1.
Columbiad
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The Columbiad was a large-caliber, smoothbore, muzzle-loading cannon able to fire heavy projectiles at both high and low trajectories. This feature enabled the columbiad to fire solid shot or shell to long ranges, invented by Colonel George Bomford, United States Army, in 1811, columbiads were used by the United States coastal artillery from the War of 1812 until the early years of the 20th Century. The first columbiads produced in 1811 had a 7. 25-inch diameter bore, although some Second System forts were armed with this weapon, the Army did not widely adopt early columbiads due to initial high costs of manufacture. Only after 1844 did a model and a ten-inch model see mass production. The eight-inch columbiad could project a 65-pound shell 4,400 yards or 4,800 yards for solid shot, the ten-inch columbiad weighed 15,400 pounds and hefted a 128-pound shell to 4,800 yards or solid shot to 5,600 yards. These cast iron weapons were mounted on seacoast carriages designed to recoil up a slightly inclined set of rails or wooden beams. The mounted columbiad could pivot left or right on a traversing rail, in most cases the arc of pivot was less than 180 degrees, but some batteries allowed 360-degree traverse. Just prior to the American Civil War, Ordnance Corps officer Thomas Jackson Rodman developed a version of the columbiad. Specifically the Rodman gun was designed to reduce cracking and other found in such large iron castings. The process involved ensured the iron cooled evenly from the inside out, the Rodman process also allowed the manufacture of much larger bore columbiads. Between 1858 and the end of the Civil War, Northern foundries produced eight-inch, ten-inch, fifteen-inch and twenty-inch Rodman style columbiads. The smaller bore columbiads shared similar range factors to the older weapons, the monster twenty-inch model weighed over 60 tons but could range to over 5 miles. Very few of the largest types were built, and none were fired in anger during the war, the Confederate States also used columbiads extensively, mostly stocks captured from Federal arsenals at the time of secession. These acquitted themselves well against early ironclad warships, in addition, the Confederates produced limited quantities of eight-inch and ten-inch columbiads without the Rodman process, these could not withstand sustained use. The Confederates also rifled some columbiads in an effort to improve weapon performance, after the Civil War, many columbiads remained in place at seacoast fortifications around the U. S. In the late 1870s several were rifled and tested for use against modern steel clad ships, strapped for funding, the post-war army continued to carry smooth-bore columbiads on inventory lists until after the Spanish–American War, when modern breech-loading rifled cannon replaced them. In Jules Vernes novel From the Earth to the Moon, a giant columbiad space gun is constructed in Tampa, Florida after the American Civil War, with the purpose of striking the Moon. Although the cannon is originally designed to fire a hollow aluminum ball and it is now known that neither concept is viable using such a cannon
2.
Charleston, South Carolina
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Charleston had an estimated population of 132,609 in 2015. Charleston was founded as Charles Town—honoring King Charles II of England—in 1670 and its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the 5th-largest city in North America within 10 years. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the period, its government was handled directly by the state legislature and by its Anglican parish wardens. It adopted its present spelling with its incorporation as a city in 1783 at the close of the Revolutionary War. The Confederates burned the town prior to its evacuation but continued demand for the cotton and rice, along with growing industry. In 2016, Charleston was ranked the Worlds Best City by Travel + Leisure, the city proper consists of six distinct areas, the Peninsula or Downtown, West Ashley, Johns Island, James Island, Daniel Island, and the Cainhoy Peninsula. The old town fit into 4–5 square miles as late as the First World War, the city limits also have expanded across the Cooper River, encompassing Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. The present city has an area of 127.5 square miles. North Charleston blocks any expansion up the peninsula, and Mount Pleasant occupies the land directly east of the Cooper River, Charleston Harbor runs about 7 miles southeast to the Atlantic with an average width of about 2 miles, surrounded on all sides except its entrance. Sullivans Island lies to the north of the entrance and Morris Island to itself south, the entrance itself is about 1 mile wide, it was originally only 18 feet deep, but began to be enlarged in the 1870s. The tidal rivers are evidence of a submergent or drowned coastline, there is a submerged river delta off the mouth of the harbor and the Cooper River is deep. Charleston has a subtropical climate, with mild winters, hot, humid summers. Summer is the wettest season, almost half of the rainfall occurs from June to September in the form of thundershowers. Fall remains relatively warm through November, winter is short and mild, and is characterized by occasional rain. Measurable snow only occurs several times per decade at the most, however,6.0 in fell at the airport on December 23,1989, the largest single-day fall on record, contributing to a single-storm and seasonal record of 8.0 in snowfall. The highest temperature recorded within city limits was 104 °F on June 2,1985, and June 24,1944, and the lowest was 7 °F on February 14,1899. At the airport, where records are kept, the historical range is 105 °F on August 1,1999. Hurricanes are a threat to the area during the summer and early fall
3.
Artillery battery
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The term is also used in a naval context to describe groups of guns on warships. Historically the term referred to a cluster of cannon in action as a group. Such batteries could be a mixture of cannon, howitzer, or mortar types, a siege could involve many batteries at different sites around the besieged place. The term also came to be used for a group of cannon in a fixed fortification and they were usually organised with between six and 12 ordnance pieces, often including cannon and howitzers. By the late 19th century battery had become standard mostly replacing company or troop, in the 20th century the term was generally used for the company level sub-unit of an artillery branch including field, air-defence, anti-tank and position. 20th-century firing batteries have been equipped with mortars, guns, howitzers, rockets, during the Napoleonic Wars some armies started grouping their batteries into larger administrative and field units. Groups of batteries combined for field combat employment called Grand Batteries by Napoleon, administratively batteries were usually grouped in battalions, regiments or squadrons and these developed into tactical organisations. These were further grouped into regiments, simply group or brigades, to further concentrate fire of individual batteries, from World War I they were grouped into artillery divisions in a few armies. Coastal artillery sometimes had completely different organizational terms based on shore defence sector areas, the rank of a battery commander has also varied, but is usually a lieutenant, captain, or major. The number of guns, howitzers, mortars or launchers in a battery has also varied. In the 19th century four to 12 guns was usual as the number to maneuver into the gun line. By late 19th century the artillery battery was divided into a gun line. The gun line consisted of six guns and 12 ammunition mules, during the American Civil War, artillery batteries often consisted of six field pieces for the Union Army and four for the Confederate States Army, although this varied. Batteries were divided into sections of two guns apiece, each section normally under the command of a lieutenant, the full battery was typically commanded by a captain. Often, particularly as the war progressed, individual batteries were grouped into battalions under a major or colonel of artillery, in the 20th century it varied between four and 12 for field artillery, or even two pieces for very heavy pieces. Other types of such as anti-tank or anti-aircraft have sometimes been larger. Some batteries have been dual-equipped with two different types of gun or mortar, and taking whichever was more appropriate when they deployed for operations, from the late 19th century field artillery batteries started to become more complex organisations. Fixed artillery refers to guns or howitzers on mounts that were anchored in one spot, or on carriages intended to be moved only for the purposes of aiming
4.
Ashley River (South Carolina)
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The Ashley River is a blackwater / tidal river in South Carolina, rising from the Wassamassaw and Great Cypress Swamps in western Berkeley County. It consolidates its main channel about five miles west of Summerville, the river then flows for approximately 17 miles along the historical banks of the City of North Charleston before reaching peninsular Charleston. The much wider Ashley joins the Cooper River off the Battery in Charleston to form Charleston Harbor before discharging into the Atlantic Ocean, at the present time the land around the Ashley River or in Ashley Barony, as the original land grant was called, is mostly undeveloped. The river was named for Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, in 1675 Cooper was granted 12,000 acres of land along the river after a permanent settlement was made at Albemarle Point in 1670. This settlement was the “first permanent European settlement” in South Carolina, the settlement would be moved to its current peninsular location across the river ten years later and is well known as Charleston. The land closest to the river was developed by plantation owners throughout the eighteenth century, during the Revolutionary War the British occupied the plantations from 1780 to 1782. The major crops grown along the Ashley River included rice, indigo, after the Civil War much of the region began to be used predominately for hunting and tourism. Within this segment, a visitor can experience a blackwater swamp, the tides of the Atlantic, some of the sites include Drayton Hall, Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation, and the Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site. U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Ashley River
5.
Cooper River (South Carolina)
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The Cooper River is a mainly tidal river in the U. S. state of South Carolina. The South Carolina cities of Mt. Pleasant, Charleston, North Charleston, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner, short and wide, it is joined first by the blackwater East Branch, then farther downstream, the tidal Wando River. Almost immediately thereafter, the river widens into its estuary, uniting with the Ashley River to form the Charleston Harbor. Long used as an important commercial waterway, the West Branch of the Cooper River was initially connected to the Santee River near its head by a canal built in the late 18th century. Though the West Branch still rises as a swamp in central Berkeley County. Lake Moultrie is, in turn, fed from Lake Marion by a canal built around the same time period. This artificial rerouting of the Cooper River basin has essentially unified the Santee, the river was named for Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury and chief Lord Proprietor of the Carolina Colony. Charleston was founded on the bank of the Ashley River in 1670. Motorists have been able to cross the Cooper River under their own power for eight decades. As the Grace Bridge quickly became both functionally and structurally deficient, the State of South Carolina built a parallel span, the Silas N. Pearman Bridge, in service since August 8,1929, the Grace Memorial Bridge was the oldest of the three. Named for the commissioner who inspired the states system, the Pearman Bridge opened on April 29,1966. Their replacement span, the cable-stayed Arthur Ravenel, Jr, Bridge opened to traffic on July 16,2005. Demolition of the Grace and Pearman bridges began shortly afterwards and was completed in late 2007, though both are modern in every respect, there are currently only two bridges left to carry vehicular traffic across the river, the Holt and Ravenel bridges. A very popular 10k run over the river each spring. Daniel Island and Drum Island are adjacent to the river, cargo terminals, a paper mill, and the former Charleston Navy Base line its shore. Rice and indigo were heavily cultivated on plantations surrounding the brackish marshland of the lower Cooper River from the early Colonial through the end of the Civil War periods, the Patriots Point naval & maritime museum sits at the mouth of the river. Berthed at Patriots Point are four museum ships, most notably the USS Yorktown, a World War II aircraft carrier. “Goose Creek” A tributary of the Cooper River was the site of a U. S. Cooper River Bridge Cooper River Bridge Run and Walk U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Cooper River
6.
Fort Sumter
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Fort Sumter is a sea fort in Charleston, South Carolina, notable for two battles of the American Civil War. It was one of a number of forts planned after the War of 1812, combining high walls and heavy masonry. Work started in 1829, but was incomplete by 1860, when South Carolina seceded from the Union, the First Battle of Fort Sumter opened on April 12,1861, when Confederate artillery fired on the Union garrison. These were the first shots of the war, and continued all day, the fort had been cut off from its supply line and surrendered the next day. The Second Battle of Fort Sumter was an attempt by the Union to retake the fort. Although the fort was reduced to rubble, it remained in Confederate hands until it was evacuated as General Sherman marched through South Carolina in February 1865, Fort Sumter is open for public tours as part of the Fort Sumter National Monument operated by the National Park Service. Named after General Thomas Sumter, Revolutionary War hero, Fort Sumter was built following the War of 1812, construction began in 1829, and the structure was still unfinished in 1861, when the Civil War began. Seventy thousand tons of granite were imported from New England to build up a bar in the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The fort was a brick structure,170 to 190 feet long, with walls five feet thick. It was designed to house 650 men and 135 guns in three tiers of gun emplacements, although it was never filled near its full capacity and he secretly relocated companies E and H of the 1st U. S. Artillery to Fort Sumter on his own initiative, without orders from his superiors and he thought that providing a stronger defense would delay an attack by South Carolina militia. The fort was not yet complete at the time and fewer than half of the cannons that should have been available were in place, due to military downsizing by President James Buchanan. Over the next few months repeated calls for evacuation of Fort Sumter from the government of South Carolina, artillery, and three hired tug boats with added protection against small arms fire to be used to tow troop and supply barges directly to Fort Sumter. By April 6,1861 the first ships began to set sail for their rendezvous off the Charleston Bar, the first to arrive was Harriet Lane, the evening of April 11,1861. On Thursday, April 11,1861, Beauregard sent three aides, Colonel James Chesnut, Jr, captain Stephen D. Lee, and Lieutenant A. R. Chisolm to demand the surrender of the fort. Anderson declined, and the returned to report to Beauregard. After Beauregard had consulted the Confederate Secretary of War, Leroy Walker, he sent the aides back to the fort, the aides waited for hours while Anderson considered his alternatives and played for time. The aides then left the fort and proceeded to the nearby Fort Johnson, There, Chesnut ordered the fort to open fire on Fort Sumter
7.
Castle Pinckney
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Castle Pinckney was a small masonry fortification constructed by the United States government by 1810, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. It was used briefly as a prisoner-of-war camp and artillery position during the American Civil War. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, located on Shutes Folly, a small island about one mile off the Charleston shore in the harbor, the fort was built over the ruins of an older fortification called Fort Pinckney. Completed in 1804, it saw no hostilities and was destroyed by a severe hurricane in September of that year. A replacement brick-and-mortar structure called Castle Pinckney was erected in 1809–1810 and was garrisoned throughout the War of 1812, afterwards, Castle Pinckney was abandoned and fell into disrepair. After that brief period of activity, the fort fell into disuse and was primarily a storehouse for gunpowder and other military supplies. In 1860, Castle Pinckneys armament consisted of fourteen 24-pounders, four 42-pounders, four 8-inch howitzers, one 10-inch and one 8-inch mortar, Castle Pinckney became the first Federal military installation seized forcefully by a Southern state government. Three days later, the Unions Charleston Arsenal joined Castle Pinckney in falling to S. C. forces, after the subsequent Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the Charleston Zouave Cadets garrisoned Castle Pinckney. According to the Charleston Mercury, Richmond officials had selected chiefly from among those who have evidenced the most insolent, on September 18, prisoners from the 11th NY Fire Zouaves, 69th NY Regiment, 79th NY Regiment, and 8th Michigan Infantry were transferred to Castle Pinckney. They were allowed to wander during the day and were confined to cells only at night, after the prisoners were removed, the fort was strengthened with earthen embankments and with additional mortars and Columbiads on the barbette tier. On December 12, the prisoners were transferred back to the island, following a fire which had burned a large section of Charleston and they remained for just over a week with many sleeping on the inner parade ground before being transferred. After the Civil War, the fort was modernized for use during the Spanish–American War. Some sources suggest that the fort never fired a hostile shot during its existence. Parts of the old walls and casements were dismantled in 1890, to make way for a harbor lighthouse. There was local opposition to the plans for the lighthouse, a movement had been undertaken to construct a retirement home for servicemen on the island instead, Castle Pinckney was declared a U. S. National Monument in 1924 by Presidential proclamation. In 1951, Congress passed a bill to abolish Castle Pinckney National Monument, the island became excess property subject to sale by the Federal government in March 1956. The island was acquired by the State Ports Commission as an area in 1958 for $12,000. Plans for the use of the island as an area proved impractical
8.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
9.
Aircraft carrier
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An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Aircraft carriers are expensive to build and are critical assets, there is no single definition of an aircraft carrier, and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, former head of the Royal Navy, has said, To put it simply, as of April 2017, there are 37 active aircraft carriers in the world within twelve navies. The United States Navy has 10 large nuclear-powered fleet carriers, the largest carriers in the world, the Royal Navy of Great Britain is building two 280-m / 920-ft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth, and the Prince of Wales scheduled to go into service in 2020-2023. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds, by comparison, escort carriers were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried, most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of merchant aircraft carriers, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. Light aircraft carriers were fast enough to operate with the main fleet, three nations currently operate carriers of this type, ten by the United States, and one each by France and Brazil for a total of twelve in service. Short take-off but arrested-recovery, these carriers are generally limited to carrying lighter fixed-wing aircraft with more limited payloads, currently, Russia, China, and India possess commissioned carriers of this type. Short take-off vertical-landing, limited to carrying STOVL aircraft and this type of aircraft carrier is currently in service with Italy. Some also count the nine US amphibious assault ships in their secondary light carrier role boosting the total to thirteen. Helicopter carrier, Helicopter carriers have an appearance to other aircraft carriers. Some are designed for addition of, or may include, a ski jump ramp allowing for STOVL operations or may have a ski jump installed before retirement of STOVL aircraft. In the past, some conventional carriers were converted and called commando carriers by the Royal Navy, some helicopter carriers with a resistant flight surface can operate STOVL jets. Currently the majority of carriers, but not all, are classified as amphibious assault ships. The US has nine of this type, France and Japan three, Australia two, the UK one, the Republic of Korea one and Spain one, the US and Spains amphibious assault ships operate STOVL jets in normal deployment. Supercarrier Fleet carrier Light aircraft carrier Escort carrier Several systems of identification symbol for aircraft carriers, two months later, on 18 January 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay
10.
USS Yorktown (CV-10)
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USS Yorktown is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is named after the Battle of Yorktown of the American Revolutionary War, initially to have been named Bonhomme Richard, she was renamed Yorktown while under construction to commemorate USS Yorktown, lost at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Yorktown was commissioned in April 1943, and participated in campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning 11 battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier, and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier. She was recommissioned too late to participate in the Korean War but served for years in the Pacific, including duty in the Vietnam War. Late in her career, she served as a ship for the Apollo 8 space mission. Tora. which recreated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 and in 1975 became a museum ship at Patriots Point, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. She is a National Historic Landmark and she was renamed on 26 September 1942 as USS Yorktown CV10, and launched on 21 January 1943, sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt. Yorktown was commissioned on 15 April 1943, with Captain Joseph J. Clark in command, Yorktown remained in the Naval Station Norfolk area until 21 May, when she got underway for shakedown training in the vicinity of Trinidad. She returned to Norfolk on 17 June and began post-shakedown availability, the aircraft carrier completed repairs on 1 July and began air operations out of Norfolk until 6 July, when she exited Chesapeake Bay on her way to the Pacific Ocean. She transited the Panama Canal on 11 July and departed Balboa, Panama, the warship arrived in Pearl Harbor on 24 July and began a month of exercises in the Hawaiian Islands. On 22 August, she out of Pearl Harbor, bound for her first combat of the war. Her task force, TF15, arrived at the point about 128 miles from Marcus Island early on the morning of 31 August. She spent most of that day launching fighter and bomber strikes on Marcus Island before beginning the retirement to Hawaii that evening, the aircraft carrier reentered Pearl Harbor on 7 September and remained there for two days. On 9 September, she stood out to sea, bound for the West Coast of the United States and she arrived in San Francisco on 13 September, loaded aircraft and supplies, and returned to sea on 15 September. Four days later, the aircraft carrier reentered Pearl Harbor, Yorktown returned to sea to conduct combat operations on 29 September. Early on the morning of 5 October, she began two days of air strikes on Japanese installations on Wake Island, after retiring to the east for the night, she resumed those air raids early on the morning of 6 October and continued them through most of the day. That evening, the group began its retirement to Hawaii
Media related to Battery Park (Charleston) at Wikimedia Commons