16"/50 Caliber Mark 7 Gun Barrel Number 293
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This was the center gun of Turret 1 on the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) from 1943 until 1954, fired in anger during World War II and the Korean War.
The Story
This towering steel barrel once formed the center gun of Turret 1 aboard the USS New Jersey, an Iowa-class battleship that stands today as a museum ship on the Camden waterfront across from Philadelphia. Each of these 16-inch guns could hurl a shell weighing as much as a small car more than 20 miles, and this one spoke in two very different wars â bombarding enemy positions in the Pacific during World War II, then again off the Korean coast a decade later. A single artifact like this collapses the distance between the factory floor of American industrial power and the far shores where that power was felt.
Why it matters
The Iowa-class battleships were the last and mightiest of the big-gun warships, and a surviving barrel like this one anchors the story of how American industrial muscle projected force across the mid-20th century's defining conflicts.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it â museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial3.7 mi away
- Hill-Physick House3.8 mi away ¡ 321 South 4th Street
- Powel House3.9 mi away ¡ 244 South 3rd Street
- Bridgette Mayer3.9 mi away ¡ 709 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Merchants' Exchange Building4.0 mi away ¡ 143 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Philosophical Hall4.0 mi away ¡ PA
Attractions
- Commandant's Quarters0.2 mi away
- Italian market3.3 mi away ¡ Christian Street
- USS New Jersey3.9 mi away ¡ Wiggins Promenade, Camden, NJ
- USS Becuna3.9 mi away ¡ South Christopher Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA
- USS Olympia3.9 mi away ¡ South Christopher Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA
- City Tavern4.0 mi away ¡ 138 South 2nd Street
Food & drink
- Talula's Garden3.9 mi away ¡ 210 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Talula's Daily3.9 mi away ¡ 208 West Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA
- Fat Salmon3.9 mi away ¡ 719 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Cafe Walnut3.9 mi away ¡ 703 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Maya's Pizza & Grill4.0 mi away ¡ 716 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Thank You Thank You Coffee Roasters4.0 mi away ¡ 700 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Alexander Inn3.7 mi away ¡ 301 301 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, Philadelphia, PA
- Fairfield Inn & Suites3.7 mi away ¡ 261 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Philadelphia Center City3.8 mi away ¡ 237 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Cambria Hotel Philadelphia Downtown - Center City3.8 mi away ¡ 219 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Morris House Hotel3.9 mi away ¡ 225 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Holiday Inn Express3.9 mi away ¡ 1305-11 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places data Š OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change â call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related events
- ¡ World War II
- ¡ Korean War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fort Monmouth Avenue of Memories
Oceanport, NJ
Fort Monmouth in Oceanport was for generations the home of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, the branch responsible for the Army's communications, radar, and electronics â technology that reshaped how twentieth-century wars were fought. Its Avenue of Memories lined a fort roadway with 117 trees and monuments, each honoring a Signal Corps soldier who died in action during World War II. After the historic post was decommissioned, those monuments were preserved rather than lost, and in November 2025 all 117 were rededicated together in Cowan Park.
James Garfield Alloway Monument
Washington Township, NJ
The sandy, acidic soil of New Jersey's Pinelands was long considered too poor for conventional farming, yet it proved perfect for a fruit that had only ever grown wild: the blueberry. In the early twentieth century, growers in this corner of Burlington County helped turn the untamed native berry into a dependable cultivated crop, launching an industry that would spread across the country. This monument marks a site where that pioneering work took root, honoring James Garfield Alloway's part in establishing one of the world's first blueberry farms.
Bob Rodale Cycling & Fitness Park
Upper Macungie Township, PA
Robert "Bob" Rodale (1930â1990) turned his family's Pennsylvania publishing house, Rodale Inc., into a national voice for organic gardening, preventive health, and physical fitness through magazines like Prevention and Organic Gardening. A committed advocate of cycling, active living, and what he championed as "regenerative" agriculture, he worked from the Lehigh Valley for decades until his death in 1990. Set in the countryside near his Emmaus base of operations, this park carries both his name and his belief that shared public spaces renew the bonds of a community.
Portland Cement
Upper Macungie Township, PA
In the rolling limestone country of the Lehigh Valley, a new American building material was born. In 1871 David O. Saylor began producing portland cement at Coplay, and by November 1889 the region pioneered the commercial use of the rotary kiln â a continuous-process furnace that turned cement-making from a slow batch craft into true industrial mass production. The valley's rich cement rock and rail links let the industry take root and dominate, supplying the mortar and concrete of a rapidly modernizing nation.