Four 30-Pounder Parrott Rifles at Battleship New Jersey
Four US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifles are displayed at Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial in Camden, New Jersey. Note the modified breeching block of the nearest Parrott Rifle - used to connect to an elevating screw.
Four 30-Pounder Parrott Rifles (or 4.2-Inch Parrott Rifles) are displayed near the visitor center at Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial in Camden, New Jersey. A video posted on the excellent YouTube channel of the museum describes how these four cannons were originally placed around a memorial to US sailors and soldiers in Camden. When the memorial was moved to a cemetery, the Parrotts were offered to the battleship. They are in the museum’s collection in order to help tell the story of American rifled naval ordnance culminating in the 16”/50 guns of the battleship.
On the day of my visit access to the cannons was limited due to the area near the cannons being roped off because the large radar dish of the ship was still being stored on land following the ship’s recent dry docking. The photos are the best I could manage behind the line.
One of the four Parrotts is recorded in the appendix of The Big Guns as having served on USS Keystone State. That note makes me wonder if the cannon was aboard Keystone State at the time of that ship’s encounter with CSS Palmetto State and CSS Chicora.
According to the Registry in Appendix C of The Big Guns (pg. 186), the four 30-Pounder Parrotts are as follows:
US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Registry Number 98. Weight was 3,530 Pounds as manufactured in 1862 at the West Point Foundry. Saw service aboard USS Keystone State.
US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Registry Number 245. Weight was 3,494 pounds as manufactured in 1864 at the West Point Foundry. Saw service aboard USS Pink.
US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Registry Number 252. Weight was 3,466 pounds as manufactured in 1864 at the West Point Foundry. Saw service aboard USS Potomac.
US Navy 30-Pounder Parrott Rifle Registry Number 400. Weight was 3,510 pounds as manufactured in 1865 at the West Point Foundry. No known Civil War sea service.
The primary focus of the museum, USS New Jersey, is well beyond the historical period of this page. However, it was also one of the best ship museums and museums devoted to naval history that I have ever had the pleasure to visit. I highly recommend it!
The United States Navy Registry Number 400 and weight of this piece as manufactured (3,510 pounds) may be seen stamped on the breech.
The 30-Pounders viewed from the muzzle.
Harper’s Weekly illustration of CSS Palmetto State (center) ramming USS Mercedita as CSS Chicora (left) fires upon USS Keystone State (right) of off Charleston, South Carolina on January 31, 1863.
Watch the Battleship New Jersey’s video on the Parrott Rifles below:
