Railway Artillery forms another chapter in the history of our wartime Ordnance preparation. An inventory taken by the Ordnance Department as soon as war was declared against Germany showed some 464 big guns available for mobilization on the western front. These ranged in size from the 8-inch Rifle to the single 16-inch experimental Howitzer, which the Ordnance Department had produced, prior to 1917. In the number were included guns which could be spared from the Coast Defense as follows: 96 8-inch, 129 10-inch, 49 12-inch, and 150 12-inch Mortars. The Navy offered to turn over 12 of its seven-inch guns, and it in addition to six 12-inch, 50 caliber, rifles were commandeered from a private concern where they were under manufacture for the Chilean government.

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Recently I came across a  U.S. Military Attaché report on The Chilean Coast Artillery  dated 1942 ceded by an old friend. I passed the details to an otherwise well informed friend in Chile, who  was really surprised, as even an official history of that Branch of the Navy contained not a  single reference  to these guns. 

Does anybody have any further details and/or a photo ?