US MILITARY MOST POWERFUL GUN - 16 inch Cannon Breech SUNK AT PEARL HARBOR DEC 7th 1941 #military

A 16-inch/45-caliber Mark 8 gun chamber and breech section (Serial No. 4) that was aboard the USS West Virginia (BB-48) on the morning of December 7th, 1941, when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor commenced. Badly damaged by Japanese torpedoes, the ship sank in shallow water but was later refloated and extensively rebuilt over the course of 1943 and into mid-1944. She returned to service in time for the Philippines Campaign, where she led the American line of battle at the Battle of Surigao Strait on the night of 24–25 October. There, she was one of the few American battleships to use her radar to acquire a target in the darkness, allowing her to engage a Japanese squadron in what was the final action between battleships in naval history. A total of 106 men lost their lives aboard the West Virginia during the attack. The remains of 68 men who had been trapped below decks when she sank were discovered after the ship was refloated. Some of these had survived for several days in air bubbles with emergency rations and fresh water, but their oxygen and supplies ran out long before the ship was refloated. This video was taken after restoration was completed at . The breech section is currently on display in the Doris Miller Gallery of the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, Wyoming.