Department. Following this meeting, President Lincoln visited the West Point Foundry at which the 100- and 200-pound Parrott cannons were successfully demonstrated in live firing. Naval versions of the 20-, 30-, 60-, and 100-pound Parrotts were also used by the Union navy. The 100-pound naval Parrott could achieve a range of 6,900 yards (6,300 meters) at an elevation of 25 degrees, or fire an 80-pound shell 7,810 yards (7,140 m) at 30 degrees elevation. Although accurate, as well as being cheaper and easier to make than most rifled artillery guns, the Parrott had a poor reputation for safety and they were shunned by many artillerists. At the end of 1862, Henry J. Hunt attempted to get the Parrott eliminated from the Army of the Potomac's inventory, preferring the 3-inch ordnance rifle. When the Parrott gun burst in battle, artillerists would chip out the jagged parts and continue firing. In 1889, The New York Times called on the Ordnance Bureau of the War Department to discontinue use of the Parrott gun altogether, following a series of mishaps at the West Point training grounds. Several hundred Parrott gun tubes remain today, many adorning battlefield parks, county courthouses, and museums. The gun tubes made by Parrott's foundry are identifiable by the letters WPF (West Point Foundry), along with a date stamp between 1860 and 1889, found on the front face of the gun tube. The first production Parrott gun tube (serial number 1) still exists, and is preserved on a reproduction gun carriage in the center square of Hanover, Pennsylvania, as part of a display commemorating the Battle of Hanover. A list of many of the surviving tubes can be found at the National Register of Surviving Civil War Artillery. The larger sizes of Parrott rifles (100-pdr and up) were deployed in coast defense from 1863 to 1900, when they were replaced by Endicott period forts and weapons. Along with Rodman guns, some were deployed shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in 1898 as a stopgap; it was feared the Spanish fleet would bombard the US East Coast. The 300-pound solution By summer 1863, Union forces became frustrated by the heavily fortified Confederate position at Fort Sumter, and brought to bear the Parrott, along with several smaller cannons. In all, two 80-pounder Whitworths, nine 100-pounder Parrotts, six 200-pounder Parrotts, and a 300-pounder Parrott were deployed. It was widely believed in the