16in Barrels: Construction and Maintenance 

During the Viet Nam era we shot so many 16" rounds that the inner liner, the tube with the Lands and Grooves. Would stretch out the end of the barrel. One center gun stretched 3inches out. There was a special tool used to cut this off. You can imagine the projectile with its copper ring fitting in the Lands and Grooves slowly stretching the liner as each round was fired.

Building up the gun from multiple parts stacked inside of each other wasn't done because they couldn't cast it all as one piece, it's done because it makes the gun stronger. What they figured out when they started building these giant cannons was that by shrinking a tube over a liner they could squeeze the liner down so that instead of the powder charge expanding it from a relaxed state the charge would encounter the metal in a compressed state, which gave it almost double the strength. Without this technology huge cannons are actually impossible, because simply making them thicker will not stop cracks from forming in the barrel if the force inside exceeds the metal's elasticity.

oh man its 12 am and im gonna binge watch everything i can on this channel, what a treat to see and I am incredibly grateful this guy and others like him are taking the time to make videos about stuff like this. so happy the youtube algorithm served this up.

30 years ago I was working at U.S. Steel in Gary, Indiana. Part of my job was to perform structural inspections of old buildings and we had an entire abandoned plant (I'm talking many square miles, a small city) full of WWII tooling and armaments that were exactly the same as they were the day the plant was shut down and everyone walked out of there. The locker rooms still had pin-up posters, lunch boxes, and all kinds of stuff. One building the size of a football field was essentially a giant lathe and it still had an unfinished HUGE shaft or barrel fixtured in it. Was mind boggling. Maybe this is where my WWII obsession started 🤔

The knowledge in this guys head is beyond comprehension. Amazing content

Making the Welin breech deserves a video of its own.

My uncle was a machinist in WWII and was involved in the manufacture of the 16" guns. He talked about how they were rifled and the machining or the breechblocks. One of the machinists made a mistake machining a breechblock and they made a patch that the inspectors didn't detect. I always wondered if that was the gun that blew up.

At 40yrs old I am extremely fascinated in our heritage. Thank you for keeping our history alive.

This guy is literally the saying "If you love what you do you will never work A-day in your life" personified!

During WWII, the city I currently live in had a Naval Ordinance Plant. Relining these gun barrels was one of the many jobs they did. The huge pit also existed at the local plant. Then they'd ship the gun barrels to a testing site in the desert about 75 miles away, and test fire them. In 1949, the site where they used to test the guns and barrels became a National Lab which is still around today. The buildings of the Naval Ordinance Plant still exist, and is currently used by many companies for steel fabrication, and construction of the large power transformers used at power plants and substations.

Your videos get better and better. There's not very many places to get this education. Thanks for making the videos

Always enjoy Ryan off the cuff explanation.

I worked at a company that was tied to the plastics, food, and rubber industry. What we manufactured was referred to was a bimetallic cylinder. The main part for the simple ones was sometimes a grade of steel like 4140 with a hardmetal lining that was centrifugally spun cast in the inside. At one point we were boring out the inside of the larger and longer ones followed by honing it smooth and dropping in a new liner pretty much as described in the video. We aimed for a .003 to .005 shrink fit. The longest one I worked on was 300 inches long. The heaviest was over 8,000 pounds. That one was for making pellets out of crude oil out at the oil well for I believe for the rubber industry. The hardmetal liner was various metals like cadmium, tungsten carbide, and others depending upon what was needed like wear factor. Sadly the company was purchased by competitor and auctioned off. So keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. I skipped about nine to twelve steps in the process depending what was needed for design and application like pressures in service use. One time some were held up in customs in South Korea or Taiwan because some customs officials thought they were some sort or gun or missal barrel. They were for plastic injection cylinders.

I'm an Army veteran and a Rifleman. I found this video interesting. Tgey can recline rifle barrels in the same manner you described in this video. Of course there is no rifling in the leade. I want to see more videos like this. Well done.

You know so much about ships. It's awesome to watch this content

Thanks very much for this video, it "scratched" an intellectual "itch" I've had for some time.

Everyone should look up "changing Steam locomotive tyres" to see the equivalent to changing the battleship gun liners. They are basically the same thing.

Sooo cool. You are a natural at lecturing interesting stuff.

Ive already learned so much about 16 inch gun powder from your other video. Very informative and captivating. Thank you so much!!

I asked before about the escape hatches from the engine room to Broadway. Maybe. Video on the different escape paths and abandon ship protocol/safety drills & plans. Keep up the great work

I have used the shrink fit method many times in my 36 year aerospace manufacturing career and it is amazing how strong it is. I built a 1974 Sharps rifle in caliber 50-90 and named it "the Missouri" after the great battleship with it's 16 inch guns. With 80 grains of black powder and a 650 grain cast lead bullet it is a wonder to behold when you fire it. Like the battleships of old a great big boom and lots of smoke...

This is the best explanation I’ve seen on how these huge guns are made.

Should have watched the video before going to the museum. So many things I have missed

Gotta love the beauty of old war machines, especially when they are built around their guns. Battleships are one example, another I can think of is the A-10, without the gun it’s an ugly bird. But once you know why she’s ugly, you appreciate it.

Amazing to consider that the liners would often be forced out of the ends of the barrels over time. Says something about the sheer power of the thing even before it exits the barrel

I believe the process to make the barrels is called “shrink fit.” Many years ago when I was a mechanical engineering student one of my profs (actually many) was a WWII vet and he taught us how to calculate the temperatures needed to fit the tubes inside each other, the resulting compression, burst strength, etc.

Great post. The pdf is excellent. Thanks so much for the steady stream of interesting content. We battleship nerds can’t get enough!

Astonishing…I had never really given 16” gun barrel manufacturing a second thought….new found respect for the men 100 years ago….

There is also a process called "autofrettage" which involves inserting a slightly smaller inner liner into the barrel, capping both ends, and pressurizing the liner internally with water to say 60,000 - 70,000 psig to stretch fit the liner in place. This process is still used today to reline barrels used in large two stage light gas gun launchers. Autofrettage is useful when the heat treatment of the barrel alloys could be weakened by heating and cooling processes that were used in the 16" gun barrels. The art of building large caliber gun barrels is almost lost these days and there is literally no place left that could build one from scratch without reproducing the facilities of old. Glad that some of this history is being preserved and documented.

Hiking today at Hartshorne Woods Park in Monmouth County NJ I stumbled across the original No. 291 16 inch gun of the battleship New Jersey on display at the former Army base Battery Lewis to represent one of the guns that had been mounted there in 1942 to protect NY harbor and the NJ shore.

Cool video.. I've been on the Jersey twice , both were turret craws down to the magazine. One of the coolest things I've been lucky enough to do. Thanks Chris and Jim I still have broadways I beam imprinted on my forehead.

Welcome to the Gun show. 🎉

I only started watching this channel perhaps 2 or 3 weeks ago. I really like it a lot. The big battles and whatnot which gets the focus from documentaries and whatnot got old for me years and years ago, so its places like this where one can delve into the more nerdy aspects of ship design that are the most interesting to me. Hope for many more great vids from you guys in the future and perhaps some collaborations with some of the other creators who focus on steel & steam era ships.

Thanks for the explaination and the historical perspective. Its really cool to see the inner workings of the Battleship from a crew perspective.

some barrels were milled and turned into bunker busters thanks for all these informations : )

This man really loves his work!!! Excellent work!!!

God Bless America and the ingenuity and grit of its citizens.

Back in the late 70s and early 80s I worked for the Navy. Sometime about 1980 or so we were tasked with doing a review of the Naval Surface Weapons Center which was in White Oak MD and Dahlgren, VA. I was part of the White Oak group and when we finished there we joined our coworkers who had been in Dahlgren for several months. Part of the function of Dahlgren was to test fire gun barrels before they are installed on ships. The base is located on the Potomac below DC where it is very wide and they would test fire the shells into the river. (They used to do it on land in Indianhead MD years ago until they started putting shells through farmer's barns so they decided to use the Potomac instead). Our office was located in an old wooden WWII (or maybe WWI) "temporary" building that was just off the firing range. After I was there a couple of days an old lady who worked at the base came to the door of our office and very excitedly exclaimed "They are going to fire off the 16" guns!!" Now I figured she probably had worked there a long time, and been through a lot of test firings, so if she was excited, this must be something special. Right after that, a very loud siren went off and there was the loudest explosion I ever heard. I remember the whole building shook so much that the window blinds (which were down) flipped up and hit the ceiling and went back down again. My coworkers had been through at least one more test before this one, as the whole time, they were staring at me to see my reaction. I was just sort of stunned. It was explained to me that they were refitting out the battle ship New Jersey so when I saw this video I thought I would pass along the story. This shows how much the sailors had to go through during a battle as I understand that the New Jersey had 9 of these guns and the noise and vibrations must have been terrifying.

Fascinating! I didn't know they were sleeved! I look forward to checking out your other videos. Good stuff! Visited the Missouri when I was a kid and remember standing next to a shell and thinking' you can throw something like THAT 20+ miles!'

Thank you for showing us this amazing and scary piece of technology. I remember fondly my several visits on the New Jersey, where some of the tour guides were WW2 veterans. What amazed me the most was how gracious the ship looked from the Philadelphia shore and how massive it looked from up close. Would dearly like to go one day to visit all the four sister ships. The closest would be the Wisconsin, I think at Norfolk.

It was in 1969 or 70 when I was on the U.S.S. Virgo AE 30. We brought the 16 inch projectiles and powder, that were stored in Sasebo Japan, back to CONUS . It was forward stationed there for the New Jersey, for use in fire support in Vietnam. The N.J. had been ordered back to CONUS for decommissioning and we were to bring back said munitions. North of Hawaii we got into a typhoon, when at some point we took a 40+ degree roll to port. Some of the projectiles broke loose form their shoring and tore open some of the powder canisters and powder bags. To say it was a very interesting 12-16 hrs would be to vastly understate. Eventually things were gotten back under control and we arrived safely at Port Chicago. I have left out some of the details as this would be lengthy with them, but you get the idea.

I love reading documents like the pdf you provided, thanks!!

During a med cruise on The Saratoga Radm Borda had the Iowa make a pass up the port side and when she cleared us they fired a full broadside. It was a memory to never forget!

I don't usually post on youtube videos since most of the time i watch it and say "Meh" and go to the next. But this channel is different.... I feel compelled to write something here. I just have to say that this is my favorite channel...i watch and rewatch the videos, and say "OMG --- that is soooo cool" so many times, my wife says "Another New Jersey video". Mr. Ryan --- i absolutely commend you on these, especially given that you are on furlough. Your exception knowledge of literally every part of this beautiful ship, and your infectious enthusiasm as you crawl through this amazing vessel....well...it make me very happy. :-) I have learned so much about these ships --- i had NO idea how complex they were...IN THE 40'S!! I sit glued to the screen as you crawl through parts of the ship that no one has seen since the war..especially since i have horrible claustrophobia ....I had no idea what a splinter deck was, but I watched the video and felt REAL concern that you were going to get lost, and I laughed when you said you go cave exploring --- it makes sense now. But again --- thank you for these. In a sea of "influencers" and exabytes of junk --- these entertaining and educational videos about American history are very much appreciated.

Naval guns shop used to be in Pocatello Idaho. The lathe to turn a barrel was a cage you sat in. It took 8hrs to make one pass.

My gosh, you have given us so much information, which is wonderful. It's it's amazing that your head hasn't expended, just kidding, I'm hanging on every word, 🙂thanks.

These are great videos. I have learned way more about battleships and how they are built, maintained and operated than I ever thought I would. My inner history nerd appreciates this

I chuckled when he said the the barrels were bored on drill presses.

Love these videos. We have the Wisconsin in my town.

👍🇬🇧 thank you. This was recommended on a video by Drachinfel youtuber.

I remember seeing several 16” barrels in a storage yard at Subic Bay, P.I. in the 70s(73-76)

i could watch these kind of videos for days.....:)

Great comments on here! So refreshing not to read a bunch of garbage posted by trolls. Thanks!

The smooth portion foward of the breech and rear of the rifled liner is called the chamber.

This is absolutely bonkers!

I'd love to see the Lathe that turned those babies..... Merry Christmas from British Columbia 🇨🇦🇺🇸

Ryan, just a heads-up: wire-wound guns were exclusively British. America never made them in standard models. Modern guns aren't cast, they are radially hammer-forged on incredibly impressive machines (dedicated specifically to that purpose). It should be noted that forging cannon barrels over mandrels (using large hydraulic presses) was pioneered by Krupp in Essen Germany in the late 19th century. The Germans didn't need to wire-wound guns, they were already miles ahead by forging them.

Thanks for another informative video Ryan, watching and commenting from the UK, loving learning about your BB's in so much detail :)

Cool video. My father worked as an engineer at the Naval Gun Factory in Washington DC and would tell stories about relining them.

I was stationed at the Navy Museum in DC. And yes the main exhibit hall is the 16 in barrel factory. Other buildings in the yard built other weapons also. I remember being in a master chiefs office and there was this odd blocked off area. I looked through a crack and there was the original winch set. This winch was the size of a pick up truck.

Barrels were made at Naval Ordnance Station Louisville (NOSL) as well. When I worked there in the 90s they still had the machine to straighten barrels after rifling and one old guy still worked there who knew how to operate it.

I used to work in building 197 on the Washington Navy Yard. The crane is still there that was used for this.

Jesus. The breach locks on that gun look wild.

These barrels were re-conditioned and sleeved at the former Naval Ordinance Plant in Pocatello, Idaho. They were then loaded onto a rail car, and test fired out on the Idaho Desert. Formerly known as the Naval Ordinance Test Site (now the I.N.L). They were then shipped by railcar back to be fitted on board the ship. The Naval Ordinance Plant buildings are still in Pocatello, and are easily visible on google earth. They are the largest buildings in the city.

My late Uncle served on the New Jersey during WWII.

I'm supposed to be doing inventory, but instead I'm learning about 16" gun barrels... way more interesting.

The Washington Navy Yard is not that easy to get into anymore... when I went, in 2010, it wasn't easy either, but then the shooter incident happened... so call ahead and plan your visit accordingly. You can only get in the eastern entrance, but that's pretty close to the museum. I got to see an admiral ceremony while I was there... nice. They have the Trieste bathyscaphe hanging from the ceiling... super nice! The big crane was there... lots of ship models... lots of Admiral Byrd polar stuff... some warbird airplanes... cannon... etc. Highly recommended!

This may have been mentioned in another video, or perhaps many are already aware of two awesome books on the Iowas. One is Iowa Class Battleships Their Design, Weapons & Equipment by Robert F. Sumrall. Great segment in chapter five that addresses barrel construction. Another good book in general is The Iowa Class Battleships by Malcolm Muir.

Ryan I enjoy this channel. You should compare built up vs British wire wound gun construction.

Thank You. You always answer more questions then I can think to ask. Your presentations are well thought out. Thank you for your hard work .

I wonderd how thay relined one Cool to watch Thanks

I believe other than being put on display at museums, several were cut up for scrap when the last Iowa was removed from the roster.

Really fascinating. It takes a lot to handle a service pressure of 18.5 tons per square inch - or 444,000 ft.-lbs, and muzzle energy of almost 262 million ft.-lbs. Lots of heat, friction, and pressures involved here.

I remember my father telling me that they had races to see who could crawl thru the barrel of the turrets on the USS Missouri in WW2. He was stationed on Turret 1.

I don't know anything about our Curator here or his pedigree, but he sure is good at the job. Gotta tip my hat to him .... that ship is a big project with a LOT of things that can go wrong .... and right .... and imho, he does a stellar job! :)

Thanks Ryan. I've known about heating the barrel to get the liner 'in'. Didn't know they used the same process to get it 'out'. The pdf on 'reactivation of 16 inch guns' says that the old liner was discarded and an new one installed. That's what I've been curious about. The liners are not 'relined'. They liners are replaced.

Really amazing content Ryan, and props to the videographer(s?) in all your videos!

The Watervliet Arsenal (just north of Albany, NY) does this type work. They have a 45 caliber 16" barrel they made in front of their museum. I understand they are doing all of the large tube work for the military now.

Looking to come down to Camden for a visit!

idk if you have mentioned it or not but you should talk about the project HARP cannons some of those spare mark 7 guns were used in that i beleive

Another great video, thanks Ryan from Atlanta.

So glad I stumbled on this channel! You have so much insane information on these ships, it's fantastic. Cheers from Canada!

Many years back I read that when a liner was being installed, there was a cap at the bottom and it was filled with dry ice. Once installed in the tube, the cap was released and the dry ice fell out of the liner.

Well, it's off the subject a bit, but one night in 1966, I witnessed a breachblock blowing out of a 175mm gun. Messed up some people. You just might guess where that was. Oh yes, they shut down every such tube in the country for a while. That gun was well within it firing count, I believe.

I'm leaning stuff I never knew I wanted to learn 😁

The navy used to proof fire the Mk 7 guns 40 mile outside of Pocatello Idaho. Pocatello used to have a Naval Ordinance Plant which relined Mk 7 barrels until the mid 1950’s.

A video on the procedure on cleaning the bore on the 16" rifles would be interesting. How much time was spent cleaning and how often and preventing saltwater corrosion.

Awesome video

Interesting video. I did a search on that PDF, but as far as how the breeches, breech blocks, barrel boring and rifling of the liner is accomplished there's not much available. This might be well outside the intent of this channel, but links to any YT videos or PDF's produced by the Navy or a future video explaining how it was done in detail would be great. Those interrupted thread breeches and breech blocks are an extremely tough and complicated process. Much easier done today with CNC, but far harder to do when only mechanical methods were available. I'll admit the exact manufacturing processes used to manufacturer the parts are not really a part of a ship museum though. So I understand if that's not a direction you want to go into detail about.

There are a couple barrels sitting on the ground at St. Julians annex in portsmouth, Va

Do a segment about the interlocks in the fuses to keep them from detonating early. There is an extant photo showing a shell detonating several hundred yards from the ship.

my mind is saying its a tank barrel really near the camera and then he puts his hand in front of it and u realise how big it is lol

Good job. Thanks for all you do!

Another topic would be how the liner was trimmed at sea. There is a special tool on board for doing this

I remember as a kid living at Subic Naval Station in the early 80s the navy had three of these thing there in storage.

The size of that rifle...the size of the lands! Wow.

In the 70's and 80's the Hawthorne, Nv ammunition depot had a couple of barrels like this out on the highway (behind a fence so you couldn't inspect them). As I recall, they were quite a bit narrower than the full barrel shown here, so I now think they were liners, not barrels. They were interesting to see, none the less and are gone now.

Amazing the construction of these guns.

Great video. Interesting info...

Back in the 70’s and into the 80’s at SRF Subic when driving from the Subic side to the Cubi side there was an area where they had maybe a dozen of those barrels stacked, I wonder what ever became of them.