I just ran across a transcript I did for the Naval Historical Office and thought I'd put it up. Thanks to Opana who put me in touch with them. U.S. NAVAL RAILWAY BATTERIES -: In France :- WITH AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett, U. S. Navy, Commanding Office Op-09B Ser5325P09b99 12 August 1970 Dear Mr. Clarke: Thank you for your kindness in making available to us for copying Admiral Plunkett's excellent speech on the U.S. Naval Railway Batteries and the fine selection of photographs of these very effective guns. Through the kind offices of Yeoman Gupton, we have copied the speech and plan to place a copy of it in the Navy Department Library so that researchers and historians will have this excellent material available. We checked our photographic coverage on the subject and found that we already had the prints in our files. Nevertheless, we thank you for extending to us the courtesy of copying these in case we did not have them. As a token of our appreciation, we enclose a set of lithographs depicting some of the highlights of the U.S. Naval history. We hope you can put them to good use. Sincerely yours, H. A. VADNAIS, Jr. Acting Head Curator Branch Mr. William O. Clarke 1548 Great Falls Street McLean, Virginia 22101 Blind copy to: Accession (with speech) Accession file 93 (with speech) Ordnance file (with speech) Orig: Mr. Vadnais, Op-09B99, WNY Bldg 220, Ext 32005 Typd: YNC J. Byrd, Op-09B99, WNY Bldg 220, Ext 32005 INTRODUCTION This little resume' on the work of the U. S. NAVAL RAILWAY BATTERIES operating 14 inch 50 caliber guns on railway mounts in France, under the direction of the American Expeditionary Forces, has been prepared in view of the numerous inquiries made by the men of the Batteries for a little digested summary of the Navy's effort to assist in bringing about an expeditious termination of the war of DEMOCRACY :vs: AUTOCRACY. It has been prepared only for the information of men of the Naval Batteries, and, of course, no portion thereof is for publication. This should prove to be a very valuable little reminder in later years, as it pertains to OUR share in the NAVY'S first FLEET of LAND SHIPS, which, in view of the splendid results achieved in the first attempt, should warrant a continuation of the NAVY's work along this line. STAFF Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, U.S. NAVAL RAILWAY BATTERIES. ------------- Commander Garret L. Schuyler, U.S.N. Gunnery and Orientation Officer. Lieutenant Commander Joel W. Bunkley, U. S. N. Executive and Orientation Officer. ------------- Supply Department and Pay Corps. Lieutenant Commander Frank Baldwin (P.C.) U.S.N. in charge. Ensign Francis L. Gaffney (P.C.), U.S.N.R.F. Asst. to Supply Officer. Ensign Gerald A. Eubank (P.C.) U.S.N.R.F. Asst. to Supply Officer. Pay Clerk Oscar E. Anderson U.S.N.R.F. Medical Corps Lieutenant Commander C. S. Stephenson (M.C.), U.S.N. in charge Transportation Officer. Ensign Thomas J. LeBlanc, U.S.N.R.F. -1- All guns of the U.S. Naval Batteries are U.S. Navy Mark IV Mod. 1. 14 inch 50 caliber B.L.R's of 2800 ft. sec. initial velocity, the gun cars, etc, being specially designed for them. These guns, weighing approximately 98 tons, fire a projectile weighing 1470 lbs., the weight of a good-sized touring car, at a range of about 28 miles, and, with a 1070 lb. projectile, is capable of shooting over 35 miles. This range is practically twice as great as that of any other gun used on the Western front by any country, with the exception of the German "Big Bertha", which latter gun, as is now well-known, was nothing but a freak and was used more for its moral effect than on account of the material damage of which it was capable. Having seen the damage done by the "Big Bertha", I am in position to say that it did no more damage than an ordinary five or six inch gun. However, an examination of the various targets fired upon by these 14 inch guns, after the Germans evacuated, has disclosed that the damage wrought by these weapons of destruction was terrible and their accuracy marvelous. From an interrogation, also, of Russians and other prisoners recently released by Germany, after cessation of hostilities, we are informed that the moral effect of our guns on the Germans was far greater than that which the "Big Bertha" had on the French, and furthermore, that the Germans were in great awe of and, in fact, regarded with fear and superstition shells the size of a box car sounding like an express train coming through the air which landed with fearful havoc so far behind -2- their lines that it was inconceivable to them how a gun could be built that could hurl them such a distance. Also, from the mobility of the guns, they were led to believe that the Allies had hundreds of these guns with which they were destroying their vital supply railroads and main lines of communication, simply demoralizing them; and this belief was further impressed upon them from the fact that each gun belched forth a ton of solid destruction every three minutes. Could you blame them? An interesting phenomenon was noticed in a ten-acre turnip field, far behind the lines. A projectile landing in the middle of the field uprooted practically every turnip in the lot, leaving them clear of earth. This should also furnish some idea as to the destructive charge with which these shells were loaded. At Laon, where Battery No. 1 fired many rounds, the French inhabitants who remained after the Germans evacuated stated that one shell landed in a German Cinema while a moving picture was going on. All that could be found of forty of the Germans who were present was their identification tags, while the balance, sixty, were all terribly mangled. There was, of course, nothing left of the Cinema. Also, in the same town, one projectile landed on a supply train in motion, derailing same, and lifting a couple of box cars up bodily and depositing one of them on the storehouse platform nearby - of course , smashing up both cars.
-3- Another shell landed in Montmedy right in General Gallowitz' Headquarters, across from the Staff Headquarters of the German Crown Prince. Needless to say, their quarters were immediately removed from that vicinity, and it is understood that about 70 Germans were killed or wounded by the explosion. It can be readily seen from the above few instances of the many wonderful things done by these "Dutch Cleansers" and also from the fact, which is now history, that these guns cut up the German main supply railroads and lines of communication, terribly congesting their traffic, that the moral effect of these guns on the Germans must have been by no means a small factor in the unaccountably rapid collapse of the German organization, and our American spirit makes us pity them for having the temerity to pit themselves against American ingenuity. In addition to the moral effect these guns had on the Germans, anyone who ever saw the monstrous trucks necessary to carry these giant guns on wheels, which latter must necessarily be as numerous as the legs of a spider, can fully appreciate the effect that the sight of these guns travelling up to the front must have had on those French people who were so fortunate as to have seen them. The inhabitants of all the towns through which the guns passed greeted us with flowers, shouting "Finis la guerre" and every other indication of which they were capable of making that they fully believed it to be the beginning of the end. Even they thought, due again to the mobility of the guns, that there were many more of them in France than really was the case, as, in travelling from front to front, they, of necessity, saw the same guns a couple of times. -4- The following transcript of an extemporaneous speech made on Nov. 23, 1918, by Admiral Plunkett, our Commanding Officer, at a very gay little "get-together" in the Cinema at Camp Haussimont (located in Sommesous, Marne), which is quoted with his kind permission, is the "last word", so to speak, in the history of the origination of this organization, and nothing further could be said in this connection; furthermore, as all of us were present at this gathering, it should be a most pleasant reminder of, not only the Admiral himself, but our first step in our homeward movement; "This is probably the only time that the Batteries complete will be together, perhaps, for years to come. When we leave here we become subject to demobili- zation, which means destruction. I thought it wise, before that took place, that we get everybody together and give them in a few words the history of this organization, because all of you did not come into it in the very beginning but came in gradually as plans developed from day to day and the material became available, and therefore, it might be interesting, in view of what has been accomplished to know the whole history. Last January, having a propensity for rubbering, I saw a telegram, or, rather a cablegram from Admiral Sims to the Navy Department in which he stated that the British Navy did not want 14" guns on railway mounts but that they had put the proposition up to the British War Office. That is the first inkling I had -5- that anybody was trying to do anything. For two years I had been fighting to change the guns on battle cruisers from 14" to 16", but it took the Battle of Jutland in order to get that done. But I had lost track of what had become of the 14" guns until I saw this telegram; and the Old Man's brain moved fast. I said, " There's a live job". They had me nailed in Washington, so I said, "Here is where I get out". So, I went right to Admiral Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, and I said "What is this 14" stuff that they are trying to peddle around on the other side?" He said, " Oh it is some scheme of the Bureau of Ordnance for using 14" 50 caliber guns on railway mounts ashore overseas, and they have put it up to the British. It seems that the English wanted to clean up the Belgian coast, as the Germans had a bunch of artillery, long-range guns, etc. there, and they thought that if they could get enough of these 14" guns on the other side of them, they could dig them out. I asked him when this would happen. He said the main thing was to get the guns over there, and the main question was whether they would go to the British or the French, or whether they would go to the Army. "The thing went along on that basis until about the first of May, but in the meantime, these fellows in the Bureau of Ordnance and two or three more of us made up our minds that we had something that was good, and we did not give a darn whether the British or French or whoever else wanted the guns, but knew that somebody was going to want them, and we went ahead and on the 20th day of February we gave a contract to Mr. Vauclain of
-6- the Baldwin Locomotive Works to build these mounts. In other words, we told him to call in Washington all the leading mechanics in the United States and put the proposition up to them as to whether they could put these guns on mounts. He brought the leading mechanics and technical men from the leading companies of the United States and gave them thirty minutes to look at the pictures and called them together, asking them a second time whether or not they thought it could be done, but they all backed down and said "Nothing doing". Old Man Vauclain decided to go ahead, dividing up various portions of the work with various concerns, and saying "Jim, you are going to make the wheels". " John, you are going to make the mount", "Joe, you are going to make the girders", etc., and then he turned around and said to the Bureau of Ordnance, "The damn thing will be ready in fifty days". He, the Director of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, went ahead, and the gun was ready for testing at Sandy Hook on the fiftieth day. "In the meantime cables were going back and forth as to who wanted the guns and who didn't want them, and it also seems that they were of the opinion that when we got them over here they would not travel on the bridges - but, when we got them here all questions of axle loads disappeared entirely, for it did not take the French, or the British, or General March of the War Department two seconds, or even one second, to find out their value and to say that not only do we want these guns but we want six more." "That is the story, so far as the material is concerned. "Here is the story of the more important part : -7- " I have maintained steadily for the past ten years that gunnery is one-tenth material and nine-tenths personnel, and I have had no reason to believe differently from this war ". "Major Harllee, in the Office of the Director of Gunnery Exercises, and Engineering Performances at Washington, wrote a letter, which I am going to read, as I do not believe any of you people have ever seen this letter. There is a point in reading it, which I will explain afterward". "This letter is addressed to the Range Officers at Camps Logan, Wakefield, Peekskill, Glen Burnie, Annapolis, Virginia Beach and Mt. Pleasant, and is as follows: "Select a detachment consisting of the officer, or petty officer (in charge), whose name appears in parenthesis above and thirty other men, for most important duty. "This detachment should include only excellent men. It should include several men who can do machinist work, electrical work, radio work, concrete work, signaling, locomotive engineers and firemen, trainmen, carpenters, painters, plumbers, blacksmiths, automobile men and an assortment of men of various trades. "(Major Harlles and I laughed when he wrote that. He had not left out anything.) "It is not intended that all men should be men of trades; the majority of them should be intelligent and active young men, preferably those with some education. It is not necessary that the men have ratings indicative of their trades. Select excellent all-around men withour regard to rating. Hold this detachment in readiness for orders. "Submit to the Director of Gunnery Excercises and Engineering Performances a list of the men showing their rates, branch of service, small arms qualifications, the place from which received, the various duties each has performed at your range and a brief statement of his former occupation, education and things he can do.
-8- "Hold this party as a seperate detachment. Have it begin an intensive course of training, covering all the Navy small arms courses, including daily firing for each man. Give plenty of practice with pistols and revolvers or both, and especially plenty of machine gun practice, each man with each type of gun. Have plenty of practice at 600 and especially at 1,000 yards. "I knew what the Major had in mind when he wrote this last sentence. He knew the Germans were going to try to get these 14" guns too." "Every man must have a thorough knowledge of the mechanism of the pistol, rifle and each type of machine gun. Include no man who is unable to qualify as sharpshooter or higher. Have daily instruction in signalling, including semaphore, blinker, buzzer and radio if possible. "(He says nothing whatever about three meals a day here at all.)" "Every night (except Sunday), have instruction. Intensify the work and eliminate all men unable or not disposed to undergo incessant work. "Make daily report of range practice and of the other instruction to the Director of Gunnery Excercises and Engineering Performances. "THIS IS FOR MOST IMPORTANT AND DESIRABLE DUTY" "This letter was written on the 20th of February. We got responses coming in after that until the first of March. We sent out a list and said that the men whose names appeared on this list were to be directed to proceed to the Navy Yard, Washington, or the Proving Grounds at Indian Head or at Sandy Hook. As a result of that we gathered together about 215 men. We put 100 of them at Sandy Hook, or, at least, they flew down there and lit in the grass, and since then we have built a home wherever we have gone. The same thing happened in Indian Head. One hundred men from Washington went down there. -9- "In the meantime, the material was coming along, and it was necessary to go to Great Lakes Training Station to get men especially qualified in some of the trades and in railroad work and we picked a few of these men and sent them to inspect the material. The whole force was brought to Philadelphia along about the first week in May. "In the interim we had tested the mount at Sandy Hook and it had failed to turn over backwards, jump off side-ways, or do any stunt but the thing it was designed to do. (Admiral Plunkett here directed that a 150 foot slide showing the gun firing free on the rails, as no one had seen it fire free from the rails except at Sandy Hook. Firing was done in the slide at from 10 to 15 degrees elevation off the rails, nothing less than 10 degrees being possible on the particular mount, as it was a specially designed mount, using material on hand which was made up for Battle Cruisers.) "When the "Hun" concluded that not only was his belly empty, but his heart was also empty, his head was empty, and he was empty, we had five mounts built which would shoot up to 45 degrees elevation off the rails without any pit. If we had ever got them over here, the Engineering Corps of several Armies would have been kept busy laying rail to keep up with us. "All this time everything connected with this was supposed to be strictly confidential. There was nothing in writing except that original famous memorandum fron Major Harllee I just quoted in regard to the kind of men they wanted. "But, about the 17th of May the Chief of Naval Operations issued this order to the Bureaus of the Navy Department: -10- "The Department directs that a Naval force be organized for the employment of Naval guns on railroad mounts on shore overseas. "A sufficient personnel for erecting, transporting, and operating should be assigned and the whole force will operate under the direction of the commanding general of the army to which it is assigned. Replacement should be made by the Department from time to time as may be necessary." "( And I call your attention strictly to the following paragraph. I wrote it myself and I am proud of it; and I intended by this paragraph that every act of every man in this organization, including myself, should be in thorough cooperation with the Army and all other forces acting against the common enemy. I will read this and you can see whether I got it down here straight or not.) "It is the desire of the Department that in the absence of definite Naval regulations covering the operation of this force, that all orders and regulations that are existing, or which may hereafter be issued by proper authority, should be carried out to the fullest extent, keeping in mind that the mission of this force is to render immediate and effective service in the field of operations and to fully cooperate in all matters with which they are directly concerned." "(I question whether anybody has ever gone forth with more complete directions to do everything that anybody told them, from a General down to a Corporal, but that was our intent when we came here, and I think we have carried it out.) "This force should be directed to proceed to such port of debarkation as may be designated and will report to the commanding general of the American Expeditionary forces in France."
-11- A copy of that letter was sent to the War Department. "Next, by June 29 (you can see we were progressing rapidly thus far) we had dispatched practically all the personnel, except a very few, to St. Nazaire. They arrived there in the early morning, in those famous forty homme ships. (If we came in anything else, we never would have gotten to St. Nazaire, but we slipped by and they did not recognize us). We got there, and dug in". "On the 29th of June, previous to leaving the United States, the following letter was sent from the Secretary of the Navy to the Secretary of War, in which was enclosed a copy of above letter, and stated that: 'Five 14-inch railroad mounts and fifteen 14-inch, 50-caliber guns, together with twelve hundred rounds of ammunition, is in process of shipment to St. Nazaire, France, in accordance with the request of the War Department. The Commanding Officer of this force has been directed to report to the Commanding General of the American Expeditionary Force as soon as the above material is erected and ready for operation. Additional personnel, material, and ammunition will be supplied by this Department from time to time as may be necessary.' "That is the closing chapter of our history as far as the Navy is concerned. "THE BATTLE OF ST. NAZAIRE" "The battle of St. Nazaire began early in the morning, as usual, and she was fought to a finish. Most of the work had to be done in the dark - I mean, literally - taking 14" guns off of old freighters at the water front with rickety boys up on the -12- crane at midnight is not a good stunt, especially when you came a long way to try to get those things to the front; and when that fellow, that Sunday night, left one of those 14" guns hanging in the air over the Old BATH and said his crane had broken down, I was all but in - but a five-franc note brought us through. So, you all know the story of St. Nazaire, because you are all veterans of that fight, and gradually things went along there, and we finally managed to extricate our material from other people's things and got it together. In the meantime somebody had gotten an idea, and correctly enough, that we had come over here with the proposition that the axle load of the gun car was 11,000 lbs. heavier per axle than was indicated in the information they had received some two or three months earlier and, consequently, all the calculations as to where we could go would have to be done over again. That would have been going on yet had that Boche gun not opened up on Paris. That boy was our Savior. It got too hot. The people wouldn't stand for it, and therefore, we got a couple of guns up to Compiegne within range of that Boche gun. Luckily for him, the day we got there he moved out, and he has been moving ever since; but the fact remains that he was our Savior because he broke the ice. We went over that terrible bridge at Segree. You all remember that terribly dangerous bridge at Segree. The Superintendant of the French Railway, whom we had in our locomotive, had to be held onto in order to keep him from jumping. However no difficulty was experienced in getting over. Since then, Martin has done many other dangerous things. -13- Events moved a little more rapidly then, and finally, we succeeded in getting all Batteries out of St. Nazaire and moving everything that belonged to us with us. Since then we have been stepping pretty lively, as you all know, and things have turned out very satisfactory. The Colonel commanding the P. C. Station there at Verdun told me the other day - in fact, he put it down in black and white - that the guns were always ready and on the job. That is the kind of comment that I like to hear. It is simple, it is straightforward, and what is more than that, it was true. Now, then, coming down to a later date, we have an order to proceed with these five guns to St. Nazaire to disembark them. We are going to disassemble mounts, disassemble trucks, etc., and have them loaded on ships (and Mr. LeBlanc thinks that if we can load those ammunition cars whole, that is about all we will have to take - those and the pits). The rest of it we will turn over to General Atterbury of the Army in connection with the work which is to go on. And, in the meantime, I have a cable from the Navy Department reading as follows: "All Commanding Officers of the Navy are hereby directed to receive applications for discharge from active service made by any officers or enlisted men in the Navy or Marine Corps and to forward them promptly with recommedations to the Bureau of Navigation. It is the purpose of the Department to release all young men who wish to return to school and such others as may be proper as soon as prac-ticable. Expedite sending applications and making recommendations. Please do this on the way down to Paris. We will collect the applications in Paris."
-14- I want to add here that there never will come again in my mind any question in regard to the American manhood meeting any situation. When we started out on this thing , the Navy Department told us that we could not have any of the regular Navy people. They said if you are going to put this thing through, you are to make it with people that you make yourself and that you can find somewhere, and I must admit that I had some misgivings at one time, but after we had finished the Battle of St. Nazaire I was satisfied that this outfit would go to Berlin and there was nothing that could stop them. But, there has been something to stop them - the Boche has given in and now we are going, to return home, and I feel with you and know that you feel that every minute and every hour which you have given to the Naval Railway Batteries has been given in the best possible way for the defense of your country, and with that in your minds, you can go back and face any community at any time and they can only take off their hats to you. In all our joys and gayeties, in connection with this performance here (meaning in the Cinema, Haussimont), we must not forget those men of this force who started out just as full of this as we did, but who, in the performance of their duties, have fallen by the wayside. It is not practicable nor possible for a bunch of people to tackle all the things that we have tackled without somebody getting hurt. But I am happy to say that all three of these men were hurt directly in the line of duty. The men I refer to are: -15- "C. J. RUSSELL, whom we lost in Philadelphia. "Thos. E. PRICE, who died over here at Mailly (Auba) from walking-typhoid "A. P. SHARPE, who was killed at Thierville by the explosion of a German shell. " I ask you all to rise and sing, with me that famous hymn "Abide With Me". I think I have told all the story in a very few words. The band is here; the Gang is here; let joy be unconfined." -------------------------------- Note: It was the "I'm with you Boys" spirit which the Admiral has always exhibited toward HIS MEN , a glaring example of which may be seen in the spirit of the above speech, that prompted them to present to him the best and most lasting represen -tation they could make to him of their absolutely unbounded love, admiration and respect for him, namely a beautiful silver loving cup. We all want to add right here that we heartily concur in the remarks many times made to us by various soldiers and Army officers who have come in contact with our Admiral that "If the Army only had a man like him, nothing could stop us". -16- BRIEF OF OPERATIONS. The following is a list of the Officers attached to the various Batteries and brief synopsis of the firings: Battery No. 1 Lieutenant J. A. Martin USN, Commanding Ensign Roger Allen, USNRF, Assistant to C.O Ensign L. J. Linhard, USNRF " " " Lieutenant Thos. S. Fields, (M.C. ) USN Date Position Target No. of rounds. 9/28 Soissons, 1 kilo Laon 47 9/30 west of cemetery " 35 10/2 of St. Christophe " 30 10/3 " 19 10/9 " 25 10/10 10/11 10/12 43 ------- 199 Battery No. 2 Lieutenant E. D. Duckett, USN, Commanding, Ensign P. T. Raymond, USNRF, Assistant to C.O. Ensign A. K. Primeau, USNRF, " " " Lieutenant Laird M. Morris, (M.C.) USN Date Position Target No. of rounds 8/24 Compiegne Forest Tergnier 1 9/14 Fontenoy-Ambleny Besny-Loisy 10 9/15 " " 12 10/10 10/11 Flavy-le-Martel R.R. Yd.Mortier 43 10/12 10/30 Charny Montmedy 6 10/31 " " 6 11/1 " " 35 11/2 ----------- 113 -17- Battery No. 3 Lieutenant William G. Smith, U.S.N., Commanding Ensign W. C. Davis, USNRF, Assistant to C. O. Ensign George,Cheffy, USNRF, Asst. to C. O. LieutenantEdwin P. Bugbee, (M.C.) , U.S.N. Med, Officer Date Position Target No. of rounds 10/27 Thierville Longuyon 1 10/29 " Mengiennes 10 10/30 " Longuyon 6 10/31 " " 6 11/1 " " 1 11/2 " " 25 11/4 Charny Louppy 27 11/4 " Remoiville 17 11/4 " Montmedy 12 11/5 " Montmedy 50 11/7 " " 50 11/8 " " 6 11/9 " " 25 ---------- 236 Battery No. 4 Lieutenant J. R. Hayden, USNRF, Commanding Ensign P. L. Davis USNRF, Assistant to C. O. Ensign H.H.K. Grylls, USNRF, Assistant to C. O. Lieutenant E.D Andrews, (M.C.) USN, Med.Officer Date Position Target No. of Rounds 10/27 Thierville Mengiennes 1 10/29 " " 10 10/30 Charny Montmedy 6 10/31 " " 6 11/1 " " 23 11/2 " " 20 11/3 " Louppy 12 11/3 " Remoiville 13 11/4 " Montmedy 6 11/9 Thierville Mengiennes 10 11/9 " Longuyon 10 11/11 " " 5 ------------- 122
