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IX-inch Dahlgren shell gun: 1,185 guns were cast at Alger, Bellona, Fort Pitt, Seyfert, McManus & Co., Tredegar, and West Point foundries between 1855 and 1864. Fort Pitt Foundry also made 16 for the army in 1861. The IX-inch Dahlgren was the most popular and versatile of Dahlgren shell guns made.
The U.S. Navy had equipped several ships with 8-inch Paixhans guns of 63 and 55 cwt. in 1845, and later a 10-inch shell gun of 86 cwt. In 1854, the six Merrimack-class steam frigates were equipped with 9-inch Dahlgren shell guns. By 1852, the Dahlgren gun had become the standard armament of the United States Navy. [1]
The gun was first tested at the Dahlgren proving grounds in 1927, with tests continuing into the 1930s. It fired a 2,100 lb (953 kg) AP shell at 3,000 ft/s (914 m/s) muzzle velocity, with a range of 49,383 yd (45,156 m) at 40° elevation.
Dahlgren was established in the spring of 1918 as a Naval Proving Ground. Its recorded first work, the firing of a 7-inch (178-millimetre)/45 caliber tractor-mounted gun, occurred on 16 October 1918, which is recognized as the official founding date.
The Dahlgren Heritage Museum is open to the public. It promotes the history, traditions, heritage, and culture of the U.S. Navy at Dahlgren, Virginia and the surrounding community. Its key holdings include a scale model of a Civil War-era Dahlgren gun, the propeller from the first radio-controlled, unmanned flight, and Norden bombsight. [7]
The US Navy Ordnance Department under Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren awarded Wiard a contract to produce two 15 in (381 mm) rifled guns of about the same weight as the smoothbore XV-inch (381 mm) Dahlgren shell gun. Wiard was to be paid $10,750 in 1860s money for each gun. The result was probably one of the most complex guns ever cast in one piece.
The Dahlgren gun was developed by John A. Dahlgren in 1846, with advantages over Paixhans guns: The Dahlgren gun was developed as an improvement of the Paixhans gun. View on deck of USS Kearsarge showing aft 11-inch Dahlgren shell gun. Paixhans had so far satisfied naval men of the power of shell guns as to obtain their admission on shipboard ...
The fort was completed in March 1862 with positions for 15 guns, 13 of which were occupied. A Confederate Engineer Bureau report of March 12, 1862 lists one 10-inch columbiad, four 9-inch Dahlgren shell guns, two 8-inch columbiads (all on barbette carriages) and six hot-shot 32-pounders on ship carriages.