Today Is The 248th Anniversary Of The Field Artillery Branch Of The United States Army

My GR gr grandfather was a redleg in the 2nd Minn. Volunteer Light Artillery in the Civil War. I passed on Artillery to concentrate on maintaining and repairing small arms myself.

And so it's hi hi hee in the Field Artillery.......shout out your numbers good and loud!....2...3....for wherever you go you will always know that the caissons go rolling along (keep 'em rolling!), and caissons go rolling along!
 
Old Dog said:
That's not a gun...

This is a gun (pick one). Couldn't resist, sorry. 16 inches, baby! Also 248 years old, the world's finest Navy. But, we're all on the same team, hooah (or as my people would say, hooyah).
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I visited the Iowa when it was being refurbished in Richmond, Ca. It came down river from years anchored with the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, then after being cleaned up it was towed to its current berth at San Pedro in LA Harbor. Those triple 16” guns are HUGE!

I really liked visiting the Alabama in Mobile Bay. They have cut a doorway through the turret support armor under the turret so you can go below deck and walk through a foot of steel to enter the loading works under the guns. Shell hoists, powder elevators, it’s all right there to see. The mechanical equipment and sheer number of personnel required for operating just one main-gun turret is just amazing. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
I did a change of command ceremony at Fort Laramie Wyoming in the early 2000's.

They had a Civil War/Indian Wars reenactor artillery section fire a salute. I got to talk to one of the reenactors and he showed me a period correct mechanical time fuze that would have been in use in the 1870's.

(That BS in The Alamo (The one with Billy Bob Thornton) where the Mexicans shoot a ball with a cork and Fuze in it is BS)

I was amazed at how intricate the Fuze I saw was.
 
FWIW

In Basic Training I was trained on an M109A1
FB_IMG_1700332626628.jpg
My first Duty Station (Peden Barracks Germany) was an M110A2 unit.
FB_IMG_1700333116542.jpg
My second Duty Station(Fort Lewis) was an M198 Unit.
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We also got tasked with instructing an ROTC summer camp on M102s.

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I messed up my back trying to pick up one of those 102s by the trails.

My last unit was National Guard and we were M110A2s then M109A3s and right after I left MLRS.
 
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The redlegs in the 7thID(L) were being trained on the 105 Light Gun that replaced the M102s in the division by Anzac and British gunners when I was there. My roommate and I passed a British Major in the PX parking Lot, and I rendered him a proper British salute. My roommate did not salute at all and asked me why I saluted 'that guy'. I told him because he's a Major, and he asked how I knew. I replied, "You know that big chart on the wall in front of the S2/3 Shop? It has the insignia for most of the major militaries in the world on it."
(Actually, I knew long before that, being a military history buff since about the age of 5.)
I do recall him saluting CPOs while on gate guard because of the shiny collar insignia......
 
I was a 13A00, FA Officer, spent most of my career doing Fire Support, 2 heavy and 1 light assignment (11th ACR, 1ID, 25ID), but was a cannon PLT LDR and Battery CDR, as well as Co. FIST, TF and BN FSO and BCT FSO.

I used to feel bad for the M110 8" guys at Graf.

Most of the M110s I saw didn't have the "crew cabs" so the guys rode around exposed on the tank trails, summer covered in dust, winter snow and sleet. I was a Howitzer Battery LT with 1/11th ACR at the time. We had M109A2s and a couple A3s (155MM). I think we actually got to shoot more, just a less expensive round.

The M110s were held in GS (General Support) BNs and usually employed for counterfire due to their longer range. Back then some of the FA Brigades were composites; 109s, 110s and Lance Missile BNs, I was still in when they fazed the 110s and Lance out for MLRS & later HIMARS.

Technically it's a "Howitzer" not a gun, the old M107 175mm was a "Gun" (looks like an M110, same chassis, long skinny tube), it's all about tube length, velocity and trajectory. The "guns" had a higher PER (Probable Error Range), which made them not so suitable for Danger Close depending on friendly trace in relation to the gun/target line.
 
Steel Horse Rider said:
you can see how far the recoil moved the ship sideways.
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It's the shockwave, not the ship moving sideways. Always ripples the water. Having the ship wobble in recoil would spoil the aim no small end. And, the ship fills a volume equal to around 53,000 tons of seawater, which is generally disinclined to compress, even tossing about 9 tons of projectiles off to one side.

And, as a point of order, those Mk 7 16"/50s are "Naval Rifles."
 
The biggest bang the FA has ever fielded:
(turn up the volume)
www.youtube.com

Firing the Pershing Missile

U.S. Army troops prepare and launch the Pershing missile. More military & aviation videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/okrajoePlease visit our channel to ...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
entropy said:
My GR gr grandfather was a redleg in the 2nd Minn. Volunteer Light Artillery in the Civil War. I passed on Artillery to concentrate on maintaining and repairing small arms myself.

And so it's hi hi hee in the Field Artillery.......shout out your numbers good and loud!....2...3....for wherever you go you will always know that the caissons go rolling along (keep 'em rolling!), and caissons go rolling along!
Click to expand...
John Phillip Sosua composed the music.
 
Dang, Cap'n, I know you're old, but you had a friend who served with Blackjack Pershing? 😏

JK. Actually, you're younger than me. I served with a guy who was in the 56th FA in Germany in a Pershing battery. Ironically, he went from the 56th FA to the 56th....Med. Bn.
 
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