US Navy 8-Inch Chambered Shell Gun of 63 Hundredweight Number 358 of USS Cairo
US Navy 8-Inch Chambered Shell Gun of 63 Hundredweight Number 358 is displayed aboard USS Cairo at Vicksburg National Military Park. It is mounted on the port broadside in the second position from the bow. Number 358 is one of three of the 8-Inch shell guns aboard. Number 358 was cast at the West Point Foundry in 1845. It is marked as weighed in hundredweight "63-0-18" (7,074 pounds).
US Navy Ordnance of the 1845/1846 System
In May of 1845, a board of US Navy Captains recommended a system of ordnance for the navy. Their report called for the Navy to standardize on the 32-Pounder. The deficiencies of this system would cause John Dahlgren to design a replacement - which became the Dahlgren guns with which the US Navy fought the American Civil War.
The US Army 42-Pounders of USS Cairo
The US Army 42-Pounders are displayed aboard USS Cairo in Vicksburg, Mississippi. One is a Pattern 1831 and two are Pattern 1845. All three were rifled for service during the American Civil War.
US Navy 8-Inch Chambered Shell Gun Number 348 on USS Cairo
US Navy 8-Inch Chambered Shell Gun of 63 Hundredweight Number 348 is displayed aboard USS Cairo at Vicksburg National Military Park. Number 348 is one of three of the 8-Inch shell guns aboard. Number 348 was cast at the Fort Pitt Foundry in 1845. It is marked as weighed in hundredweight "64-0-8" (7,176 pounds).
USS Constellation - Sloop of War of the United States Navy
USS Constellation is the last sailing only ship designed for the US Navy in 1854. She is also the only intact US Navy ship which saw active cruising service during the American Civil War. She is preserved at Baltimore.