Guns of Freedom Traditional Cache
RoadRunner: Clearing the area as the objects are gone.
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An easy location for those on a quick trip through this area, but interested in more of the history of “America’s Patriotic Home.”
Container is a well-hidden small water bottle in a good location to view the breaches of these “guns of freedom,” as I call them. Cache has logbook, pencil and several newly purchased geoswag all with an American flag theme, consistent with "America's Patriotic Home." PLEASE try to trade with similar. There is little to fear from muggles here. This was in the last section of Babbitt housing to have had ammo depot employees living here.
While at the cache, be sure to look northwest into the east end of the base where many of these “guns of freedom” are stored on the ground. Maybe all that are left in the world. You can also walk a short distance northeast, then northwest outside the low brick wall to N38 32.796', W118 38.992' to view them much closer and from the muzzle ends.
These are the largest guns ever put to sea by the U.S. Navy and are the largest in existence in the world today. The 16"/50 Mark 7 are those huge barrels you see on WW II (and later) USS Iowa-class battleships on those fore and aft turrets with three guns per turret. What does one 16" barrel from a WW II battleship weigh? 267,904 lbs. (including breech), 239,156 lbs. (without breech), over 119 tons, each! They are 816", or 68' long. It took special railroad cars to bring these here to Hawthorne for storage, due to the length and the weight in particular.
Their range was 20-25 miles. The Mark 7 gun was originally intended to fire the relatively light 2,240 pound Mark 5 armor piercing shell. However, the shell handling system for these guns was redesigned to use the "super-heavy" 2,700 pound APC (Armor Piercing, Capped) Mark 8 shell, before any of the Iowa-class battleships were laid down. I believe the U. S. made 27 battleships. The USS Alabama in Mobile, AL is a must-see, which you can tour inside on many levels inside and outside. Plan a half-day minimum. There’s a WW II sub too, plus a great aviation museum there as well, so plan a full day for it all. There are 8 USS battleships serving as museums now.
These big guns were used after WW II in Korea, Vietnam and I believe for the last time on Feb. 8, 1984. The United States battleship New Jersey bombarded Druse and Syrian gun batteries in Lebanon for more than nine hours. The Pentagon said the New Jersey fired more than 250 16-inch shells. But these guns are most famous for their use during WW II on the U. S. Navy battleships fighting the Axis dictator powers of Germany, Italy and Japan.
To touch some of the huge shells designed for these big guns and to learn more about these barrels while here at Hawthorne, be sure to do the “Our Patriotic Home” geocache. Several of the shells are outside and can be viewed 24/7. Inside are more and ask a host to see the special photo section on these barrels. They hope to have one of these 16" gun barrels moved and on display here some day. But it’s not easy nor cheap to move 119 tons.
See (visit link) , (visit link) , and to see these guns fired, see (visit link) and (visit link) . For more on U.S. battleships, see (visit link) . See also (visit link) and (visit link) for more on this historic Hawthorne and Babbitt, NV.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Arne 10gu Fg naq Rffrk Nir