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Devils Battery or Devils Point Battery, Hartlen Point or Hartlen Point Tunnels, was a complex military installation at the mouth of Halifax Harbour in the community of Eastern Passage at Hartlen Point, Canada. It was built between 1940 and 1945 to protect the Halifax area against the German navy. It was operational until the 1950s. The site had three 9.2 inch (234 mm) breech-loading Mark X guns, operated by the 53rd Heavy Battery of the 1st (Halifax) Coast Regiment. It is now a golf course; the original underground armaments remain buried. Devils Battery was named for Devils Island which is adjacent to the embankment of Hartlen's Point.
On September 10, 1939, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Parliament of Canada declared war against Nazi Germany.
The federal government relocated the fishermen of Devils Island to the mainland of Eastern Passage. However the lighthouse keeper remained.
The progressive development[ clarification needed ] for this military structure was supplied by Britain to the Royal Canadian Engineers. While "Spion Kop" battery near Ferguson's Cove, Nova Scotia was taken out of operation, York Redoubt, Fort McNab, Chebucto Head, Strawberry and Connaught Battery were quickly upgraded and rearmed, unlike Devils Battery, which was built from scratch and made one of the largest coastal defences on the Atlantic seaboard. Many or all of these eastern batteries were contracted to private firms; Devils Battery was subcontracted to the Toronto firm of Angus Robertson. It was the last time that such building was outsourced to the private sector. Aside from the hired draughtsmen, mechanics and journeymen, much of the labour needed was undertaken by people in the "Passage". These local residents had a reputation of being hired for Department of National Defence[ clarification needed ] developmental structures and posts. "A-23" Elkins Barracks was another home defence project for soldiers in training and also used as a dormitory, less than 3 km (2 miles) away.
After July 17, 1940, military road patrols were deployed near familiar harbour viewpoints to keep Sunday drivers away from any forts. Hartlens Point was long-time military property, and an additional 285 acres (115 hectares) was purchased: a community of houses was expropriated when the battery was installed. This removed the inhabitants from danger in the event of action. To minimize the target and disguise its existence, Devils Battery was buried below ground. The lowest level contained heating and air circulation, the second level was for plotting rooms and the top underground level below the guns had the quarters, chart rooms, telephones and magazine storage. All components were connected by insulated sound-proof tunnels converging on the command post. The magazines were isolated from the rest of the complex. Devils Battery generated its own power in a separate underground facility with a large hydraulic system. The underground diesel flywheel is the size of a two-storey house. It took two engines to turn it over.
The sloping hillside embankment along the shore exposes the structured reinforced guard post. Isolated from the rest of the fort, it is annexed to an ample concrete wall that holds the main entrance, distantly leading into the underground plotting room and three covered walking channels that proceed to the network of under surface interconnections.
The two highest land elevations surveyed for Devils Battery observation posts were Flandrum Hill, Cow Bay and Caldwell Road between "A-23" barracks and "Radio 16" aircraft direction radar (Scott Drive). Each elevated point had a four-storey reinforced concrete Victoria Fortress Observation Post, with plotting rooms and telephones connected to the Halifax fire command post. Two other three-storey observation posts were erected, one at the new radar installation at Osborne Head, and the other above the hill behind the three turrets. Each look-out was staffed by a crew of two on the top storey using a Depression position finder looking out towards the harbour for any suspicious targets.
Devils Battery would not appear to an enemy U-boat, E-boat or aircraft to be a defence emplacement, but it could not be distinguished as a battery either. The complex was made out to be a farm: the three emplacement turrets holding the guns were masked as farm houses, the observation post behind the site had the appearance of a church. 750 metres (800 yards) east, near the Osborne Head radar station, a dummy battery was installed with props.
Early manoeuvres during the winter months, running the fort and executing the 9.2 inch guns were a problem. Installed by cranes during construction, one of the 28-ton guns accidentally broke away from its lashed cables and smashed through the vast concrete apron that had been poured over frozen ground, sinking three metres (nine feet) into the thawed earth. Leaks in the subsurface were a nuisance, the complexity of the hydraulic system design had flaws and mechanical failures under the earth‘s surface would occur. Although the hydraulic fluid was a cheap economy brand, when time came to charge the system and fire the guns off for a crowd of engineers and invited dignitaries, many of the welds failed and 6800 litres (1500 gallons) of crude hydraulic oil flooded & drenched the interior of the battery.
Carefully crated and fine machined fittings were prefabricated in England to precise specifications, however they could not be made to fit as were expected to.
Coalhouse Fort is an artillery fort in the eastern English county of Essex. It was built in the 1860s to guard the lower Thames from seaborne attack. It stands at Coalhouse Point on the north bank of the river, at a location near East Tilbury which was vulnerable to raiders and invaders. It was the last in a series of fortifications dating back to the 15th century and was the direct successor to a smaller mid-19th century fort built on the same site. Constructed during a period of tension with France, its location on marshy ground caused problems from the start and led to a lengthy construction process. The fort was equipped with a variety of large-calibre artillery guns and the most modern defensive facilities of the time, including shell-proof casemates protected by granite facing and cast-iron shields. Its lengthy construction and the rapid pace of artillery development at the time meant that it was practically obsolete for its original purpose within a few years of its completion.
Beacon Hill Battery is a late-19th and 20th century coastal fortification that was built to defend the port of Harwich, Essex. It is a scheduled ancient monument.
Wrights Hill Fortress is a counter bombardment coastal artillery battery in the Karori suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It was built between 1942 and 1944 and is predominantly underground, with numerous tunnels linking the war shelters, gun emplacements, magazines, plotting rooms and engine room - which are, at some points, over 50 feet underground. The fort was intended to house three 9.2" Mk. XV guns, but only two guns were installed and the fort never saw action. After World War II was over, fort commanders fired both of the guns. The fall of the shot was observed in Cook Strait and these test firings were deemed a success. In 1960, somewhat ironically, both of the guns were sold to the Japanese as scrap metal, the very nation Wrights Hill Fortress was constructed to defend Wellington against. The design of the fort is similar to the Stony Batter and Whangaparāoa 9.2" Mk. XV batteries, near Auckland.
York Redoubt is a redoubt situated on a bluff overlooking the entrance to Halifax Harbour at Ferguson's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada, originally constructed in 1793. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1962.
Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site is a 19th-century coastal artillery fort on the Colwood side of Esquimalt Harbour,. The site is adjacent to Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada. Both the fort and lighthouse are managed and presented to the public by Parks Canada.
Fort Pasir Panjang or Labrador Battery is located within Labrador Park at the southern tip of Singapore island. It was one of the 11 coastal artillery forts built by the British in the 19th century to defend the western passageway into Keppel Harbour against piracy and foreign naval powers. During the 1942 Battle of Pasir Panjang, the fort played a supporting role but a limited one in defending the Malay Regiments against the Japanese invasion at Bukit Chandu. In 1995, the site was gazetted by the National Heritage Board as one of the 11 World War II sites in Singapore.
The Ben Buckler Gun Battery is a heritage-listed fortified former gun emplacement and military installation of the late-Victorian period and now public open space located in the North Bondi locality of Ben Buckler, in the Sydney, Australia. The gun battery was designed by NSW Colonial Government and built during 1893. It is also known as Ben Buckler Gun Battery 1893, 9.2 Disappearing Gun and Bondi Battery. The property is owned by Waverley Municipal Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 15 December 2006.
Malabar Battery was a coastal defence battery built in 1943 during World War II at Malabar Headland in Sydney, Australia. The battery is also known as Boora Point Battery.
The Steele Point Battery is a small fort, on the shores of Port Jackson in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse, Australia.
Flagstaff Hill Fort is a former military fort at Flagstaff Point, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.
Drummond Battery, also known as Fort Drummond, is a heritage-listed former coastal artillery fortification and now television station and mushroom farm at 1 Television Avenue, Mt Drummond, Mount Saint Thomas, City of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It was built between 1942 and 1943 by the NSW Public Works Department and NSW Department of Main Roads. The Australian Army used the site from 1942.
Culver Battery is a former coastal artillery battery on Culver Down, on the eastern side of the Isle of Wight, England. The fortification is one of several Palmerston Forts built on the island following concerns about the size and strength of the French Navy in the late 19th century. It was operational during the First and Second World Wars. The battery was closed in 1956.
Fort Cowan Cowan is a heritage-listed World War II fortification at 30 Jessie Wadsworth Street, Moreton Island, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as RAN 3 Cowan Cowan, Fort Cowan and Cowan Cowan Battery. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 1 October 2007.
Fort Campbell, also known locally as Il-Fortizza ta' Selmun, is a former fort in Mellieħa, Malta. It was built by the British between 1937 and 1938. It is notable as the most important fortification north of the Victoria Lines, and the last major fortification to be built in Malta. Today, it lies in ruins.
Fort Davis, is a coastal defence fortification close to Whitegate, County Cork, Ireland. Together with similar structures at Fort Mitchel, Fort Camden (Crosshaven), and Templebreedy Battery, the fort was built to defend the mouth of Cork Harbour. Though used as a fortification from the early 17th century, the current structures of the 74-acre site date primarily from the 1860s. Originally named Fort Carlisle and operated by the British Armed Forces, the fort was handed-over to the Irish Defence Forces in 1938, and renamed Fort Davis. The facility is owned by the Department of Defence, and is used as a military training site with no public access.
The Bribie Island Second World War Fortifications are heritage-listed fortifications at Woorim and Bribie Island North on Bribie Island, Queensland, Australia. They were built from 1939 to 1943 and were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 20 July 1993.
False Cape Battery is a heritage-listed fortification at Yarrabah Road, East Trinity, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1942 to 1943 during World War II. It is also known as Leper Bay. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 April 1997.
Kissing Point Fortification is a heritage-listed fortification at 38-40 Howitt Street, North Ward, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Peter Scratchley and Major Edward Druitt and built from 1891 by A McMillan and then from 1939 to 1941. It is also known as Jezzine Barracks. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 February 2010.
The Shepherds Hill military installations is a New South Wales state heritage-listed site, consisting of a former military gun battery emplacement, observation post and gunner's cottage at The Terrace in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It was built from 1890 to 1940. It is also known as Shepherds Hill Defence Group Military Installations, Observation Post and Gun Placement and Shepherds Hill Battery. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 July 2010.
Green Hill Fort is a heritage-listed fortification at Chester Street, Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, Queensland, Australia. The fort is important in Australian military history as a strategic coastal defence installation in the period of transition from British to Australian responsibility for defence. The 1885 confrontation between Britain and Russia, which almost resulted in open conflict, galvanised the Australian colonies to jointly fund construction of the fortifications, and these represent an important and uncommon instance of pre-Federation Colonial cooperation on defence in the "national" interest. The fort was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 28 May 2008.
William Naftel (15 October 2008). Halifax at War: Searchlights, Squadrons and Submarines 1939-1945. Formac Publishing Company Limited. ISBN 978-0-88780-739-8.