Barrel 293 was the center gun of Turret 1 on the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) from 1943 until 1954, and it fired during World War II and the Korean War. Constructed at the Washington Navy Yard, it was installed on the ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in February 1943 after the ship's launch on December 7, 1942, which took place approximately 1,400 yards southwest near the intersection of Kitty Hawk Avenue and South 21st Street. After eleven years and two wars, the rifling had worn down, so Barrel 293 was removed, relined, and placed in storage in Virginia. The barrel is 68 feet long, weighs 120 tons, and was capable of accurately firing a 2,700-pound projectile as far as 23 miles. The Battleship New Jersey is the longest, fastest, and most decorated battleship in U.S. history, the only ship to have served in WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf; it was first commissioned at the Navy Yard on May 23, 1943, last decommissioned in 1991, and opened as a museum on the Camden, New Jersey waterfront in 2001 approximately four miles from this spot.
