16-inch/50 Caliber Gun Mark VII - Mod No. 270L

16-inch/50 Caliber Gun Mark VII - Mod No. 270L. . , This barrel was the left gun of Turret 1 on the battleship USS Iowa from 1942 until 1954, and fired in anger during World War II and the Korean War. This gun is 50 calibers long (68 ft), 50 times its 16-inch bore diameter and weighs in at 237,110 lbs. It fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 lb. at different muzzle velocities, depending on the shell and powder charge. Then firing armor-piercing shells, its muzzle velocity was 2,500 feet per second with a range of up to 24 miles. The Mark VII barrel was built-up gun, constructed of a liner, a tube, a jacket, three hoops, two locking rings, a tube and liner locking ring, a yoke ring and a screw box liner. This barrel was the first Mark VII gun constructed at the U.S. Naval Gun Factory in the Washington Navy Yard and was installed on the ship at the New York Naval Shipyard in October 1942. After eleven years and two wars, the gun's rifling had worn down. Barrel #270L was removed, relined, and placed in storage. It was moved to St. Juliens Creek Annex in Chesapeake, VA in the 1980's to be a replacement barrel once the 16-inch guns onboard the battleship became too worn from firing. No longer needed after the decommissioning of the battleships, the barrels at St. Juliens gained new homes at memorials. In May 2023, Barrel #270L was moved to Fort Story., Two Target Projectiles - Mark 9 - 2,700 lb. , The Iowa-class battleships had three turrets with three guns each, firing a total weight of up to 24,300 lbs. Each gun used 660 lb. of propellant to fire one of these 16-inch shells. Projectiles can penetrate 30 feet of concrete and create a crater 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep., USS Iowa (BB-61) - "The Mighty I" and "The Big Stick" , The USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of a class of four 45,000-ton battleships:

Ordered in July 1939, constructed at New York Naval Shipyard starting in June 1940, launched on August 27, 1942, and commissioned February 22, 1943., Her initial service was in the Atlantic to counter the threat of the German battleship Tirpitz which was operating in Norwegian waters, and carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to and from Casablanca, enroute to the Tehran Conference in November and December 1943., Transferred to the Pacific Theater, participated in the Marshall and Marianas Islands and Okinawa Campaigns and was present at the Japanese Surrender at Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 as the Third Fleet flagship., Initially decommissioned in March 1949, then recommissioned two years later for the Korean War, served as the Seventh Fleet flagship from April-October 1952, conducted fire missions on North Korean supply lines and troop concentrations., Decommissioned again in February 1958, after serving in the Atlantic Fleet out of the Naval Station Norfolk., During the 1980's, she was modernized for the Cold War defense build-up and recommissioned in April 1984, homeported in Norfolk. , On April 19, 1989, a tragic explosion and fire in gun turret number two killed 47 crew members., Decommissioned for the last time in 1990 and partially disassembled and stricken from the naval Vessel Register in 1995., Reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required the retention of two Iowa-class battleships., In 2011, she was donated to the non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and moved to the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened as the Battleship USS Iowa Museum and remains so today.

, [Caption:]
Barrel #270L is being installed on the USS Iowa in October 1942 in the photo above, while to the right the USS Iowa is firing a broadside of all nine 16-inch guns. (US Navy), Source: Terry McGovern, USCG