Eight sets of fabricated parts to be assembled in France had been produced before the armistice was signed. Gen. Pershing had requested the delivery in France of the 36 sets of parts by March 2, 1919. After the armistice was signed there was a natural letdown in speed in nearly all ordnance factories, but even without the spur of military necessity the contracting concerns were able by April 7, 1919, to deliver 22 of the 36 sets ordered. Had the war continued through the winter there is little question but that all 36 sets of parts would have been in France on the date specified. The 10-inch seacoast gun, Batignolles mount project, was placed exclusively in the hands of the Marion Steam Shovel Co., of Marion, Ohio. It had been proposed also to mount 12-inch seacoast guns on this same type of equipment, and this work, too, went to the Marion concern. There were to be produced 18 of the 10-inch units and 12 of the larger ones. [Illustration: 8-INCH RAILWAY ARTILLERY, BARBETTE TYPE. This view shows gun in act of hurling projectile parallel to track.] [Illustration: 8-INCH SEACOAST RIFLE, WITH RECOIL MECHANISM, SET UP ON A SPECIALLY DESIGNED RAILWAY MOUNT. This gun, thus mounted on a railway car, is capable of an all-around fire and can deliver a shot in any direction from its location on the car.] [Illustration: 12-INCH RIFLE IN ACT OF FIRING. The force of the recoil sends the entire car back on track about 5 feet.] [Illustration: 12-INCH RIFLE ELEVATED TO ITS MAXIMUM POSITION. It is capable of hurling a 700-pound shell 25 miles. This is a modified Schneider type of carriage. TWO VIEWS OF 12-INCH RIFLE ON SLIDING TYPE RAILWAY MOUNT.] The Marion Steam Shovel Co. had had a large experience in producing heavy construction and road-building equipment. The concern encountered numerous difficulties at the start in translating the French drawings and in substituting the American standard materials for those specified by the French. These difficulties, combined with struggles to obtain raw materials and the equipment for the increased facilities which had to be provided at the factory, so delayed production that no mount for either the 10-inch or 12-inch guns had been delivered at the time of the armistice. The first mount of these classes--one with a 12-inch gun--reached the Aberdeen proving ground about April 1, 1919. The 10-inch project, calling for 18 mounts, was canceled soon after November 11, 1918. The work on the dozen mounts for 12-inch guns, however, had progressed so far that the Ordnance Department ordered the completion of the entire equipment. As has been stated, the Government found in this country six 12-inch guns being made for the Republic of Chile. Their length of 50 calibers gave them a specially long range. It was decided to place the Chilean guns on a sliding mount. In a mount of this type the retrograde movement of the car along the track as and after the gun is fired takes up and absorbs the energy of fire.