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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

Target Rafts

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Target Barge 90k Target Rafts Mare Island style. These appear to be approximately 20ft high by 45 ft long and they are in the yard's dry dock #1 (circa 1910). They don't have their mast (target support poles) but their normally would have 4. I don't have a detailed photo of the rafts ready for action. USN photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 107k Target Rafts Mare Island style. These appear to be approximately 20ft high by 45 ft long and they are in the yard's dry dock #1 (circa 1910). They don't have their mast (target support poles) but their normally would have 4. I don't have a detailed photo of the rafts ready for action. USN photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
BB-21 Kansas 21k Target ship, circa 1911. Photo courtesy of Michael Hughes.
Target Barge 56k "The Navy Target after many hits". Target raft with its fabric targets largely blown away, following U.S. Navy battleship gunnery practice, circa the mid-1910s. The original image, copyrighted by N. Moser, New York, is printed on post card ("AZO") stock.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 106276. Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008.
BB-26 South Carolina62k"Battleship South Carolina (BB-26) at a distance of nine miles, firing on a target seen between the towers of water during the naval games in Chesapeake Bay, just concluded. The observers on a sister ship in the foreground are only a few hundred yards away." USN photo by Enrique Muller Jr, courtesy of memory.loc.gov. Text courtesy of N.Y. Times 31 October 1915, page 8.
BB-26 South Carolina41k"The target when the South Carolina (BB-26) had finished firing." USN photo by Enrique Muller Jr, courtesy of memory.loc.gov. Text courtesy of N.Y. Times 31 October 1915, page 8.
Target Rafts 193k A navy Target Raft before being fired on. USN photo by N. Moser courtesy of Robert M. Cieri. Photo added 04/10/09.
Target Rafts 197k Target Raft on 12 July 1917. USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
BB-29 North Dakota 43k Target sled for observing shots, circa 1917-19. Courtesy of Philip H. Robare RMCS, USN - RET.
BB-32 Wyoming67k"Turret drill in the Old Navy".The photos in this collection are dedicated in the memory of E. J. Stewart, seaman, fourth division, whose copy of the book was scanned and submitted by his son. Photo submitted by Ted Horrell.
BB-43 Tennessee 915k After fitting out, Tennessee (BB-43) conducted trials in Long Island Sound from 15 to 23 October 1920. While Tennessee was at New York, one of her 300-kilowatt ship's-service generators blew up on 30 October, "completely destroying the turbine end of the machine" and injuring two men. Undaunted, the ship's force, navy yard craftsmen, and manufacturers' representatives labored to eliminate the "teething troubles" in Tennessee's engineering system and enabled the battleship to depart New York on 26 February 1921 for standardization trials at Guantanamo. She next steamed north for the Virginia Capes and arrived at Hampton Roads on 19 March. Tennessee carried out gunnery calibration firing at Dahlgren, Va., and was drydocked at Boston before full-power trials off Rockland, Maine. After touching at New York, she steamed south; transited the Panama Canal; and, on 17 June, arrived at San Pedro, Calif., her home port for the next 19 years.
A tug boat taking a target barge out for the Tennessee (pictured behind the barge) while conducting gunnery calibration firing at Dahlgren, Va.		 Photo from the James R. Nehez, Sr. collection, courtesy of James R. Nehez, III. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
Target Barge 157k Model of Target Barge 111. It is Mare Island Model #00145 and is now located at the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum. It appears the barge was launched in August 1930. I was allowed to take the model home to take photos and measurements and do a few repairs to its rigging.
The model data: Length 40 13/16”
Hull width 3 7/16”
Keel length (Upper) 32 7/16” (4 7/8” from the bow)
Keel length (Lower) 29 3/16”
Keel thickness 5/8”
Main Deck to Keel Bottom 4 3/8”
Target Supports (Masts) height 9 15/16”
Target slats are 5/16”
Target 5 ½” Square
Bow and Aft Structures Height 15/16”
Bow Structure - Length 4 3/16”
Aft Structure – Length 2 7/16”
Draft leaving dry dock after construction 13.5’
(from dry dock logs) There is no marking on the model indicating its scale, but based on the draft information from the dry dock logs I believe the scale 5/16”. This would make the barge 11’ wide (the hull width is made-up of 11 timber each 5/16” wide) with a length of 130.5’.
The following photo is a close up of target panel. 		Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 74k Bow view of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 77k Stern view of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 159k Plan view looking aft of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 195k Starboard forward quarter view of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 91k Starboard aft quarter view of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 160k Starboard broadside of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 144k Target panel support of Model of Target Barge 111.
Photo courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Target Barge 267k The MV Spirit of Nantucket had a close encounter with what is most likely the remains of a Target Barge found in 2007 in the Intracoastal Waterway near Pungo which is part of Virginia Beach, VA. Courtesy of David A. Barto.
Target Barge 1.1m Possible Target Barge viewed from 1,500 feet up in the Intracoastal Waterway near Pungo which is part of Virginia Beach, VA. Courtesy of David A. Barto.
Target Barge 2.9m 12 photo PDF of what is most likely the remains of a Target Barge found in 2007 in the Intracoastal Waterway near Pungo which is part of Virginia Beach, VA. Courtesy of David A. Barto.
Additional Resources
The Evolution of Battleship Gunnery in the U.S. Navy, 1920-1945. By William J. Jurens
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This Page Is Created By Darryl Baker, David Barto, Robert M. Cieri, Chuck Haberlein, Mike Green, Ric Hedmen, Chris Hoehn, David Johnston & Michael Mohl And Maintained By Michael Mohl.
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