Post by randysubic on May 26, 2019 22:45:34 GMT 8
The two 10-inch guns on disappearing carriages currently mounted at Fort Casey were transferred from the Philippines in the 1960s, along with two three-inch guns. The 10-inch guns are M1895MI (No. 26 and No. 28 Watervliet) on disappearing carriages M1901 (No. 13 and No. 15 Watertown) at Battery Worth, Fort Casey (originally at Battery Warwick, Fort Wint, Grande Island, Philippines). The three-inch guns are M1903 (No. 11 and No. 12) on barbette carriages M1903 (No. 6 and No. 7) at Battery Trevor, Fort Casey (originally at Battery Flake, Fort Wint).Culverwell of Washington State Parks reached out to the Navy about moving the guns from the Philippines to Fort Casey. Rear Admiral Arthur F. Spring was sympathetic, and told Culverwell he could have the guns for what it would cost for the US Navy to disassemble them, which Spring figured would be about $3,000. Spring even said that the Navy would ship them to Puget Sound for free.
But then Admiral Spring died in plane crash. His replacement did a more thorough estimate of the work that would be required, and the revised bill came to something more like $30,000.
Bell says that State Parks officials tried to raise the money, and they struggled. The years began to slide by. Then, the U.S. Navy set a deadline to have the money in hand by the end of 1967, or the guns would go to somebody else.
Meanwhile, Bell says, another suitor came around and tried to snatch the guns away from Washington State Parks.
“The Smithsonian came out and essentially told the Navy, ‘If Washington State Parks is never going to take those guns, we’ll take them,’” Bell said. “’We’d be more than happy to have two coast artillery guns in Washington DC that we could use to interpret this period. So, FYI, if they don’t take ’em, we’ll take ’em.’”
Even Washington State Governor Dan Evans got involved, and declared Novemer 1965 “Guns For Casey” Month. But it was the Coupeville Lions Club that ultimately came through and helped gather donations, and who probably helped convince the State Legislature to come up with with $20,000 in 1967.
With the money finally in place, work could begin on readying the guns at Fort Wint for disassembly and shipping. The first step, says Matthew Bell, was soaking them in penetrating oil.
Then, in the spring of 1967, a US Navy maintenance team got to work doing what maintenance teams do best.
They had no manuals or other instructions, but Bell says that in a newspaper account at the time, one member of the crew expressed total confidence in his ability to get the job done, “’I’m a maintenance man – I can take anything apart.’”
“They disassembled everything, drug them off the hillside on that island using a mixture of cranes, a bunch trailers pulled by mules and brought them down to the little dock,” Bell said.
But now there was one more problem. The Navy wanted to charge Washington State Parks for shipping the guns to Whidbey. Fortunately, Sea-Land Corporation stepped forward and offered to lash the guns to top deck of one of their large container ships.
Problem solved? Not so fast, says Bell.
“In late May of 1968, the SAN FRANCISCO, a Sea-Land container ship, left Subic Bay and went on its way to Seattle” with the guns aboard, said Bell.
“And on its way, because the darn guns story couldn’t get more random and convoluted, the ship was caught in a freak storm,” Bell said. “They suffered three 40-degree rolls in one minute, and [one of] the gun barrels broke loose and slid across the deck.”
Fortunately, Bell said, “a reinforcing rib on the gun got caught on the [deck] railing, and that’s the only thing that stopped the gun from going in the drink.”
“They lashed it down with chains and anything else they could find and [the SAN FRANCISCO] steamed into Seattle with a gun barrel hanging off the side of the ship,” Bell said.
After all that drama, the rest of the story is pretty anti-climactic. By July 1968, the old guns were reinstalled, and they had a big dedication ceremony at Fort Casey State Park on August 11, 1968.
I was at Fort Casey last week and took these photos: Fort Wint guns at Fort Casey
But then Admiral Spring died in plane crash. His replacement did a more thorough estimate of the work that would be required, and the revised bill came to something more like $30,000.
Bell says that State Parks officials tried to raise the money, and they struggled. The years began to slide by. Then, the U.S. Navy set a deadline to have the money in hand by the end of 1967, or the guns would go to somebody else.
Meanwhile, Bell says, another suitor came around and tried to snatch the guns away from Washington State Parks.
“The Smithsonian came out and essentially told the Navy, ‘If Washington State Parks is never going to take those guns, we’ll take them,’” Bell said. “’We’d be more than happy to have two coast artillery guns in Washington DC that we could use to interpret this period. So, FYI, if they don’t take ’em, we’ll take ’em.’”
Even Washington State Governor Dan Evans got involved, and declared Novemer 1965 “Guns For Casey” Month. But it was the Coupeville Lions Club that ultimately came through and helped gather donations, and who probably helped convince the State Legislature to come up with with $20,000 in 1967.
With the money finally in place, work could begin on readying the guns at Fort Wint for disassembly and shipping. The first step, says Matthew Bell, was soaking them in penetrating oil.
Then, in the spring of 1967, a US Navy maintenance team got to work doing what maintenance teams do best.
They had no manuals or other instructions, but Bell says that in a newspaper account at the time, one member of the crew expressed total confidence in his ability to get the job done, “’I’m a maintenance man – I can take anything apart.’”
“They disassembled everything, drug them off the hillside on that island using a mixture of cranes, a bunch trailers pulled by mules and brought them down to the little dock,” Bell said.
But now there was one more problem. The Navy wanted to charge Washington State Parks for shipping the guns to Whidbey. Fortunately, Sea-Land Corporation stepped forward and offered to lash the guns to top deck of one of their large container ships.
Problem solved? Not so fast, says Bell.
“In late May of 1968, the SAN FRANCISCO, a Sea-Land container ship, left Subic Bay and went on its way to Seattle” with the guns aboard, said Bell.
“And on its way, because the darn guns story couldn’t get more random and convoluted, the ship was caught in a freak storm,” Bell said. “They suffered three 40-degree rolls in one minute, and [one of] the gun barrels broke loose and slid across the deck.”
Fortunately, Bell said, “a reinforcing rib on the gun got caught on the [deck] railing, and that’s the only thing that stopped the gun from going in the drink.”
“They lashed it down with chains and anything else they could find and [the SAN FRANCISCO] steamed into Seattle with a gun barrel hanging off the side of the ship,” Bell said.
After all that drama, the rest of the story is pretty anti-climactic. By July 1968, the old guns were reinstalled, and they had a big dedication ceremony at Fort Casey State Park on August 11, 1968.
I was at Fort Casey last week and took these photos: Fort Wint guns at Fort Casey