As I sometimes do here at work when it's a little slow, I attempt to "educate" myself about various things; this time, I got off on a tangent researching the old WWI & WWII shore batteries scattered along the Marin County and San Francisco coastline, and stumbled on an interesting story about one of the 16" gun barrels from the USS Missouri. Apparently, the National Park Service has responsibility for all of the old shore batteries left in existence in the San Francisco Bay Area and, as part of that responsibility, are attempting to restore one or two of the old batteries to semi-functioning status.
In addition to possessing one of the few working 6" coastal guns on a disappearing carriage at Battery Chamberlin in San Francisco, the NPS also decided to "replace" the main gun at Battery Townsley on the Marin Headlands. Somehow, the NPS found out about a "spare" 16" gun barrel out in the middle of the Nevada desert (I'm assuming it was NAS Fallon, they never mentioned the name) that had originally been removed from the a turret on the USS Missouri in the '50's, and never returned to the battleship (I'm assuming they used one of the "new" barrels from the USS Kentucky; Rusty probably knows more about that than I do). This was 16" rifled gun #386, which was the right-hand barrel on turret #2 on the Missouri.
In any case, the NPS managed to get the barrel moved all the way from Nevada, to the old shore battery in Marin County, where it is now on public display behind Casement #2 at Battery Townsley.
In addition to possessing one of the few working 6" coastal guns on a disappearing carriage at Battery Chamberlin in San Francisco, the NPS also decided to "replace" the main gun at Battery Townsley on the Marin Headlands. Somehow, the NPS found out about a "spare" 16" gun barrel out in the middle of the Nevada desert (I'm assuming it was NAS Fallon, they never mentioned the name) that had originally been removed from the a turret on the USS Missouri in the '50's, and never returned to the battleship (I'm assuming they used one of the "new" barrels from the USS Kentucky; Rusty probably knows more about that than I do). This was 16" rifled gun #386, which was the right-hand barrel on turret #2 on the Missouri.
In any case, the NPS managed to get the barrel moved all the way from Nevada, to the old shore battery in Marin County, where it is now on public display behind Casement #2 at Battery Townsley.
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