Navigation aid for Concrete Battery List
Contents & Maps, Notes and Abbrs.,
North Atlantic,Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic,
Gulf, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii,
Philippines, Panama, Carribean
Sample Entry:
Harbor Defenses of . . .
*Several coast artillery forts were officially abandoned as
harbor defense posts by 1928, all by 1950.
+ Batteries whose exact service years are not known are designated
by an era, such as WWII.
** Mine Casemate (MC) or Mine Depot (MD), see below for explanation
Abbreviations:
MC** - mine casemate (see below)
MD** - mine wharf & shore facilities (see below)
destroyed- emplacement destroyed
buried - emplacement buried
empl - emplacement
repl - replaced
rem - removed
ARF - carriage designed for 360 degree fire.
number (#101) - 1940 Project battery construction number (used
for battery name in some cases)
NB - emplacement not built
NC - emplacement built, but not completed
NA - emplacement completed, but not armed
Still Emplaced (SE) - Original (or appropriately replaced) guns
still in the battery today.
Carriage Abbreviations (N = Navy gun):
A - British Armstrong guns on pedestal mounts
AGL - altered gun-lift carriage
BC - barbette carriage
Rod - breechloading gun on altered 15-inch Rodman carriage
BCLR - long range barbette carriage, Army gun
BCLRN - long range barbette carriage, Navy gun
BP - balanced pillar mount
CBC - long range barbette carriage in casemate, Navy gun (16"
1940 Program)
CM - casemated mount
DC - disappearing carriage
F - fixed pedestal mount (anti-motor torpedo battery (AMTB) mount)
GLC - gun-lift carriage
LRH - long range howitzer carriage
M - mortar carriage
MP - masking pedestal mount
NT - turret mount- Navy
NCM - casemated mount, Navy gun and carriage
NP - Navy gun on pedestal mount
P - pedestal mount
PM - 155 mm GPF gun on tractor-drawn carriage with concrete "Panama"
mount
Pne - pneumatic (dynamite) gun and carriage
RM - railway mount- mortar
RY - railway mount- gun
SBC - long range barbette carriage with shield (6" 1940 Program)
TM - turreted mount- Army
** Mine defense facilities are indicated in the fort name entry: Controlled mine fields were an integral part of the modern American harbor defenses. "MD" indicates that there was a mine depot at the reservation and all the associated mine service facilities for storing the mines and their cables and for deploying the mines for planting by the mine planters. These shore facilities usually included a mine wharf, mine loading rooms, magazines, cable tanks, torpedo storehouses, and a rail tramway system connecting these structures. "MC" indicates that there was one or more mine casemates, the protected structure which housed the actual firing circuits for the deployed submerged mine groups, on the reservation. Mine facilities were built during all major construction program eras. The mine defenses of some harbors were discontinued long before the harbor defenses themselves were abandoned. Other harbors had a major update of their mine facilities in the late 1930s & early 1940s.
ARF Disappearing Gun Carriages: There were three 10" DC ARF installed in circular concrete emplacements (one at Fort San Jacinto, two at Fort Ste--vens) and one 16" DC ARF was emplaced at Fort Michie. All 12" and 16" BCLR emplacements built prior to 1936 were ARF until they were casemated.
Mortar Pits: Many (but not all) of the original 4-mortar pits had 2 mortars removed during the years 1905-1920. This is not necessarily noted in the list.
Prepared 240 mm Howitzer Positions in Hawaii:12 positions for 240mm howitzers on modified mobile M1918 carriages were prepared in 1920. Eight more positions were added during 1938-1945, although there only 12 of these weapons were on hand.
155 mm GPFs on Panama mounts: These guns were used in harbor defenses beginning in the 1920s. A concrete platform was designed for a permament emplacement. Only those batteries which had concrete Panama mounts constructed are listed here. Due to lack of information, the 155 Panama mount batteries in the Caribbean are NOT listed.
1940 Project Battery Constructions: For the sake of completeness, all 1940 Project batteries (6" , 8", 12" and 16") are listed here, including those not actually built.
AMTB (Anti Motor Torpedo Boat) Batteries : Only the fixed emplacements are listed here. Complete 1940 Program AMTB batteries were composed of 2 - 90 mm M1 guns on fixed M3 mounts, 2 - 90 mm M1 guns on mobile M1 mounts and two 37 mm (later 40 mm) automatic guns. Some of the AMTBs listed here were not completely armed with full complement of the mobile guns. Many other positions not listed here were armed only with mobile guns (some 90 mm, but mostly 37 mm sections). Earlier (1942) "AMTB" batteries (repositioned M1903 3" pedestal mounts) are listed.
Not Listed: Coast Artillery Corps troops manned several other types of harbor defense weapons and sites which are not listed here due to incomplete information held by the compiler. This includes: all fixed (emplaced) antiaircraft (AA) guns; some of the temporary railway carriage guns (8" RY, 12" RM) parked at site (unless emplacements were built, but some positions prepared in Hawaii during WWII may not be listed); some of the WW II emergency Navy guns & mounts, the 75mm howitzer mounts used in Panama, field mounted 155 GPF batteries, fire control stations; and searchlights.
Current Disposition of Military Reservations and Batteries: This list contains the current information (as of the date of this revision) on the ownership of the coast defense military reservations. This, unfortunately, is subject to change. Emplacements known to have been modified, buried, or destroyed are so noted. The fort rating system is an arbitrary device used by the author to give the reader some overall idea of what to expect to find at the sites today.
Fort Rating System
KKKKK (kkkkk)- all
or most emplacements intact, many or most buildings remain
KKKK (kkkk)- all or most
emplacements intact, several buildings remain, reservation(s)
may be divided up
KKK (kkk)- all or most
emplacements intact, some buildings remain
KK (kk)- all or most
emplacements intact, few or no buildings remain
K (k)- some emplacements
intact, few or no buildings
X (x)- nothing remains at the site
Sources: Much of the information tabulated in this list came from a variety of original documents, lists, books, and correspondence. As far as possible, and especially for those batteries along the Pacific Coast, the data listed in this table came from the reports of completed works filed by the Corps of Engineers for each gun battery built. Additional information was obtained from some of the various annexes to harbor defense projects. More information was gleaned from the various articles, books, brochures and other publications both of a general nature and on specific forts or harbor defenses by various agencies such as the National Park Service, state and local historical agencies, and private publishing companies, which are too numerous to list here. Additional help and information was obtained from Alvin Grobmeier, Terrance McGovern, Bob Zink, Gregg Hagge, Joel Eastman, Bill Dorrance, and others.
Navigation aid for Concrete Battery List
Contents & Maps, Notes and Abbrs.,
North Atlantic,Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic,
Gulf, Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii,