Gun Platform No. 1 - 1945
San Diego Naval Training Center
The two larger mounts are 5-inch 51 calibre guns which were found on older battleships. This gun was designed to engage surface craft, especially swift torpedo boats that were too fast to be tracked and destroyed by a battleship’s large main guns. The large wheels on either side controlled the gun’s horizontal and vertical direction. The weapon fired a fifty pound, 5-inch diameter shell and was propelled by a powder charge inside a separate silk bag. It had a range of 8 miles and a speed of more than 3,100 feet per second.
The single weapon with the elaborate mount is a 5-inch 38 calibre dual purpose gun. This lighter gun offered handiness in engaging aircraft targets with the same range and hitting power of a surface mount. It was widely used on destroyers, carriers, and the later cruiser and battleship designs. The weapon could throw its 55 pound shell nine miles when fired vertically with a velocity of 3,6oo feet per second.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of Interior
Marker is on Cushing Road north of Roosevelt Road, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
