US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren of USS Brooklyn in Oakland, New Jersey

Sep 8

US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren Number 1162 is displayed at Veterans Park in Oakland, New Jersey - Photo by “Parmesan Chee”

A US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren and a US Navy 8-Inch Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds are displayed at Veterans Park in Oakland, New Jersey. Many thanks to friend of the page Parmesan Chee for sharing these photos!

The two guns are:

US Navy 9-Inch Dahlgren Number 1162 which was manufactured by Fort Pitt Foundry in 1864. As manufactured, it weighed 9,220 pounds. Bureau of Ordnance Records show that Number 1162 served upon the veteran steam sloop Brooklyn from August of 1870 to July of 1876. It was transferred to the Bureau of Yards and Docks in 1904.
US Navy 8-Inch Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds Number 172 which was manufactured at Cyrus Alger & Company in 1866. As manufactured it weighed 6,460 pounds. Bureau of Ordnance Records show that it was sent to the New York Navy Yard and placed in storage. It was transferred to Yards and Docks in 1896.

The types:

The 9-Inch Dahlgren was developed by US Navy Officer John Dahlgren in the early 1850s. Intended to be mounted on the broadsides of a new generation of heavy steam frigates and sloops, this smoothbore fired a 72-pound explosive shell and was equally capable of firing a 90-pound solid shot. It was extremely effective against wooden ships or, when part of a broadside battery, providing a volume of fire against fortifications ashore. It was essentially ineffective against most ironclads during the American Civil War. 9-Inch Dahlgrens were kept in US Navy service after the war through the 1880s aboard the wooden sloops and gunboats that made up the majority of the active fleet.

The 8-Inch Shell Gun of 6,500 Pounds was designed by the Bureau of Ordnance under the direction of Henry Wise in 1864. The design borrowed heavily upon Dahlgren’s guns - differing chiefly at the cascabel. The Bureau of Ordnance developed this gun to arm ships too lightly built to carry the heavier Dahlgrens. During the Civil War the many merchant ships taken into service had to rely on a mix of older 32-pounder guns, Boat Howitzers, and light Parrott Rifles - often leaving a gap of a modern shell firing heavy smoothbore in their armament. Had this 8-Inch shell gun been introduced in 1862, it may have been quite useful. Ordered in 1864, very few reached the fleet before the end of hostilities. In actual service, a few were used aboard training ships and fleet auxiliaries. The majority went directly to storage where they sat until scrapped or donated to local communities.