THE 7-INCH RIFLES.
The conditions under which the war with Germany was fought virtually precluded any chance of a naval attack on our shores which would engage our fixed coast defenses. The British grand fleet, with the assistance of fleets of the other allies and America, had the German battle fleet securely bottled. On the other hand there was the prowling submarine able at all times to go to sea and even to cross the ocean, and some of the latest of these submarines were armed with long-range medium-caliber guns. It was not beyond possibility that some sort of an attack would be made on our shores by submarines of this character, yet it was safe to believe that these craft would keep well out of range of the guns at our stationary coast defenses.
To protect our coast from such attack the Ordnance Department conceived the plan of mounting heavy guns on railway cars. They might then be moved quickly to places on the seacoast needing defense. For this purpose the Navy turned 12 of its 7-inch rifles over to the Ordnance Department for mounting. Meanwhile our ordnance officers had designed certain standard railway artillery cars, known as models 1918, 1918 Mark I, and 1918 Mark II, for 7-inch and 8-inch guns and 12-inch mortars, respectively. These cars all had the same general features.
The model 1918 car was selected for the converted 7-inch Navy rifle. The rifle was mounted on a pedestal set on the gun car in such a manner as to give all-around fire, or 360-degree traverse. The pedestal mount permitted the gun to be depressed at an angle suitable for firing from high places along the coast down upon the low-lying submarines.
Contracts for the various parts for these cars and the pedestal gun mounts were let to concerns engaged in heavy steel manufacture, but the assembling was done by the American Car & Foundry Co., of Berwick, Pa. Twelve of the 7-inch rifles were so mounted. As this equipment was intended exclusively for use in this country, the gun cars were equipped with the American type of car couplings.
THE 8-INCH GUNS.
For the 8-inch guns taken from seacoast fortifications the Ordnance Department designed a barbette mount giving complete, 360-degree, traverse, thus providing for fire in any direction. There were 96 such guns available for railway mounts. Orders for 47 gun cars with carriages for mounting the weapons were placed with three concerns—the Morgan Engineering Co., of Alliance, Ohio, the Harrisburg Manufacturing & Boiler Co., of Harrisburg, Pa., and the American Car & Foundry Co., of Berwick. Two of the three contractors found it necessary to provide additional facilities and machine-tool equipment at their plants in order to handle this job.
The first railway mount for the 8-inch gun was completed and sent to the Aberdeen Proving Ground for test in May, 1918. In early June the test had shown that the weapon was efficient and entirely satisfactory. Before the end of the year 1918 a total of 24 complete units, with ammunition cars for standard-gauge track, shell cars for narrow-gauge track, transportation cars, tools, spare parts, and all the other necessary appurtenances of a unit of this character, had been completed. Three complete 8-inch units were shipped overseas before the armistice was signed.
When the armistice came the Harrisburg company had delivered 9 of these mounts and the Morgan Engineering Co. an equal number, making 18 in all. The former concern had reached an output of 5 mounts per month and the latter 10 per month.
An interesting feature of this mount is that it can be used either on standard-gauge or on narrow-gauge railroad track. The narrow gauge adopted was that in standard use in the fighting zones in France, the distance between the rails being 60 centimeters, or the approximate equivalent of 24 inches. Each gun car was provided with interchangeable trucks to fit either gauge. The artillery train necessary for the maneuvering of the weapon was also similarly equipped to travel on either sort of track.