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America's Munitions 1917-1918

Chapter 9: CANNON MACHINING AND ASSEMBLING.
By Benedict Crowell
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History - AmericanHistory - Modern (1750+)History - Warfare

About This Book

A concise, nontechnical history of how American industry and the War Department organized and scaled munitions production during the recent European war, surveying ordnance, artillery, ammunition, small arms, machine guns, aircraft and engines, chemical and engineering supplies, quartermaster logistics, and technical methods such as sound- and flash-ranging. Chapters combine operational description, production statistics, organizational arrangements, and the roles of military and civilian agencies to explain accomplishments, challenges, and the conversion of factories and supply systems to meet battlefield needs.

A SECTION OF THE MIDVALE STEEL CO. PLANT, SHOWING TYPES OF 6-INCH, 7-INCH, AND 8-INCH, NICKEL-STEEL, BREECH-LOADING RIFLES.

THREE FINISHED 8-INCH RIFLES, 45 CALIBERS, SET UP ON TURRET MOUNTS IN THE PLANT OF THE MIDVALE STEEL CO. WHERE THEY WERE MADE.

In the foreground are three large gun tubes partially completed. This company started the manufacture of the first piece of ordnance material in America in 1880.

One of the answers of the United States ordnance engineers to this problem, as developed in the recent war, has been the production of a tractor to replace the horse, and this tractor has the speed of the deer and the power of the elephant. The most powerful tractors are mounted on track-laying devices and are colloquially known as caterpillars. One of these powerful caterpillars, on which is mounted an 8-inch howitzer with a range of 6 miles, which is manned and operated by only two men, and which can go up hill and down hill, over broken brushwood, trees, etc., was recently given a severe test at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Here it was sent through a dense wood in which it bumped square into a live locust tree that was 17 inches in diameter at the bottom. This tree, almost the tallest in the wood, was prostrated by the attack of the tractor, which rode over it and then emerged from the wood, took up its position, and fired its shot almost in as short a time as that which it takes to tell of the deed. Truly the power of the elephant and the speed of the deer has been brought to the aid of the ordnance engineer for any future warlike operations.

The number of workmen employed in gun production at once in this country totaled 21,329, and fully that many more are estimated to have been employed in the manufacture of gun carriages and fire-control instruments. Consequently in turning out the complete big guns there were fully 42,000 workmen engaged by the month of October, 1918. Furthermore, these men became so skilled in their work that it may be said that the difficult art of gun making has become firmly established in this country and that the United States may now and at any time in the near future rely on this trained body of artisans for the finest kind of gun-metal manufacture.

PRODUCTION OF CANNON FORGINGS.

Production of cannon forgings during the war at the various plants.
Caliber. Contractor. 1917 1918 Total
Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
75-mm. field gun, model 1916 Bethlehem Steel Co., Bethlehem, Pa. 2 1 32 14 13 3 75 23 7 1 180 1 352
Standard Forgings Co., Indiana Harbor, Ind. 1 5 11 10 19 5 67 29 2 149
Buckeye Steel Co., Columbus, Ohio 154 10 164
75-mm. field gun, model 1897 do. 44 162 419 325 322 658 181 224 2335
Standard Forgings Co. 10 32 275 310 471 245 39 1382
75-mm. field gun, model 1917 Bethlehem Steel Co. 1 7 30 38 47 33 62 61 69 121 76 247 47 839
3-inch anti-aircraft gun do. 6 7 5 4 12 10 6 46 112 109 5 322
Heppenstall Forge & Knife Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 3 51 15 13 82
4.7-inch gun Bethlehem Steel Co. 9 10 8 28 70 94 66 14 43 342
Heppenstall Forge & Knife Co. 6 18 21 25 10 80
155-mm. howitzer Bethlehem Steel Co. 10 26 51 9 37 25 5 11 52 19 32 277
Standard Forgings Co. 2 3 10 20 55 44 89 74 169 127 157 10 760
Standard Steel Co. 15 54 64 82 130 93 100 100 20 658
155-mm. gun Bethlehem Steel Co. 1 9 21 7 5 4 1 48
Edgewater Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. 4 13 21 24 5 67
Standard Steel Car Co., Burnham, Pa. 6 4 21 14 23 41 21 9 139
Tacony Ordnance Co., Philadelphia, Pa. 3 15 31 26 75
American Bridge Co., Gary, Ind. 8 7 10 25
8-inch howitzer Midvale Steel Co. 1 5 11 10 19 5 67 29 2 149
240-mm. howitzer Bethlehem Steel Co. 30 16 16 19 16 97
Edgewater Steel Co. 1 14 15
Tacony Ordnance Co. 4 15 3 12 34
Watertown Arsenal [10] 7 7
Total 6 26 114 174 175 440 525 872 1074 1259 2031 1214 530 8440

[10] Figures in first table indicate delivery of completed sets of forgings only. Deliveries of finished and accepted gun forgings, not in complete sets, were made in carload lots and in other large quantities by various factories prior to the dates when their receipt of machine tools enabled them to produce completed sets. For instance, Watertown Arsenal made its first carload shipment of forgings on Oct. 28, 1918.

CANNON MACHINING AND ASSEMBLING.

Progress of the work of machining and assembling cannon at the various factories during the war.
Caliber. Contractor. 1917 1918 Total
Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.
75-mm. field gun, model 1916 Symington-Anderson Co., Rochester, N. Y. 1 51 81 61 88 48 74 12 416
Wisconsin Gun Co., Milwaukee, Wis. 8 18 20 38 27 5 116
Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, N. Y. 4 38 18 14 26 35 8 8 5 5 5 166
Bethlehem Steel Co. 1 1 2
75-mm.field gun, 1897 model Symington-Anderson Co. 1 52 50 136 239
Wisconsin Gun Co. 1 2 6 26 35
75-mm.field gun, model 1917 Bethlehem Steel Co. 1 7 30 38 47 33 62 61 69 121 76 247 47 839
3-inch antiaircraft gun Chalkis Manufacturing Co., Detroit, Mich. 1 7 19 48 29 30 134
3-inch antiaircraft gun, 15-pdr. Watervliet Arsenal 3 16 24 16 2 11 9 4 3 2 5 1 96
4.7-inch, model 1906 Northwestern Ordnance Co., Madison, Wis. 5 7 31 23 32 98
Watervliet Arsenal 6 8 10 22 40 27 7 120
155-mm howitzer American Brake Shoe & Foundry Co., Erie, Pa. 3 10 16 28 75 110 248 206 350 231 179 1,456
155-mm. gun Bullard Engine Works Co., Bridgeport, Conn. 1 14 28 18 36 97
Watervliet Arsenal 1 23 4 4 32
8-inch howitzer Midvale Steel Co. 34 38 8 28 22 33 14 14 191
240-mm. Watervliet Arsenal 34 38 8 1 1 2
Total 8 61 75 112 130 163 261 272 507 492 769 672 517 4,039