4" Gun U.S.S. Ward

This 4-inch gun of the USS Ward, nowadays a memorial at the Minnesota State Capitol, fired the first American shot of the Second World War. The men who fired it were members of the Minnesota Naval Reserve.

The shot destroyed a Japanese midget-submarine, some hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Flickr