Artifact Gallery:
Battleship USS Iowa Museum Los Angeles collects relevant artifacts to help tell the story of the ship and the Surface Navy to a broad audience. Below you will find some of our accessioned artifacts in our collection. Not all items are on display and are monitored according to our collections management policy.
We accept new items in the collection on a case-by-case basis. Click here for more information.
Bofors 40 mm Ring Sight from USS Franklin CV-13
Object/Artifact
Bofors 40 mm Ring Gunsight from USS Franklin CV-13. Steel with cast bronze fittings. Markings on casting:
299349-F-4 M3
299346-E-3 MB
This type of sight would be mounted on a pivot so that it could be optionally swung up into the line of sight of the Mk 14 Lead Computing sight, which was the primary gun sight on nearly all Bofors 40mm mounts.
USS Franklin (CV-13) "Big Ben" was an Essex class carrier commissioned in January 1943. She saw action at the Bonins, the Marianas, and Pelellu, then was hit by a Japanese bomb 14 September 1944 off Luzon and bombed again 19 March 1945 off Kure, this time with over 1,000 casualties as the result of gasoline fires and explosions on the hangar deck. Franklin survived, was repaired, and served intermittently in various roles until 1964. She earned four battle stars for action during WW II.
1600019
