16"/50 Caliber Mark 2 Gun (Washington, D.C.)

 museum, gun, display, United States Navy

On display at the Washington Navy yard is Gun #111, a Sixteen-inch 50 Caliber, Mark 2, Mod. 1 Gun Barrel built for use on the never-completed South Dakota Class Battleships and Lexington Class Battlecruisers. At 67 feet long and with a full powder charge of 648 pounds, the Mark 2 guns were capable of firing a 2,240-pound armor-piercing shell with a muzzle velocity of 2,650 feet per second to an effective range of 44,680 yards.

After the Washington Treaty was signed, the majority of the already milled-guns were transferred to the US Army for use in coastal defense batteries but several dozen were retained in storage and were eventually considered for use on the planned Iowa Class of Fast Battleships being designed in 1938. When design on the Iowa Class completed, the plans called for the lighter and more modernized 16-inch 50 Caliber Mark 7 Gun, the remaining Mark 2's were scrapped having never been mounted on a Naval Vessel.