Existing comment:
Willard Park
On display in Willard Park, named for the early 20th century commandant of the Yard, are over 60 naval artifacts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Mounted at the western end of the park is a fine collection of turn-of-the-century naval ordnance from both American and European manufacturers. Nearby are several large artifacts salvaged from the battleship Maine sunk on the eve of the Spanish-American War. Farther east are naval landing force guns surrounding German and American deck guns, one of which fired the first American shot of World War I. Also from that war is the last of eight 14-inch naval railway batteries. World War II artifacts include the propeller from the battleship South Dakota, the Navy's first radar antenna, and armor plate from Japanese and American warships. A 16-inch gun barrel rests on specially designed trucks which once moved these huge guns through the Yard. At the east end of the park, artifacts from the post war era include a Regulus missile, a Terrier battery, a Sparrowhawk launcher, and a five-inch gun barrel which saw service in Vietnam. The Navy's continuing role in oceanography is commemorated by the NOMAD remote sensor platform and the titanium pressure sphere from the bathyscaphe, Alvin. |