Fort Segarra was constructed by the United States during World War II on Water Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. [1]
Fort Segarra was constructed by the United States during World War II on Water Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. [1]
The Army built barracks, watch towers, gun emplacements, underground bunkers, and additional structures on Water Island, and the installation became known as Fort Segarra. The Army constructed Battery 314 on top of a hill in the southern part of the island, but the guns were not installed and the emplacement was never operational. The Army installed guns at two places associated with the 818th Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battery (Druif Point and Providence Point). There was a pair of 37-millimeter guns at both locations and another pair of 90-millimeter guns at Druif Point. [1]
In addition, some watch towers, barracks and ammunition bunkers were also built near Carolina Point and also an infrastructure of power, sewage and water systems as well as docks and roads. It was meant to be an underground fort to protect the submarine base on the island Saint Thomas. [2]
With World War II winding down, the Army deactivated the 818th Battery in 1945 and deactivated Fort Segarra in 1946. The Army used Fort Segarra between 1948 and 1950 for tests associated with the Tropical Test Program. In 1948, the uncompleted post was eventually transferred to the Army's Chemical Warfare Division for testing poison gas and chemical agents on pigeons and goats for several years. In 1952, following the conclusion of these tests, the Army transferred the area to the Department of the Interior. [1] [3]
The underground rooms, gun emplacements and tunnels created during the World War II construction efforts are still visible. Tunnels and underground chambers are accessible for tourists. But the area is also a former chemical test site and monitored by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in order to ensure "no residual contamination remains from previous Department of Defense activities." [4]
Fort Slocum, New York was a US military post which occupied Davids Island in the western end of Long Island Sound in the city of New Rochelle, New York, from 1867 to 1965. The fort was named for Major General Henry W. Slocum, a Union corps commander in the American Civil War.
Water Island is a minor island in the United States Virgin Islands, an American territory located in the Caribbean Sea. The rest of the U.S. Virgin Islands were acquired by the Americans in 1917 from Denmark, however Water Island was excluded, thus the Danish East Asiatic Company, and by proxy the Danish kingdom, continued to own Water Island until several decades later. Water Island was bought by the American government in 1944, and in 1996 it was transferred to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The island is of volcanic origin and lies to the south of Saint Thomas in the Charlotte Amalie harbor. Ferry service runs regularly from Crown Bay, Saint Thomas to Phillips Landing, Water Island; the ferry ride is about 10 minutes.
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 Whangaparaoa 9.2" Mk. XV batteries, near Auckland.
Fort Worden Historical State Park is located in Port Townsend, Washington, on 433 acres originally known as Fort Worden, a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps base constructed to protect Puget Sound from invasion by sea. Fort Worden was named after U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John Lorimer Worden, commander of USS Monitor during the famous Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War.
Fort Preble was a military fort in South Portland, Maine, United States, built in 1808 and progressively added to through 1906. The fort was active during all major wars from the War of 1812 through World War II. The fort was deactivated in 1950. It is now on the campus of Southern Maine Community College.
Montauk Air Force Station was a US military base at Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island, New York. It was decommissioned in 1981 and is now owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation as Camp Hero State Park.
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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.
Fort Taber District or the Fort at Clark's Point is a historic American Civil War-era military fort on Wharf Road within the former Fort Rodman Military Reservation in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The fort is now part of Fort Taber Park, a 47-acre town park located at Clark's Point. Fort Taber was an earthwork built nearby with city resources and garrisoned 1861-1863 until Fort Rodman was ready for service.
East Point Military Reservation was a World War I and World War II coastal defense site located in Nahant, Massachusetts. In 1955–62 it was a Nike missile launch site. In 1967 the site was converted into the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University.
Fort Duvall was a Coast Artillery fort, part of the Harbor Defenses of Boston, in Massachusetts. What was then called Hog Island in Hull, Massachusetts was acquired by the U.S. government in 1917, and the fort was constructed in the early 1920s. It had only one gun battery, Battery Long, but it mounted the largest caliber weapons in the entire harbor defense system: a pair of 16-inch guns. These were the 16-inch gun M1919, of which only seven were deployed; 16-inch weapons deployed later were supplied by the Navy.
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Battery Moltke is an uncompleted World War II former coastal artillery battery in St Ouen in north-west Jersey. It was constructed by Organisation Todt for the Wehrmacht during the occupation of the Channel Islands.
After the Wehrmacht occupied the Channel Islands on 30 June 1940, they assessed the existing defences to determine if they would be of use. The Germans found the Islands' fortifications antiquated and woefully inadequate for modern warfare.
Apart from a Roman Fort, there were very few fortifications in Alderney until the mid 19th century. These were then modified and updated in the mid 20th Century by Germans during the occupation period. Alderney at 8 km2 is now one of the most fortified places in the world.
The Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The command originated circa 1895 as an Artillery District, was renamed Coast Defenses of Narragansett Bay in 1913, and again renamed Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay in 1925.
Fremantle Fortress was the combined coastal defences protecting the harbour of Fremantle, Western Australia, since the mid-1930s and, predominantly, during World War II. The coastal defences of the Fremantle Fortress stretched along the coastline of Perth from Cape Peron to Swanbourne and also included installations on Garden Island and Rottnest Island. While the first coastal batteries of the future Fremantle Fortress were installed at Arthur Head in 1906, the military installations protecting the harbour were expanded in the 1930s, being eventually dismantled again by 1963.
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