The 5-inch and 6-inch guns, taken from our coast defenses and naval stores and placed on mobile mounts;
The 155-millimeter gun, a French weapon with a barrel diameter of approximately 6 inches;
The 155-millimeter howitzer, also French;
The 8-inch and 9.2-inch howitzers, British designs, being manufactured in the United States when war was declared;
The 240-millimeter howitzer, French and American; and, finally,
The antiaircraft guns.
In modern times, but prior to 1917, the United States had designed types of field-artillery weapons and produced them in quantities shown by the following tabulation:
| Pieces. | |
|---|---|
| 2.95-inch mountain gun | 113 |
| 3-inch gun | 544 |
| 4.7-inch gun | 60 |
| 5-inch gun | 70 |
| 6-inch howitzer | 40 |
| 7-inch howitzer | 70 |
| Total | 897 |
A comparison of this list with the enumeration above of weapons put in production during the war against Germany indicates that we greatly expanded our artillery in types. That we were able to do this at the outset and go ahead immediately with the production of many weapons strange and unknown to our experience, without waiting to develop models and types of our own, is due solely to the generosity of the governments of France and Great Britain, with whom we became associated. We manufactured in all eight new weapons, taking the designs of three of them from the British and of five from the French.
It might seem to the uninitiated that the way of the United States to a great output of artillery would be made smooth by the action of the British and French Governments in agreeing to turn over to us without reservation the blue prints and specifications that were the product of years of development in their gun plants. Yet this was only relatively true. In numerous instances we were not able to secure complete drawings until months after we had entered the war, due to the practice of continental manufacturers that intrusts numerous exact measurements to the memories of the mechanics working in their shops. Consequently it required several months to complete drawings, and when we received them our troubles had only begun.