Any old Pics - replicating google images, one post at a time (Part 1)

Ruprecht · 14 September 2020 07:38

Altec

Tons_of_fun · 14 September 2020 19:46

Happened upon this earlier. Four children sat on the porch of their house in Indian Head Maryland. In front of a 1 ton, 16" shell.

How did this unusual combination come about? Until 1917, Indian Head was also where the US Navy tested it’s heavy guns. Unfortunately, what worked a charm in 1870 was somewhat bijou post Dreadnought. Testing the shiny new 16 inch was the last straw;

“One of these guns was the 16”/45 battleship gun. Considering the Mark 1’s range of nearly 40,000 yards, Indian Head’s 6,000-yard range was just too short. The only way to proof the guns was horizontally at a low angle, making full elevation testing and accurate ranging just not possible. One test in the summer of 1916 sent a projectile through 13-5/8" armor plate, a braced butt built from 16” thick oak timbers, and 27’ of sand reinforced by 5/8” skin plates. It angled up, went another mile down the station, and landed in the house of a local farmer. Luckily no one was injured, but the hazards were only going to get worse when the Navy planned for a 16"/50 gun.

Valvebloke · 14 September 2020 22:21

At least it was just a practise shell with no explosive in it. Then again maybe if it had’ve been a live round it would have fragmented back at the intended target.

The way the bust timbers are pushed towards us makes it feel like we’re looking at the house’s ‘exit wound’. I wonder whether the accumulated drag as it came through the structure was just enough to slow the shell to a stop where it’s pictured, or whether it was still moving forwards when it exited and they’ve had to haul it back to the yard for the sake of the photographer.

VB