debate
13.
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
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The U. S. Army Coast Artillery Corps was a corps level organization responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery during World War I, as early as 1882 the need for heavy fixed artillery for seacoast defense was noted in Chester A. In 1885 the Endicott Board was convened under the subsequent Grover Cleveland administration and this board recommended a large-scale program of harbor defenses at 29 ports, including guns, mortars, and mine fields. Most of their recommendations were implemented and new defenses were constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers 1895-1905, as the defenses were constructed, each harbor or rivers installations were controlled by Artillery Districts, renamed Coast Defense Commands in 1913 and Harbor Defense Commands in 1925. An extensive fire control system was developed and provided for the forts of each Coast Artillery District, Army leaders realized that heavy fixed artillery required different training programs and tactics than mobile field artillery. Prior to 1901 each of the seven artillery regiments contained both heavy and light artillery batteries, in February 1901 the Artillery Corps was divided into two types, field artillery and coast artillery. The previous seven artillery regiments were dissolved, and 30 numbered companies of artillery and 126 numbered companies of coast artillery were authorized. 82 existing heavy artillery batteries were designated as coast artillery companies, the company-based organization was for flexibility, as each harbor defense command was differently equipped and a task-based organization was needed. The Coast Artillery would alternate between small unit and regimental organization several times over its history, the head of the Artillery Corps became the Chief of Artillery in the rank of brigadier general with jurisdiction over both types of artillery. The Coast Artillery became responsible for the installation and operation of the mine fields that were planted to be under observation, fired electrically. The mine component was considered to be among the armament of coastal defense works. In 1905, after the experiences of the Spanish–American War, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a new board on fortifications and they updated some standards and reviewed the progress of the Endicott boards program. Most of the changes recommended by this board were technical, such as adding more searchlights, electrification, the board also recommended fortifications in territories acquired from Spain, Cuba and the Philippines, as well as Hawaii and a few other sites. Defenses in Panama were authorized by the Spooner Act of 1902, due to rapid development of the dreadnought battleship type, a new 14-inch gun was introduced in a few locations, primarily Los Angeles, the Philippines, and Panama. The Taft program fortifications differed slightly in construction and had fewer numbers of guns at a given location than those of the Endicott program. By the beginning of World War I, the United States had a defense system that was equal to any other nation. The rapidity of technological advances and changing techniques increasingly separated coastal defenses from field artillery, officers were rarely qualified to command both, requiring specialization. National Guard coast artillery units were formed by the states to attempt to bring the CAC up to strength in wartime
14.
Grover Cleveland
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Stephen Grover Cleveland was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. He was also the first and to date only President in American history to serve two terms in office. Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism and his crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era. Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and he fought political corruption, patronage, and bossism. As a reformer Cleveland had such prestige that the wing of the Republican Party, called Mugwumps, largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket. As his second administration began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a national depression. It ruined his Democratic Party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian, the result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era. Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, and he also drew corresponding criticism, critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nations economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term. Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term, biographer Allan Nevins wrote, n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have and he possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not, today, Cleveland is considered by most historians to have been a successful leader, generally ranked among the second tier of American presidents. Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18,1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey to Richard Falley Cleveland, Clevelands father was a Presbyterian minister who was originally from Connecticut. His mother was from Baltimore and was the daughter of a bookseller, on his fathers side, Cleveland was descended from English ancestors, the first of the family having emigrated to Massachusetts from Cleveland, England in 1635. On his mothers side, he was descended from Anglo-Irish Protestants and he was distantly related to General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was named. Cleveland, the fifth of nine children, was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell and he became known as Grover in his adult life. In 1841, the Cleveland family moved to Fayetteville, New York, neighbors later described him as full of fun and inclined to play pranks, and fond of outdoor sports. In 1850, Clevelands father took a pastorate in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, despite his fathers dedication to his missionary work, the income was insufficient for the large family. Financial conditions forced him to remove Grover from school into a mercantile apprenticeship in Fayetteville
15.
Board of Fortifications
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In 1885 US President Grover Cleveland appointed a joint Army, Navy and civilian board, headed by Secretary of War William Crowninshield Endicott, known as the Board of Fortifications. Coast Artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as Endicott Period fortifications, prior efforts at harbor defense construction had ceased in the 1870s. Since that time the design and construction of heavy ordnance had advanced rapidly, including the development of superior breech-loading and longer-range cannon and these factors combined to create a need for improved coastal defense systems. The Endicott Era Defenses were constructed, in part, during the years of 1890-1910. Masonry walls shrouding hordes of smooth-bore cannon could no longer serve as a coastal defense mechanism. Endicott Era Forts were constructed with walls that concealed large. These disappearing carriages allowed the new, rifled cannons to be raised above the walls, aimed, and fired and this became even more important as warships of the era were armored with steel plates, increasing the necessity of accurate, sustained fire in anti-ship warfare. Fort Hancocks Endicott Era Defenses, Dynamite Gun Battery,15 dynamite guns and 8 dynamite gun Battery Potter,12 disappearing guns and this marked the first instance of concrete and electricity being used together in defenses. An easily overlooked aspect of the Endicott Era Defenses, especially with the necessary highlighting of the breech-loading rifled artillery mounted on disappearing carriages, are the mortars. At Fort Hancock, Battery Potters 12 guns mounted on disappearing carriages, the Abbot-Quad design called for mortars to be fired in 4-16 gun salvos, in shotgun-like patterns designed to overcome the shortcomings of range-finding techniques of the time. In 1907 the Coast Artillery Corps was created from the artillery units which previously manned the forts. This vastly increased garrisons and catalyzed the installation of electrical plants at various forts, other technological improvements at all forts included meteorological stations and telephone communications. All of this served as the capstone of the Endicott Era defenses, in 1905, after the experiences of the Spanish–American War, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a new board, under Secretary of War William Howard Taft. They updated some standards and reviewed the progress on the Endicott Boards program, most of the changes recommended by the Taft Board were technical, such as adding more searchlights, electrification, and more sophisticated optical aiming techniques. The Board also recommended fortifications in territories acquired from Spain, as well as Hawaii, Defenses in Panama were authorized by the Spooner Act of 1902. The Taft program fortifications differed slightly in construction and had fewer guns at a given location than those of the Endicott program. By the time of the First World War, many of the Endicott and Taft era forts had become due to the increased range and accuracy of naval weaponry. In the 1920s and 1930s, most U. S. coast defense facilities were put on maintenance status, as the new weapons were deployed, almost all of the older weapons were scrapped
16.
William Crowninshield Endicott
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William Crowninshield Endicott was an American politician and Secretary of War in the first administration of President Grover Cleveland. William Crowninshield Endicott, son of William Putnam Endicott and Mary Endicott, was born in Salem and he graduated from Harvard University in 1847 and attended Harvard Law School in 1849–1850, prior to his admission to the Massachusetts bar in 1850. He married Ellen Peabody, daughter of George and Clarissa Peabody of Salem on December 13,1859 and he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1862. Following an unsuccessful run for Congress in 1879, Endicott served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court until 1882, after an unsuccessful gubernatorial race in 1884, he was appointed Secretary of War. He served in capacity in the administration of Grover Cleveland between 1885 and 1889. Endicott oversaw many important changes in the organization of the United States Army, most of these Endicott Period fortifications served through early World War II. William Crowninshield Endicott died in Boston, Massachusetts and he is buried with his wife in the Endicott Lot at Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem. His son, William Crowninshield Endicott Jr. married in 1889 Marie Louise Thoron, daughter of Joseph and he was a direct descendant of the Massachusetts governor, John Endecott, and a first cousin three times removed of another Massachusetts governor, Endicott Peabody. Biography in Secretaries of War and Secretaries of the Army a publication of the United States Army Center of Military History, walter Muir Whitehill, Captain Joseph Peabody, East India Merchant of Salem,179
17.
Watervliet, New York
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Watervliet is a city in Albany County in the U. S. state of New York. The population was 10,254 as of the 2010 census, Watervliet is north of Albany, the capital of the state, and is bordered on the north, west, and south by the town of Colonie. The city is known as the Arsenal City. The explorer Henry Hudson arrived in the area of Watervliet around 1609, the area was first settled in 1643 as part of the Rensselaerswyck patroonship, under the direction of Kiliaen van Rensselaer. In 1710, Derrick van der Heyden operated a ferry from the Bleeker Farm across the Hudson River to Troy, troops during the Revolutionary War used this ferry in 1777 on their way to Bemis Heights and Stillwater for the Battle of Saratoga. In 1786, a ferry was started at Ferry Street over to Troy. The town of Watervliet was founded in 1788 and included all of present-day Albany County except what was in the city of Albany at the time, because so many towns had been created from the town of Watervliet, it is regarded as the mother of towns in the county. In 1816, as the first post office was erected, corner of River and Ferry streets, the location of the future city was taken by the village of Gibbonsville and its successor West Troy, and the hamlet of Washington. Gibbonsville was the farm of James Gibbons, which stretched from North Street to Buffalo Street, Washington was settled sometime before 1814 and was the area south of Gibbonsville and today the area of Watervliet south of the Arsenal, it became known as Port Schuyler in 1827. Although Gibbonsville and West Troy sat side by side, there was a rivalry between the two and each named and laid out their streets with no regard to the street names, in 1830, Gibbonsville had 559 people, West Troy 510, and Port Schuyler 450. In 1865, present-day Watervliet was included in the Capital Police Force within the Troy District and this attempt at regional consolidation of municipal police failed and in 1870 the West Troy Police Force was organized. By 1895, what was known as the town of Watervliet was reduced to the city of Watervliet, town of Colonie. Colonie would split off in 1895, and the city of Watervliet was incorporated in 1896 at the time that Green Island became a town of its own. In the early 19th century Watervliet became a manufacturing community much like its neighbors Cohoes and Troy. The first was located on Water Street, between 14th and 15th Streets, by Julius Hanks, and the first bell foundry in Gibbonsville was established in 1826 by Andrew Menelly, Sr. This would be the genesis of the Meneely Bell Foundry, which thousands of bells that are still in use today from Iowa to the Czech Republic. In 1813, the U. S. Federal Government purchased from James Gibbons 12 acres in Gibbonsville, in 1828 another 30 acres, along with later purchases from S. S. Wandell and others. Heenan, U. S. heavyweight boxing champion and contender for the title in 1860, was once employed at the Arsenal
18.
Watertown Arsenal
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The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The arsenal was established in 1816, on 40 acres of land, by the United States Army for the receipt, storage, in this role, it replaced the earlier Charlestown Arsenal. The arsenals earliest plan incorporated 12 buildings aligned along a north-south axis overlooking the river, alexander Parris, later designer of Quincy Market, was architect. Buildings included a store and arsenal, as well as shops and housing for officers. All were made of brick with slate roofs in the Federal style, by 1819 all buildings were completed and occupied. The arsenals site, duties, and buildings grew gradually until the American Civil War, during the Civil War, a new commanders quarters was commissioned by then-Capt. Thomas J. Rodman, inventor of the Rodman gun, the lavish,12,700 sq ft, quarters would ultimately become one of the largest commanders quarters on any U. S. military installation. This mansion is now on the National Register of Historic Places, activities and new construction at the Watertown Arsenal continued to gradually expand until the early 1890s. Activities changed decisively in 1892 when Congress authorized modernization to gun carriage manufacturing, at this point the arsenal became a manufacturing complex rather than storage depot. A number of buildings were constructed, which over time began to reflect typical industrial facilities rather than the earlier arsenal styles. In 1897 an additional 44 acres were purchased, and a hospital built, Scientific management was implemented at the arsenal between 1908 and 1915. It was considered by the War Department as successful in saving money over the alternatives, during World War I the arsenal nearly tripled in size. Building #311 was then reported to be one of the largest steel-frame structures in the United States, railroad tracks ran throughout the arsenal complex. World War II brought an additional 7 acres with existing industrial buildings, in 1959–1960, the Horace Hardy Lester Reactor was constructed on site, for material research programs, and operated there until 1970. In 1995 all Army activity ceased and the remainder of the site was converted to civilian use, the Armory site was formerly included on US EPAs National Priorities List of highly contaminated sites, more widely known as Superfund. The site was removed from the NPL in 2006, first published in 1960 by Harvard University Press. Republished in 1985 by Princeton University Press, with a new foreword by Merritt Roe Smith, earls, Alan R.2007 Watertown Arsenal, Arcadia Publishing, Charlestown, SC, USA. A history of the Watertown Arsenal, 1816–1967, Watertown, MA, USA, U. S. Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center, drury, Horace Bookwalter, Scientific management, a history and criticism, New York, NY, USA, Columbia University
19.
Watertown, Massachusetts
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The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Greater Boston area, the population was 31,915 at the 2010 census. Watertown is one of fourteen Massachusetts municipalities that have applied for, Watertown is made up of six neighborhoods, Bemis, Brigham, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square and the West End. Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England, two tribes of Massachusett, the Pequossette and the Nonantum, had settlements on the banks of the river later called the Charles. The Pequossette built a weir to trap herring at the site of the current Watertown Dam. The annual fish migration, as both alewife and blueback herring swim upstream from their home in the sea to spawn in the fresh water where they were hatched. Watertown, first known as Saltonstall Plantation, was one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay settlements and it was begun early in 1630 by a group of settlers led by Richard Saltonstall and George Phillips and officially incorporated that same year. The alternate spelling Waterton is seen in early documents. The first buildings were upon land now included within the limits of Cambridge known as Gerrys Landing, for its first quarter century Watertown ranked next to Boston in population and area. Since then its limits have been greatly reduced, thrice portions have been added to Cambridge, and it has contributed territory to form the new towns of Weston, Waltham, Lincoln and Belmont. As early as the close of the 17th century, Watertown was the horse and cattle market in New England and was known for its fertile gardens. Here about 1632 was erected the first gristmill in the colony, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, after adjournment from Concord, met from April to July 1775 in the First Parish Church, the site of which is marked by a monument. The Massachusetts General Court held its sessions here from 1775 to 1778, committees met in the nearby Edmund Fowle House. Boston town meetings were held here during the siege of Boston, from 1832 to 1834 Theodore Parker conducted a private school here and his name is still preserved in the Parker School, though the building no longer operates as a public school. The Arsenal is notable for being the site of a 1911 strike prompted by the management methods of operations research pioneer Frederick Winslow Taylor, taylors method, which he dubbed Scientific Management, broke tasks down into smaller components. The strike and its causes were controversial enough that they resulted in Congressional hearings in 1911, taylors methods spread widely, influencing such industrialists as Henry Ford, and the idea is one of the underlying inspirations of the factory line industrial method. The site includes the Arsenal Center for the Arts, an arts center that opened in 2005. The Arsenal is now owned by athenahealth, Arsenal Street features two shopping malls across the street from one another, with the Watertown Mall on one side, and The Arsenal Project of Watertown on the other
20.
Iron Building (Watervliet Arsenal)
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The Iron Building is a historic building at the Watervliet Arsenal in Watervliet, New York. It housed the Watervliet Arsenal Museum until it was closed in fall 2013 for security reasons, the Iron Building was built in 1859 and is an outstanding example of pre-fabricated cast iron construction. It is also the building at the Arsenal to have a strong degree of Italianate styling. Architectural Iron Works of New York constructed the prefabricated cast iron structure
21.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
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The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis Worlds Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1,1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 million were used to finance the event, more than 60 countries and 43 of the 45 American states maintained exhibition spaces at the fair, which was attended by nearly 19.7 million people. Historians generally emphasize the prominence of themes of race and empire, from the point of view of the memory of the average person who attended the fair, it primarily promoted entertainment, consumer goods and popular culture. In 1904, St. Louis hosted a Worlds Fair to celebrate the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, an additional $5 million was generated through private donations by interested citizens and businesses from around Missouri, a fundraising target reached in January 1901. The fundraising mission was aided by the support of President of the United States William McKinley. The exposition remained in operation from its opening until December 1,1904, the fairs 1, 200-acre site, designed by George Kessler, was located at the present-day grounds of Forest Park and on the campus of Washington University, and was the largest fair to date. There were over 1,500 buildings, connected by some 75 miles of roads and it was said to be impossible to give even a hurried glance at everything in less than a week. The Palace of Agriculture alone covered some 20 acres, exhibits were staged by approximately 50 foreign nations, the United States government, and 43 of the then-45 U. S. states. These featured industries, cities, private organizations and corporations, theater troupes, over 19 million individuals were in attendance at the fair. In conjunction with the Exposition the U. S, post Office issued a series of five commemorative stamps celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Louisiana Purchase Commemoratives Kessler, who designed many parks in Texas. A popular myth says that Frederick Law Olmsted, who had died the year before the Fair, designed the park, there are several reasons for this confusion. First, Kessler in his twenties had worked briefly for Olmsted as a Central Park gardener, second, Olmsted was involved with Forest Park in Queens, New York. Third, Olmsted had planned the renovations in 1897 to the Missouri Botanical Garden several blocks to the southeast of the park, finally, Olmsteds sons advised Washington University on integrating the campus with the park across the street. Taylor quickly appointed Emmanuel Louis Masqueray to be his Chief of Design, Masqueray resigned shortly after the Fair opened in 1904, having been invited by Archbishop John Ireland of St. Paul, Minnesota to design a new cathedral for the city. Paul J. Pelz was architect for the Palace of Machinery, many African Americans contributed to architecture design, but were not credited. Florence Hayward, a freelance writer in St. Louis in the 1900s was determined to play a role in the Worlds Fair. She negotiated a position on the otherwise all-male Board of Commissioners, Hayward learned that one of the potential contractors for the fair was not reputable and warned the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company
22.
Sandy Hook Proving Ground
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The facility was located at Sandy Hook, a narrow coastal spit of land, approximately 6 miles in length and 0.5 miles wide, in Middletown Township in Monmouth County. The facility was operated in conjunction with the adjoining Fort Hancock, essentially abandoned in 1919 for a larger facility, the area was left to degrade and most of the structures still remain today. The proving ground and parts of Fort Hancock are now property of the National Park Service, the Civil War, just ten years earlier, had introduced several new innovations in weaponry. Rifled cannon fired pointed-nosed projectiles farther and faster than cannonballs and ironclad warships with mounted guns that could destroy the walls of a traditional fort, the Army needed a place to test its own new weapons. The Sandy Hook Peninsula met the Armys needs for a testing area for heavy ordnance and was on land that was already government owned. Sandy Hook was distant enough to be far from towns but close enough to large cities, in 1874, most of Sandy Hook was covered with holly and cedar forests and tidal marshes which still cover a large percentage of it today. Most of the Federal development of the Hook was concentrated on the northern end, a huge granite five-bastioned fort near the northern end of the Hook, dominated the area, even though it was still incomplete and was destined never to be completed. It was decided to lay out the Proving Ground on the margin of the Hook. After its formal establishment in 1874, it was two years before facilities were completed that allowed staffing and testing to reach its potential. Because of the period of time involved, the bulk of the designed, built. Over time, several red brick buildings, including structures used as maintenance buildings, when Fort Hancock was commissioned in 1895 as a Coast Artillery Post, it shared the peninsula with the Proving Ground. The Proof Battery, where new and converted guns would be fired, was built at the end of Sandy Hook along the ocean side. The firing range extended 3,000 yards south along the beach and for long range test firing, the first test firing took place in October 1874, when a 10-inch Rodman smoothbore cannon, converted into an 8-inch rifled gun, was fired. After firing 700 rounds, the Ordnance Board found the gun to still be sound, to test the guns striking power, armor-piercing projectiles were fired at large, thick iron plates, similar to those used in making warships. These tests proved that rifled Rodman guns could penetrate the armor, in the 1880s, new high- powered, breech-loading rifled cannons made of steel were introduced. They had greater ranges and more striking power, when new models of guns and mortars passed their ordnance tests, they were mass-produced at gun foundries around the country and then sent to Sandy Hook for testing before being issued for use. Many new types of gunpowder, artillery shells, fuses and primers used to explode projectiles were also tested, in 1900, Proof Battery was relocated because of Fort Hancocks need for the location to build a gun battery. The new Battery was built southeast of its old location, in the middle were mounted a variety of guns from 1-to-12-inch caliber
23.
Seacoast defense in the United States
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Seacoast defense was a major concern for the United States from its independence until World War II. Before airplanes, Americas enemies could only reach her from the sea, after the 1940s, it was recognized that fixed fortifications were obsolete and ineffective against aircraft and missiles. However, in prior eras foreign fleets were a realistic threat, the defenses heavily depended on fortifications but also included submarine minefields, nets and booms, ships, and airplanes. Therefore, all of the armed forces participated in seacoast defense, designs evolved and became obsolete with changes in the technology available to both the attacking forces and the defenders. At the beginning of the American Revolution, many coastal fortifications already protected the Atlantic coast, prior to independence from Britain, local communities or colonies bore the cost and responsibility for their own protection. Urgency would wax and wane based on the climate in Europe. Most defenses were artillery protected by earthworks, as protection from pirate raids, though seldom used, the forts were a deterrent. Additional forts, called Patriot batteries, were built during the Revolution, when the United States gained independence in 1783, the seacoast defense fortifications were in poor condition. Twenty significant forts at thirteen harbors were approved for construction, mostly with traditional low walled structures with low sloped earthworks protecting wood or brick walls. The conventional wisdom was that soft earth would cushion the effect of fire against the walls. The angled walls also reduced the chance for more destructive straight-on hits from cannonballs, most First System forts were relatively small, and with some exceptions mounted only one tier of cannon, on the roof of the fort. Additional water batteries outside the fort provided more firepower, lacking trained engineers to supervise the work, Secretary of War Henry Knox placed a number of European engineers under contract. Although some fine forts were constructed, for the most part enthusiasm and funding waned, most of the partially finished earthworks and wooden structures deteriorated before they were needed to defend against the British in 1812. In 1802, Congress separated the artillerists and engineers into separate corps and directed the Corps of Engineers to create a military academy at West Point, one of the driving forces for establishing the new academy was the need to divorce the United States from its reliance on foreign engineers. In 1807-1808, new concerns over a war with Great Britain, prompted President Thomas Jefferson to renew fortification programs. One common weakness among the typical low-walled open bastion or star forts was exposure to fire, especially to new devices designed to explode in mid air. Gun emplacements which were at an angle to the sea were vulnerable to a solid shot running parallel to the taking out a row of guns. In the late 1770s, a French engineer, the Marquis de Montalembert and his design protected a forts gunners by placing most of them in covered casemate walls with openings for the guns
24.
12-inch gun M1895
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The 12-inch coastal defense gun M1895 and its variants the M1888 and M1900 were large coastal artillery pieces installed to defend major American seaports between 1895 and 1945. For most of their history they were operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps, most were installed on disappearing carriages, with early installations on low-angle barbette mountings. From 1919,19 long-range two-gun batteries were using the M1895 on an M1917 long-range barbette carriage. Almost all of the not in the Philippines were scrapped during. Endicott, President Grover Clevelands secretary of war, was tasked with creating the Board of Fortifications to review seacoast defenses, most of the boards recommendations were implemented. Coast artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as Endicott Period fortifications, watervliet Arsenal designed the gun and built the barrels. For several years, difficulties were encountered in building a disappearing carriage for the 12-inch gun, one alternative was the M1891 gun lift carriage, with the gun mounted on a large steam-powered elevator. Only one battery of this type was built, Battery Potter at Fort Hancock, when this proved to be too complex, guns were mounted on low-angle M1892 or M1897 barbette carriages. The M1897 carriage was actually an altered gun lift carriage, functionally equivalent to the barbette carriage, bethlehem later built barrels as well. After the Spanish–American War, the government wanted to protect American seaports in the event of war, a new Board of Fortifications, under President Theodore Roosevelts secretary of war, William Taft, was convened in 1905. Taft recommended technical changes, such as more searchlights, electrification, the seacoast forts were funded under the Spooner Act of 1902 and construction began within a few years and lasted into the 1920s. The defenses of the Philippines on islands in Manila Bay were built under this program, after the American entry into World War I, the army recognized the need for large-caliber railway guns for use on the Western Front. Among the weapons available were 45 12-inch guns, to be removed from fixed defenses or taken from spares, at least 12 were mounted on railway carriages by mid-1919, it is unclear how many more were eventually mounted. A detailed description of the mounting is given in Railway Artillery. I by Lt. Col. H. W. Miller, like almost all US-made railway guns of World War I, these never left the US. Also during World War I, it was recognized that naval guns were rapidly improving and this increased the range from 18,400 yards to 30,100 yards. These batteries were mostly in the continental United States, with the two batteries on Corregidor in the Philippines. The guns were originally in open mounts, but most were later casemated against air attack, the batteries in the Philippines, however, were not casemated, as the 1923 Washington Naval Treaty prohibited further fortification of US and Japanese Pacific-area possessions
25.
16"/50 caliber M1919 gun
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The 16 inch Gun M1919 was a large coastal artillery piece installed to defend the United States major seaports between 1920 and 1946. It was operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps, the first US 16-inch gun started construction in 1895 at Watervliet Arsenal. It was known as the M1895 and completed in 1902, only one was built and it was mounted on a disappearing carriage in Fort Grant on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal Zone in 1914, where it served until scrapped in 1943. The weapons muzzle section was displayed at the Watervliet Arsenal museum, the second 16-inch gun was the United States Army 50 caliber Model 1919. The first of these was deployed to Fort Michie, Great Gull Island, an additional six of the Army-designed M1919 guns were built and deployed by 1927 in two-gun batteries on barbette carriages in the harbor defenses of Boston, New York City, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The 16-inch gun M1919 was built using the method, common in Europe. Initially,20 guns were transferred to the Army, which built a new version of the M1919 mount for the naval guns. With funding lacking until 1940, five batteries of two each were built 1924-40 in the harbor defenses of Pearl Harbor, Panama. A second battery of 16-inch guns at Fort Greene, Battery 109, had suspended in 1943. These batteries were placed such that not only protected Narraganset Bay, but interdicted the main channels into Buzzards Bay. By late 1943, the threat of an attack on the United States had diminished. As 16-inch guns and a companion improved 6-inch gun were emplaced, about 21 16-inch gun batteries were completed 1941-44, but not all of these were armed. With the war over in 1945, most of the remaining coast defense guns, the gun fired a 2,340 lb. projectile to a range of 26 miles. The estimated cost of the gun and barbette was $520,000 in 1938, the new M1 Gun Data Computer was used in directing these guns. 16/50 caliber Mark 2 gun, similar US Navy gun also deployed for coast defense List of the largest cannon by caliber Seacoast defense in the United States Berhow, american Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Third Edition. U. S. Battleships, An Illustrated Design History, annapolis, Maryland, United States Naval Institute. Seacoast Fortifications of the United States
26.
Coast Artillery fire control system
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Both horizontal and vertical base position finding systems were used. These observations were communicated to personnel in battery plotting rooms, who used a device called a plotting board to indicate the targets observed location on a map of the area. The red 1 on the diagram at right indicates this first stage of the control process. Once several positions had been plotted for the target, plotting board operators estimated the position of the target at the instant a salvo, fired by the battery, was expected to land. The set forward point was expressed in terms of firing data, a range, before these firing data were sent to the guns, however, they were corrected for a variety of non-standard conditions, like temperature or wind strength and direction. The red 2 in the diagram at right indicates this stage in the control process. Special devices, like the board or the range correction board were used to produce corrected firing data. Fire control in the Coast Artillery involved a sequence of steps that was carried out over and over again while a target was being tracked and fired upon, first, observers sighted on the target and sent their observations to the plotting room. Next, plotters calculated the position and probable future movement, as well as adjustments to range. Then firing data were sent to the batteries and used by gun crews to point their guns, finally, spotters might spot the fall of the projectiles, sending this information back to the plotting room for use in correcting fire. After this, observers would sight on the position of the target, the time period between sequential sightings by the observers was called the observing interval. It was typically set at 20 sec. for controlling batteries of larger guns, not only did everyone in the fire control system have to stay in synch but certain functions had to be carried out at precise intervals if the accuracy of the system was to be maintained. Five seconds before the start of the cycle, the bell would ring. After a one second delay, it would ring again, and after another one-second gap the bell would ring a third time, and on this third ring the observations were made again and/or the guns were fired. If for some reason the firing data were not received in time by the guns, or if a hold-up or a misfire occurred, in such a case, the command Relay. was given at the guns. List of U. S. Army fire control and sighting material by supply catalog designation Gun Data Computer Fire-control system Seacoast defense in the United States Berhow, american Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Third Edition. Coast Defense Study Group website FM 4-15, Seacoast Artillery Fire Control and Position Finding
27.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
28.
Times Union (Albany)
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The Times Union is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York, United States. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and it is owned by Hearst Communications. The paper was founded in 1857 as the Morning Times, becoming Times-Union by 1891, the newspaper has been online since 1996. The editor of the Times Union is Rex Smith, who has held the post since July 2002 and he had been the papers managing editor. The newspaper is printed in its Colonie headquarters by the Hearst Corporations Capital Newspapers Division, the daily edition costs $1 and the Sunday/Thanksgiving Day edition costs $2. The Times Union announced in May 2006 that it would pay $3.5 million over 10 years for the rights of the Pepsi Arena in downtown Albany. On January 1,2007, the arena was renamed the Times Union Center, front Section, The Times Unions A section contains national, world, state, and celebrity news, corrections, editorials, an editorial cartoon, commentaries, and letters to the editor. In 2007, the paper reorganized its daily sections and began placing late-breaking local news stories in the front section, Capital Region, The local section contains news relating to the Capital District, obituaries, a calendar of events, and the weather report. It also contains columns by Fred LeBrun, Paul Grondahl and Chris Churchill, sports, The sports section covers local and national sports events at high school, college, and professional levels. Business, The business section contains local and national news, stock and mutual fund tables, classified advertisements. Perspective, The Perspective section includes editorials, columns and letters to the editor, in addition to the above, the Thursday edition contains, Preview, A tabloid section covering movies, music, dance, theater, and other entertainment topics. It contains movie reviews in brief, a calendar of events, personals, home, A tabloid section with real estate listings and articles on housing topics. Travel/Books, A two-part section with the first portion covering travel and it contains travel articles, weekly airfares, book reviews, and the New York Times Bestseller List. Parade Magazine, The Sunday Times Union includes this national magazine covering lifestyle, arts/Events, The arts section has articles on classical music, the visual arts, and theater. It also contains a calendar of events, museum and gallery listings, the Sunday paper also has numerous advertising circulars and coupon pages. com The paper is mentioned as the employer of Jane Fondas character in the film, Sundays in New York. She states she is the critic for this paper. On December 14,2016, five days before the Electoral College was to vote, alan Chartock The Media Project Times Union Center WAMC Guide to the Times Union opinion pages. Archived from the original on Sep 27,2007, official website Legacy of Change, History of the TU on its 150th anniversary Editors Column Capitaland Quarterly Times Union profile at Hearst Corporation
29.
Ordnance Corps (United States Army)
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The United States Army Ordnance Corps is a Sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army combat units with weapons and ammunition, including at times their procurement, along with the Quartermaster Corps and Transportation Corps, it forms a critical component of the U. S. Army logistics system. The officer in charge of the branch for doctrine, training, the current Chief of Ordnance is Brigadier General Kurt J. Ryan. In the British colonies in America, each colony was responsible for its own supply of ordnance materiel, the first written record of an ordnance officer in British colonial America was Samuel Sharpe in the Massachusetts Bay Colony appointed in 1629 as Master Gunner of Ordnance. By 1645, the Massachusetts Colony had a permanent Surveyor of Ordnance and he was responsible for the supply and maintenance of weapons and munitions. During the course of the American Revolution, each group of American forces in the field had a Commissary of Military Stores to support the soldiers. In January 1777, General George Washington appointed Benjamin Flower as the head of the Commissary General of Military Stores, Benjamin Flower was given the rank of Colonel and served in that capacity throughout the American Revolution. The Commissary General of Military Stores was an echelon above the Commissary of Military Stores in the field, in 1794, the Springfield Armory would become the first national armory, producing arms and ammunition until its closing in 1968. Harpers Ferry armory began production in 1798, the act also created a new position, the Commissary General of Ordnance. On 5 February 1815 Colonel Decius Wadsworth, the former Commissary General of Purchases was chosen as the Commissary General of Ordnance, in 1821, all officers assigned to the Ordnance Department were re-commissioned into the artillery branch. The Ordnance Department would continue to function with officers from artillery, in 1832 an act of Congress would re-establish the Ordnance Department. On 3 August 1861, an Act of Congress added to the Ordnance Department the actual title of Chief of Ordnance with the rank pay and emoluments of the Quartermaster General. On 1 January 1861, Brigadier General James Wolfe Ripley was promoted over the current Commissary General of Ordnance Colonel Henry K. Craig to become the first formally recognized Chief of Ordnance. The Spanish–American War was the first conflict in which the department deployed materiel overseas, in 1919, testing was moved from Sandy Hook Proving Ground to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. By 1940 all Ordnance training, officer and enlisted was moved from Raritan Arsenal, New Jersey to the Aberdeen Proving Ground, in August 1942, the Ordnance Department assumed responsibility for procurement and maintenance of all wheeled and motored vehicles. Typically, the Ordnance Department was responsible for getting weapons and ammunition to the troops at the divisional level. Materiel was delivered in theater to depots, which mainly supplied other supply installations, and Ammunition Supply Points, although the precise organization structure was always adjusted to field conditions, there were usually two ASPs per division. World War II Army divisions usually had one Ordnance Company, as the ammunition supplies were distributed down the organizational hierarchy, their transportation and allocation increasingly became the responsibility of the combat units themselves
30.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
31.
International Standard Serial Number
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An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title, ISSN are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971, ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the content is published in more than one media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media, the ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN, respectively. The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers, as an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits. The last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows, NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character. The ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, for calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, the modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker that can validate an ISSN, ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres, usually located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris. The International Centre is an organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, at the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept, where ISBNs are assigned to individual books, an ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an identifier associated with a serial title. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change, separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. Also, a CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved, however, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial
32.
Puteaux SA 18
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The Puteaux SA18 was a French single-shot, breech-loading cannon, used from World War I onward, primarily mounted on combat vehicles. It was a simple, reliable weapon with a rate of fire made possible by a semi-automatic breech system. It was primarily intended to be used against infantry and machine-gun nests because its low velocity made it unsuitable for anti-armour use. Although its armour penetration capabilities were poor, it was able to light armoured vehicles as late as 1939. The gun was operated by one soldier and was easy to use. It was sighted on target with a scope attached to the left side of the weapon. The barrel length was 21 calibres, while its maximum fire rate was 15 rounds per minute, its practical rate was only 10 rounds. After firing, the opened and ejected the used cartidge case automatically. The weapon was served only by the gunner who aimed it through a simple 1x direct sight and this gun was standard on French light tanks, being mounted on the Renault FT in World War I. In World War II, it was used on the Renault R-35, Hotchkiss H-35 and H-38, FCM-36 and several types of French armored cars, mainly the White-Laffly WL-50. In the Polish Army the wz.18 Puteaux gun was used on the Renault FT light tanks and Renault R-35 and Hotchkiss H-35, Peugeot armoured cars,28, Samochód pancerny wz.29 and Samochód pancerny wz.34 armoured cars. It was also used on some Polish riverine craft and armoured trains
33.
QF 6-pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss
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The muzzles of the long barrels sometimes dug into the mud or struck obstacles when the vehicle crossed trenches or shell craters. The shortened QF6 pounder 6 cwt Mk I of single tube construction was introduced in January 1917 in the Mark IV tank, the Mk II gun was developed at the same time, having a built-up barrel construction. The gun was reused in the Second World War, being fitted to the 12 Armoured Trains operated in the United Kingdom, just as with the tank mounting, the short barrel was an advantage, preventing fouling of line-side structures and bridges. The last British armoured trains were decommissioned in 1944, list of tank main guns I. V. Hogg and L. F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918
34.
QF 2.95-inch Mountain Gun
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The QF2.95 inch mountain gun was the designation given by the British to a Vickers 75mm calibre gun. It was originally produced for the Egyptian Army and it was taken into British service in the late 19th Century to provide the movable armament at some coaling stations. Also known as The Millimetre Gun, it was used by the West African Frontier Force in several theatres in Africa during World War I and it was also used by USA and Philippines. The weapon could be broken down and carried by 4 horses or mules, the officers and most NCOs were British, and the gunners, gun carriers and some NCOs were African. As part of the British Empire these units became part of the British war effort in World War I, thirty guns were originally supplied to West Africa. Guns involved in the West Africa campaign were used by the Sierra Leone Company Royal Garrison Artillery, Gold Coast Battery WAFF, 1st and 2nd Nigerian Battery WAFF. Guns of the Gold Coast Battery fired the first British Empire artillery rounds of World War I, the gun was also used in the East Africa campaign, originally a section of the Gold Coast Battery, and from December 1916 the 1st Nigerian Battery. In one action, Corporal Awudo Kano and five Nigerian gunners stayed by their gun during the British attack near Melong in Kamerun,4 March 1915. Their officer was wounded and the infantry forced to retire, but though isolated they refused to abandon the officer or their guns, the US purchased 12 guns in 1899 and used them in the Philippine-American War. By June 30,1904 another 120 guns were purchased, carriages and pack saddles were manufactured at Watertown and Rock Island. It was also used in World War II by US and Philippine forces defending against the Japanese invasion, approximately 50 were issued to the Filipino Army artillery regiments. The US Army Philippine Division had one battalion of the 23rd Artillery equipped with the 2.95 in mountain gun, the British Treatise on Ammunition of 1915 stated that available rounds were Shrapnel, Case shot, Star shell and the Double common shell of 18 lb. According to the US manual of 1916 the 18 lb Double explosive shell was no longer in US use. S, Army Artillery Museum, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, USA Dale Clarke, British Artillery 1914-1919. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2004] ISBN 978-1-84176-688-1 Major-General Sir John Headlam, The History of the Royal Artillery, From the Indian Mutiny to the Great War, facsimile reprint by Naval and Military Press 2004. ISBN 978-1-84574-043-6 General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Forgotten Fronts, hogg & L. F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. ISBN 978-0-7110-0381-1 US Army Ordnance Dept, Handbook of the 2. 95-inch Mountain Gun Matériel,1912, updated 1916 Louis Morton, The Fall of the Philippines. United States Army Center of Military History,1953, the US Army in World War II. United States Army Center of Military History, the US Army Campaigns World War II
35.
3-inch M1902 field gun
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The 3-inch field gun M1902, a. k. a. M1904 and M1905, was the U. S. Army’s first nickel steel, like its predecessor the 3. 2-inch gun M1897, it was a rifled breechloader. These new capabilities allowed the gun to provide indirect fire on targets not in a direct line of sight. It was also one of the first US artillery guns with a shield to protect the crew from small arms fire. The gun fired 3 inches steel, shrapnel, or explosive shells that weighed 15 pounds, the use of nickel steel construction meant that the M1902 could fire a heavier shell at a higher muzzle velocity and greater accuracy than any other field gun of American origin to that point. It had a velocity of 1,700 ft/s with an effective range of 6,500 yards. The maximum rate of fire was 15 rounds per minute and this was not the same weapon as the 3-inch M1902 seacoast gun, which was designed by Bethlehem Steel and was mounted in fixed defenses. This weapon replaced the 3. 2-inch gun M1897 in most combat units, general John J. Pershing brought several of the guns with him during the Mexican Punitive Expedition in 1916–17, but they were not fired in combat. The M1902/5 was in service from 1905 through 1919, during World War I, the Army primarily used the French 75 mm gun instead of the M1902s, which were mostly kept in the United States for training. Very few of the M1902s were used in combat in Europe and they were gradually phased out of active service in the 1920s. Westminster, Massachusetts One on the grounds, New London. U. S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center, Fort Lee, Fort Sam Houston One gun at 45th Division Museum, Oklahoma City, OK one at Clemson University one complete unit at Fort Sill museum one at Texas A&M University. Operated by the Corps of Cadets, Parsons Mounted Cavalry one 3-inch M1902 gun at the Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin, the gun is missing its wheels. Description of 3-inch gun, model of 1903, and its breech mechanism, Ordnance Department USA1912 revised 1917 at State Library of Victoria Lieut. -Col. Gruber, Notes on the 3 inch gun materiel and field artillery equipment, compiled for the Reserve Officers Training Corps of Yale University
36.
75 mm Gun M1916
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The 75 mm Gun M1916 was a US Army field artillery piece used during and after World War I. It was used as a gun as well as a field piece. It originated as the 3-inch Gun M1913, which was modified to the 3-inch Gun M1916. This weapon originated with the acquisition in 1912 of a 75 mm gun designed by Col. Deport of the French Army, the US Army wished to examine and adopt a split-trail carriage, which would allow a higher elevation for indirect fire and dropping shells into trenches. This carriage type was used on the prototype 3-inch model of 1913, shortly after the American entry into World War I, the US Army decided to adopt French and British weapons, and modify their own weapons where possible to accept French or British ammunition. The M1916 was modified to a 75 mm bore, including alteration of existing weapons, the guns hydrospring recoil system consisted of an oil cylinder on top of the barrel and two spring cylinders underneath. It did not work at high angles, and by early 1918 production of the US version of the French Canon de 75 modèle 1897 was emphasized. By the end of 1918, shortly after the war ended, only 251 weapons had been completed,34 had been shipped to France but did not see action. In an attempt to resolve the system problems, hydro-pneumatic recoil cylinders were designed by a French officer who had previously done this for Schneider-Creusot. In the US these were called the St. Chamond recuperator, field trials in France showed that there was excessive play in the elevation and traverse mechanisms, making the gun very inaccurate, along with poor durability in cross-country movement. However, production continued postwar, eventually 810 barrels and 362 field carriages were delivered, the surplus of barrels led to the weapons use for other purposes. Carriage orders were 300 in 1916,340 in May 1917,51 of these weapons were mounted on 2. 5-ton White trucks for anti-aircraft use, designated the AA truck mount M1917. Some of these weapons reached France before the Armistice, the only US-made AA weapons to do so, prior to the commencement of this program,50 AA truck mounts were shipped to France without guns as a stopgap, where French 75s were mounted on them. The maximum AA altitude was 5,500 yd at 82° elevation, the low muzzle velocity and limited elevation and traverse of the AA mounting impaired the weapons effectiveness. By 1940 the AA version of the weapon was no longer in active service, the Coast Artillery Corps deployed about 24 of these weapons on fixed pedestal mounts for land defense in the Panama Canal Zone in 1926, replacing the 4.7 inch howitzer M1913 in this role. An additional 100 barrels were acquired by the Coast Artillery for use in training alongside large guns. Used mostly for training purposes after World War I, the field version of the gun remained in Army inventory as late as 1942. 5-ton truck as the AA truck mount M1917. An experimental tracked self-propelled mounting, known as the Mark VII Self-Propelled Caterpillar Mount, was tested in the 1920s. S, crowell at Google Books Hogg, Ian V
37.
75 mm Gun M1917
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The US decided early in World War I to switch from 3-inch to 75 mm calibre for its field guns. By 1917 US firms had produced 851 QF18 pounders for export to Britain and it remains very similar to the 18 pounder, the main visible difference being a shorter barrel with straight muzzle. The gun was developed too late to see action in World War I, finland purchased 200 old guns from the United States for its Winter War against the USSR in 1940. Its British designation was Ordnance QF 75mm on Carriage, 75mm /18 pr Mark 1PA, the gun entered in Greek service during the Greco-Italian war of 1940-1941. Greece requested aid from Britain and USA, which in came in the form of the British 75mm field gun. A total of 50 by Britain in January and 24 by the US in March 1941 were offered, of those,24 were sent from Britain, but only 18 arrived in January 1941 to Greece. The rest of the guns were either sunk or never loaded on ships due to the fall of Greece in April 1941. The 18 that arrived to Greece were in need of maintenance before being pressed into service, ultimately 4 guns saw service with the 19th Field Artillery Battalion, and 12 guns with the B3 Field Artillery Battalion. July 1921 Sevellon Brown, The Story of Ordnance in the World War, washington, James William Bryan Press,1920 Herbert T Wade, United States Army Ordnance Dept, Handbook of ordnance data. Washington, Government Printing Office,1919 Handbook of the 75-mm gun matériel, model of 1917 United States War Department Forms
38.
4.7 inch Gun M1906
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The 4.7 inch Gun M1906 was designed and issued by the US Army Ordnance Department beginning in 1906, with the first units receiving the weapon in 1911. It was of the gun type. It was one of very few pre-war US artillery designs selected for production in World War I, although few of these weapons were delivered to France. The design was orthodox for its time with a box trail, by the time of the American entry into World War I60 had been produced and issued to the Army. Once the US entered World War I the US Army soon decided to adopt French and British artillery systems, however, the presumed effect on production was too great, and this proposal was abandoned. Another source states that changing over to French ammunition snarled production badly in late 1918, sixty-four of these weapons were shipped to France to equip three regiments, of which two saw action with 48 guns total. The majority of the weapons were used for stateside training, as shipments from the US to Europe were primarily men. Regardless of what type of ammunition it used, the weapon remained in US service, though in reserve storage, Williford states that total orders through early 1917 were 226 at Watervliet Arsenal. In early 1917 additional orders were placed at Watervliet, Northwest Ordnance, the 24 weapons emplaced on fixed pedestal mounts for land defense in the Panama Canal Zone from 1918 to 1926 were the 4. 7-inch howitzer M1913, not an M1906 weapon as some sources state. Ammunition included a common steel shell containing 3.36 pounds of TNT. Fort Sill, Oklahoma Black Earth, Wisconsin, Veterans Memorial Park, Park St. & Mills St. Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, Volk Field, national Guard Museum Institute of Military Technology, Titusville, Florida Fort Howard, Battery Harris Undergoing restoration, fall 2015. No.340 Newport News, Virginia, Virginia War Memorial Museum, Huntington Park Rogers, Arkansas, to be displayed at Veterans Park. Allied Artillery of World War I, ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK, Crowood Press. SNL c-22 Williford, Glen M. American Breechloading Mobile Artillery, 1875-1953
39.
6-inch howitzer M1908
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The 6 inch Howitzer, Model of 1908 was the standard American heavy howitzer before World War I. Forty-two of these weapons had been produced before 1917 and all were employed for training stateside in that war, for combat use in France the Canon de 155 C mle 1917 Schneider was purchased. All surviving weapons were retired during the 1920s and it is unusual among American-designed field artillery weapons in that it has the recoil cylinder situated above the barrel. The 4. 7-inch howitzer M1908/M1912 shared this feature, the 75 mm Gun M1917 also had this, but is based on the British Ordnance QF 18-pounder. Ammunition was either common steel shell with a fuze or shrapnel with a combination time/percussion fuze. Handbook of the 6-inch Howitzer Materiel, Model of 1908 and 1908MI, field Artillerymans Guide,3 inch Gun,4.7 and 6 inch Howitzer, Second Edition. Philadelphia, P. Blakistons Son & Co, williford, Glen M. American Breechloading Mobile Artillery, 1875-1953
40.
6-inch gun M1897
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The 6-inch gun M1897 and its variants the M1900, M1903, M1905, M1908, and M1 were coastal artillery pieces installed to defend major American seaports between 1897 and 1945. For most of their history they were operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps and they were installed on disappearing carriages or pedestal mountings, and during World War II many were remounted on shielded barbette carriages. Most of the not in the Philippines were scrapped within a few years after World War II. Endicott, President Grover Clevelands Secretary of War, was tasked with creating the Board of Fortifications to review seacoast defenses, most of the Boards recommendations were implemented. Coast Artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as Endicott Period fortifications, the 6-inch caliber was chosen, as in many applications, for combining a relatively heavy shell with rapid hand loading. In the overall system, it was an intermediate caliber between the heavy 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch weapons and the small 3-inch guns intended to defend minefields against minesweepers, the Watervliet Arsenal designed the guns and built the barrels. Initially, most of the guns were mounted on disappearing carriages, within a few years, it was realized that operating the disappearing carriage negatively impacted the rate of fire, and the M1900 low-profile pedestal mount was designed. On the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898 most of the Endicott fortifications were still under construction. To quickly arm some works a few weapons were purchased from the United Kingdom including nine 6-inch Armstrong guns and these appear to have been withdrawn from service by 1925. After the American entry into World War I, the Army recognized the need for guns for use on the Western Front. The Coast Artillery operated all US Army heavy artillery in that war, due to their experience, however, due to the Armistice, none of these regiments completed training in time to see action. By this time, pedestal mounts for 6-inch guns were known to be superior to disappearing mounts, thus, most disappearing guns were dismounted for use as field guns, while most of the few pedestal guns dismounted were returned to the forts soon after the war. The removed 6-inch disappearing guns were stored and many were returned to service in World War II, the Army weapons removed included up to 18 M1900 guns and 74 M1903 and M1905 guns based on carriages ordered. One source states that four M1900 guns and 68 M1903/M1905 guns arrived in France, an additional 46 6-inch guns of other types were provided by the Navy and 30 ex-Navy guns from arms dealer Francis Bannerman, a few of these were possibly delivered to France before the Armistice. These included Navy guns Marks 2 through 6, of 30,40,45, all of the Bannerman guns were 30 calibers long, the number of guns of other lengths is unclear. Sources state that all Navy guns were cut down to 30 calibers barrel length in an attempt to standardize ballistics, as that was the length of the shortest Navy guns. Thirty-seven M1917B carriages were ordered for the Navy guns, with a view to having a spare tube for each carriage, it is unclear how many were produced, or if any were delivered to France. Some of the Army weapons were returned to coast defenses after the war, one survives on a field carriage in the collection of the U. S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center, Fort Lee, Virginia
41.
Canon de 155mm GPF
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The Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle.1917 was a 155 mm cannon used by the French Army during the first half of the 20th century. It was also adopted by the United States as the M1917, and it was also manufactured in the USA from 1917, after the US switched to metric artillery based on French patterns. Some of the guns were emplaced in Panama mounts on Corregidor, Caballo. A number of them were removed from their emplacements and used as roving batteries, the gun was later mounted on a self-propelled mount as the M12 Gun Motor Carriage and saw action in 1944-45. This gun was designed by Colonel L. J. F. Filloux to fill a vital French Army requirement for an artillery piece. The design proved a success and became the heavy field gun of the French from 1917 to the end of World War I. The weapon was pressed into service quickly, to remedy the shortage of weapons in the French inventory. This weapon became the Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux mle 1917, during World War 1, the gun was eventually taken on by the American Expeditionary Force as a standard long-range artillery piece. At the beginning of World War II the French guns were pulled out of reserve storage, the US M1918 155mm GPF was a copy of the French 1917 field gun and used by the US Army, Philippines and US Marines up to 1945. United States Army paid for, and subsequently copied, the Model 1918 gun, during World War 2 the 155mm guns were taken out of storage and utilized for coastal defense on American shores and across allied territories such as the Philippines and Australia. They were also used in Philippines, Guadalcanal and North Africa until more modern artillery was available, ultimately, both the US Army and Marine Corps phased out their M1918 guns for the 155-mm M1A1 Long Tom beginning in 1942. The M1918 was also fitted to the M12 Gun Motor Carriage as a self-propelled gun, in 1940, France fielded 450 of these guns. Many of them were captured and used by Germany for the rest of the war, in German service it was known as the 15.5 cm K418, it served with heavy artillery battalions in Afrika Korps and on coastal defense duties. On D-Day in 1944, the German Army had over 50 of the 155-mm French guns in sites on the northern French beaches, a battery of six of these guns near four empty emplacements for larger guns was the cause of the actions at Pointe du Hoc in June 1944. Many of these survive as memorials. D. D-Day, The Greatest Invasion - A Peoples History Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, ISBN 1-58234-314-4 Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Weapons of the Third Reich, An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York, Doubleday,1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3 Touzin, Pierre, Vauvillier, Les Matériels de lArmée Française, Les canons de la victoire, 1914-1918. 155-Millimeter Gun Materiel, Model of 1918 Handbook of artillery, including mobile, anti-aircraft and trench matériel US Army Ordnance Dept, May 1920
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BL 9.2-inch howitzer
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The Ordnance BL9. 2-inch howitzer was a heavy siege howitzer that formed the principal counter-battery equipment of British forces in France in World War I. It equipped a number of siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery. It remained in service until about the middle of World War II, the origins of a British heavy siege howitzer lie in advances in technology and the 21 cm howitzers used by the German field army. UK had purchased Skoda 9. 45-inch howitzer from Austria in 1900 for service in South Africa, a practice camp in the 1900s showed this howitzers high minimum elevation was a major problem. In due course Britain decided to develop its own heavy weapon, a trial gun was received in 1913 and fired at Woolwich and Shoeburyness during the winter. In July 1914 it was sent to the firing range at Rhyader with a siege company. The assessment was This equipment is a vast improvement on any other in use in the siege artillery, Major General von Donop, Master-General of the Ordance, immediately ordered 16 guns and a further 16 were ordered in October 1914. The prototype gun, Mother, was in action in France on October 31,1914, the gun was transported in three loads - body and cradle, bed, barrel - towed by either heavy horses or a Holt tractor. The equipment comprised a segment shaped ground platform assembled from steel section, an earth box fitted above ground to the front of the holdfast, with 9 long tons or 11 long tons of earth prevented it bucking. On soft ground, extra beams were used under the holdfast, the tubular cradle pivoted by the trunnions supported the barrel – a wire bound A tube – and connected it to the hydro-pneumatic recoil system with a floating piston and hydraulic buffer. However, the design suffered from excessive recoil and was modified in 1916. In 1917 the recoil was further improved by addition of a recoil indicator, full recoil was allowed at lower elevation, hence absorbing most of the horizontal force. A shorter recoil was allowed at high elevation where the ground itself could absorb much of the recoil force. This prevented the breech from hitting the platform, the barrel had to be depressed 3° for loading, as can be seen in the photograph, shown below, of a howitzer of the Australian 55th Siege Battery. This resulted in the Mark II gun in December 1916, with a heavier maximum propellant charge, a longer barrel, however, combat experience showed the higher-velocity Mk II barrel had a reduced life, estimated at 3,500 rounds. The average barrel life of a Mk I gun was estimated from combat experience to be 6000 rounds, One disadvantage of the dismantling system was an inability to fire directly from the travelling carriage the way the BL8 inch Howitzer could. In addition, the required to bring the weapon into action was increased. However, the stability of the siege mounting made it the most accurate of heavy howitzers, in World War I British service, the gun served only on the Western Front with 36 British, one Australian and two Canadian batteries
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