US Navy 30-Pounder of USS John Adams in Rockland, Massachusetts

May 13

US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Number 30 is displayed in Rockland, Massachusetts — US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Number 70 is displayed in Rockland, Massachusetts

US Navy Parrott Rifle Number 70 was manufactured at the West Point Foundry in 1862. As manufactured it weighs 3,490 pounds. It is displayed in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Rockland, Massachusetts.

Many thanks to friend of the page James Murray for taking and sharing these photos!

US Navy Records show that it served aboard the sloop USS John Adams and was donated to a Grand Army of the Republic Post in Rockland in 1900.

USS John Adams was officially the frigate built at Charleston, South Carolina in 1799 for the US Navy, but Donald Canney makes a strong case that sloop which emerged from a significant repair in 1831 was an entirely new ship build to a new design (Sailing Warships of the US Navy pp. 136-138). During the American Civil War USS John Adams was initially a training ship for the United States Naval Academy before joining the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in 1863. She served as the flagship of the inner blockade at Charleston - many of the reports of the senior officer present in 1864 are written from John Adams. She seems to appear in the background of at least three photos taken at Charleston in 1865 - including one taken during the ceremony marking the rehoisting of the United States flag over Fort Sumter.

US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Number 70 is displayed alongside Number 266.

The 30-Pounder Parrott fired an approximately 30 pound projectile which could be solid shot or shell with a 3.25 pound propellant charge. In terms of weight of the gun, at 3,500 pounds it was similar to the very lightest 32-Pounders of the 1846 system (the 32-Pounders of 27cwt and 33cwt). Unlike those earlier 32-Pounders, it was in production during the war.

While the Parrott system has a poor reputation for endurance and safety in the present day, this reputation is entirely undeserved when it comes to the 30-Pounder. A January 1865 report lists only three US Navy 30-Pounders which failed in service - two while using experimental propellant and one after being struck on the muzzle by an enemy projectile. Additionally, only three Army 30-Pounders failed - one of those after firing 4,650 rounds (an extremely high total for the era). The 30-Pounder Parrott was a reliable, relatively light weight piece of ordnance which armed many ships of the US Navy and US Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War.