dc:identifier=httphdllocgovlocpnpggbain11090

[Coastal defense gun on a disappearing mount] (LOC)

from The Library of Congress

• Christopher Fischer said:

  Wow

• Mr.TinMD said:

  It appears to be a 10" coastal defense gun on a "disappearing" mounting, where the gun would fire from the raised (above a parapet) position, then the recoil would swing the gun back and down, where it would be invisible to the enemy.

• The Library of Congress said:

  Thanks! We'll change the information in the source data and reload the description.

• BobMeade said:

  I'm not so sure it's a 10-inch gun now that I've seen this photograph: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2496403839 which has as the caption, "Aiming 14" gun -- Sandy Hook" Looks like a very similar gun to the one pictured here - and I think that the Sandy Hook emplacement would have been the closest to New York, and hence most newsworthy to the Bain service. However I'm not sure that Sandy Hook had a gun as big as a 14-incher. We'll have to do some more research.

• Mr.TinMD said:

  Aha, you could be right. Also, 12' was a common size of gun on the disappearing mounts. In my print coastal defense references, there are many similar pics of 12" disappearing guns from the Endicott period. We need a real artillery geek to weigh in!