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Harbor Defenses Of Portland
The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kennebec River, and surrounding areas from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The command originated circa 1895 as the Portland Artillery District, was renamed Coast Defenses of Portland in 1913, and again renamed Harbor Defenses of Portland in 1925.Rinaldi, pp. 165-166Berhow, p. 430-434Stanton, pp. 455-481 Coast Defenses of the Kennebec The Kennebec coast defense command may have originated as the Kennebec Artillery District with the establishment of Endicott program minefield support facilities in the 1890s at the Civil War-era Fort Popham in Phippsburg, and deployment of mines there during the Spanish–American War. However, it is unclear from references whether the Coast Defenses of the Kennebec (as it was pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coastal Artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of cannons were highly important to military affairs and generally represented the areas of highest technology and capital cost among materiel. The advent of 20th-century technologies, especially military aviation, naval aviation, jet aircraft, and guided missiles, reduced the primacy of cannons, battleships, and coastal artillery. In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquired amphibious capabilities. In littoral warfare, mobile coastal artillery armed with surface-to-surface missiles can still be used to deny the use of sea lanes. It was long held as a rule of thumb that one shore-based gun equaled three naval guns of the same caliber, due to the steadiness of the coastal gun which allowed for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Board Of Fortifications
Several boards have been appointed by US presidents or Congress to evaluate the US defensive fortifications, primarily coastal defenses near strategically important harbors on the US shores, its territories, and its protectorates. Endicott Board In 1885 US President Grover Cleveland appointed a joint Army, Navy and civilian board, headed by Secretary of War William Crowninshield Endicott, known as the Board of Fortifications (now usually referred to simply as the Endicott Board). The findings of the Board in its 1886 report illustrated a grim picture of neglect of America's coast defenses and recommended a massive $127 million construction program for a series of new forts with breech-loading cannons, mortars, floating batteries, and submarine mines for some 29 locations on the US coast. Coast Artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as Endicott Period fortifications. Prior efforts at harbor defense construction had ceased in the 1870s. Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Sumner (Maine)
Fort Sumner was a coastal defense fortification on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, United States. It was built in 1794 as part of the first system of coastal fortifications built by the United States. It was reportedly originally named Fort Allen after the nearby Revolutionary War battery that probably became part of Fort Sumner, but was renamed in 1797 after Increase Sumner, the incumbent Governor of Massachusetts, of which Maine was then a part. The location is now Fort Sumner Park, also called Standpipe Park, at 60 North Street. History Fort Sumner consisted of a blockhouse, magazine, and barracks on the summit of Munjoy Hill, where Fort Sumner Park is now, and a "water battery" (battery near a body of water) or "detached battery", probably where Fort Allen Park is now and an upgrade of the Revolutionary War Fort Allen. The battery was rebuilt in 1798 and 1808. The Secretary of War's report for December 1811 describes a battery "at the north end of the town... of five guns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Allen Park
Fort Allen Park is an urban park in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine, United States. It covers and abuts the Eastern Promenade to the south. It was built in the 1890s, designed by the city's chief engineer William Goodwin and backed by mayor James P. Baxter, according to a plaque in the park. Fort Allen was probably originally built in 1775, may have served as part of Fort Sumner, and was rebuilt by the city and used to guard Portland during the War of 1812 due to its high vantage point overlooking Casco Bay. The park is home to a 6-inch gun from the (the ship whose explosion in Havana, Cuba started the Spanish–American War), the foremast and bridge structure of the World War II cruiser , two Civil War-era 4.5-inch siege rifles, an American Civil War memorial bench erected in 1929, and an historic bandstand which was built in the 1890s. In 2012, a local non-profit group, Friends of the Eastern Promenade, sought to restore Fort Allen Park to its original look. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
8th Coast Artillery (United States)
The 8th Coast Artillery Regiment was a Coast Artillery Corps regiment in the United States Army, which garrisoned the Harbor Defenses of Portland (HD Portland), Maine 1924–1944, and the Harbor Defenses of Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1924–1940. History The 8th Coast Artillery was constituted 27 February 1924 and organized 1 July 1924 as the Regular Army component of the Harbor Defenses of Portland (HD Portland), Maine through early 1944; the 240th Coast Artillery was the Maine National Guard component of those defenses. In early 1944 most of the 8th Coast Artillery's personnel were transferred to HD Portland and the regiment was soon disbanded. The 8th CA also garrisoned the Harbor Defenses of Portsmouth, New Hampshire at caretaker strength from 1924 through early 1940. At that time the 22nd Coast Artillery was activated from personnel of the HD Portsmouth caretaker detachment, relieving the 8th Coast Artillery of that duty.Gaines, pp. 8, 15 Lineage The lineage of the 8th Coas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panama Mount
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a List of transcontinental countries#North America and South America, transcontinental country spanning the Central America, southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Its capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's million people. Panama was inhabited by Indigenous peoples of Panama, indigenous tribes before Spanish Empire, Spanish colonists arrived in the 16th century. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Viceroyalty of New Granada, Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
155 Mm Gun M1918
The Canon de 155 Grande Puissance Filloux (GPF) modèle 1917 was a WWI-era French-designed 155 mm gun used by the French Army and the United States Army during the first half of the 20th century in towed and self-propelled mountings. History The gun was designed during the First World War by Colonel Louis Filloux to meet an urgent need for modern heavy artillery and became the standard heavy field gun of the French Army from 1917 until the Second World War. It was also adopted by the United States as the M1917 and a close derivative of it was made in and used by the US as the M1918 through the Second World War. The design adopted the split trail invented by French Colonel Deport in the early 1910s (see Cannone da 75/27 modello 11), and unlike the previous pieces, which had their carriages riveted from machined and/or pressed steel parts, utilized very large steel castings. The gun was also manufactured in the United States from 1917, after the US switched to metric art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
3-inch Gun M1903
The 3-inch gun M1903 and its predecessors the M1898 and M1902 were rapid fire breech-loading artillery guns with a 360-degree traverse. In some references they are called "15-pounders" due to their projectile weight. They were originally emplaced from 1899 to 1917 and served until shortly after World War II. These 3-inch guns were placed to provide fire to protect underwater mines and nets against minesweepers, and also to protect against motor torpedo boats. In some documentation they are called "mine defense guns". The 3-inch guns were mounted on pedestal mounts (or a retractable "masking parapet" mount for the M1898) that bolted into a concrete emplacement that provided cover and safety for the gun's crew. History The 3-inch mine defense guns were part of a comprehensive plan of new fortifications specified by the Board of Fortifications of 1885. The new forts initially included guns up to 12-inch (305 mm) on disappearing carriages, to conceal the fort from obser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
6-inch Gun M1900
The 6-inch gun M1897 (152 mm) and its variants the M1900, M1903, M1905, M1908, and M1 (a.k.a. T2) were coastal artillery pieces installed to defend major American seaports between 1897 and 1945. For most of their history they were operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps. They were installed on disappearing carriages or pedestal (a.k.a. barbette) mountings, and during World War II many were remounted on shielded barbette carriages. Most of the weapons not in the Philippines were scrapped within a few years after World War II. History In 1885, William C. Endicott, President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of War, was tasked with creating the Board of Fortifications to review seacoast defenses. The findings of the board illustrated a grim picture of existing defenses in its 1886 report and recommended a massive $127 million construction program of breech-loading cannons, mortars, floating batteries, and submarine mines for some 29 locations on the US coastline. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Baldwin
Fort Baldwin is a former coastal defence and fortification, coastal defense fortification near the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine, United States, preserved as the Fort Baldwin State Historic Site. It was named after Jeduthan Baldwin, an engineer for the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The fort was constructed between 1905 and 1912 and originally consisted of three Artillery battery, batteries. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Artillery Batteries *Battery Cogan with two 3-inch gun M1903, 3-inch M1903 guns on pedestal mounts. Named in honor of a lieutenant in the 5th Continental Regiment during the American Revolution. Cogan, who had also been quartermaster of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, died August 21, 1778. *Battery Joseph Roswell Hawley with two 6-inch gun M1900, 6-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts. This battery also housed the fort's original observation station and electric equipment. Named in hon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phippsburg, Maine
Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,155 at the 2020 census. It is within the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine, metropolitan statistical area. A tourist destination, Phippsburg is home to Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, Fort Popham State Historic Site; it is also home to Fort Baldwin which overlooks Fort Popham, and Popham Beach State Park, as well as Pond Island National Wildlife Refuge. The town includes part of Winnegance. History Site of the Popham Colony, Phippsburg was—between 1607 and 1608—the first known English settlement attempt in New England. During its brief existence, colonists built ''Virginia of Sagadahoc'', the first ship in Maine's long history of shipbuilding. The next British settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec River began in 1653; Thomas Atkins, a fisherman, purchased from the sachem Mowhotiwormet, commonly called Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Popham
Fort Popham is a Civil War-era coastal defense fortification at the mouth of the Kennebec River in Phippsburg, Maine. It is located in sight of the short-lived Popham Colony and, like the colony, named for George Popham, the colony's leader. Predecessors During the American Revolution a minor fortification stood on this site; in 1808 the federal government built a small battery to accommodate guns on field carriages on this location as part of the Second System of fortifications that guarded the coast. These forts and batteries were built shortly after the passage of Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, which prohibited all exports from the US as an attempt to exert pressure on Britain and France, which had been taking actions against US shipping. The first use of some of these forts was to enforce the embargo. The embargo was deeply unpopular in New England and had severe economic effects there; the embargo was repealed in March 1809, but the situation with Britain ultimatel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
