US Navy 8-Inch Bureau of Ordnance Shell Gun Number 26 at NSWC Dahlgren

Jun 23

US Navy 8-Inch Bureau of Ordnance Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds at NSWC Dahlgren - Photo by Haze Grey History

A US Navy 8-Inch Bureau of Ordnance Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds is displayed near Gate A at NSWC Dahlgren Division. These photos were taken by Haze Grey History in 2023. Many thanks for the permission to post them! The shell gun was cast by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1864. It is registry number 26 and weighed at manufacture 6,455 pounds. Bureau of Ordnance records show that it was one of ten guns of this type mounted aboard the cruiser USS Madawaska in July of 1866 (registry Numbers 26-35). This battery was removed at New York in June of 1869. Number 26 saw no further service afloat. It was transferred to the Bureau of Yards and Docks in 1896. It was then emplaced as a bollard. Number 26 shows the deterioration at the breech common in ex-bollards, and it shows the remains of a bar that was run through the chase. It also seems to have been nearly broken off at the chase at some point during its history. It is now part of a display of Dahlgren guns near a memorial honoring Rear Admiral John Dahlgren.

The 8-Inch Bureau of Ordnance Shell Gun of 6,500 pounds, along with a similar 32-pounder of 4,500 pounds, was developed by the Bureau of Ordnance in 1864 under the direction of Henry Wise. The shape is very much like Dahlgren’s other ordnance. However, the elongated cascabel with provision for an elevating screw of the larger Dahlgrens has been replaced by a simple ring cascabel for a breeching rope. Elevation on the 8-inch and 32-pounder would have to be by an elevating screw underneath the breech.

USS Madawaska was one of the Wampanoag-class cruisers ordered during the American Civil War. Designed for speed almost above all else, these wooden hulled vessels were intended to be potent commerce destroyers able to inflict the kind of damage on a major maritime power that raiders such as CSS Alabama were then inflicting on the US merchant fleet. The ships of the class were fitted with machinery by different designers. Madawaska was fitted with a vibrating lever engine designed by John Ericsson with steam supplied by eight boilers. According to Bennett, while the machinery was supposed to drive Madawaska at 15 knots, she only managed 13 knots on trials under steam alone (Bennett 332-356). A brief note in the Army and Navy Journal for November 17th, 1866 states that “The Madawaska sailed from the Brooklyn Navy-yard on a Government trial trip on the 9th inst., and returned on; the 14th. The greatest speed attained was 15 knots, the average speed 13 1-2 knots.”

From an Ordnance perspective, this is notable as a battery of only ten light shell guns is an extraordinarily light battery for a 4,100 ton ship. (The OR-N agrees that this was the only battery assigned to the ship.)

In 1869, Madawaska, which would be renamed USS Tennessee, was taken in hand and converted into a spar decked frigate. Her Ericsson engines were removed. She was given a much heavier battery, and she emerged as a “9-knot frigate.” (See Canney Frigates, Sloops, and Gunboats. pp. 136-141, 147-151).