Fort Hancock is a former

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern ...

in Middletown Township

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The

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 ...

base defended the Atlantic coast and the entrance to New York Harbor, with its first gun batteries operational in 1896. The fort served from then until 1950 as part of the

Harbor Defenses of New York The Harbor Defenses of New York was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of New York City from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program, some of which were located in New J ...

and predecessor organizations. Between 1874 and 1919, the adjacent US Army

Sandy Hook Proving Ground The Sandy Hook Proving Ground was a military facility along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey established by the Secretary of War on August 7, 1874, to serve as the United States Army's first proving ground for the testing of ordnance and materi ...

was operated in conjunction with Fort Hancock. It is now part of Fort Hancock Memorial Park. It was preceded by the Fort at Sandy Hook, built 1857–1867 and demolished beginning in 1885. The Sandy Hook Light, built in 1764 and the oldest working lighthouse in the United States, is located on the grounds of Fort Hancock.Roberts, pp. 516-518

History

Fort at Sandy Hook

The Sandy Hook area was first fortified as part of the third system of US fortifications. Construction on the Fort at Sandy Hook began in 1857 and ceased in 1867, with the fort serviceable though largely incomplete.Weaver, pp. 160–164Fort Hancock at FortWiki.com
/ref> This fort was never officially named, but since the area was named Fort Hancock in 1895 it is often called by that name. It was sometimes locally called Fort Lincoln or Fort Hudson.
/ref> Originally two tower forts were proposed, but a much larger single fort was decided on instead. The initial design of the fort was by then-Captain Robert E. Lee of the Army Corps of Engineers. The fort was designed as a five- bastion irregular pentagon, with two tiers (one casemated, one

barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...

) of

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

totaling 173 guns on three seacoast fronts, with another 39 guns covering the landward approaches. As was common in Third System forts in the Northeast, it was built primarily of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

. At some point, with the casemate tier of the three seacoast fronts largely complete, the fort was redesigned to speed its overall completion, basically by eliminating the landward bastion and simplifying its neighboring bastions. Following the Civil War, it was determined that masonry forts were vulnerable to rifled guns, and funding for their construction was cut off in 1867. The fort remained incomplete until 1885, when almost all of it was cannibalized to build the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, the new Fort Hancock, and supporting structures such as a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

. A small portion of one wall remains in place with four cannon ports.

Fort Hancock

In 1874 the

was established as a weapons testing area, primarily for coast defense weapons. This was operated by the

Ordnance Department The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...

and was organizationally separate from Fort Hancock. In 1890 construction began on the artillery batteries at Fort Hancock, which was named for Major General

Winfield Scott Hancock Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14, 1824 – February 9, 1886) was a United States Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service ...

in 1895. These resulted from the large-scale Endicott Program, which in 1885 proposed a new, comprehensive system of forts defending port cities. Fort Hancock was one of the first forts built and prototyped several weapon installations. The first batteries begun at Fort Hancock were Battery Potter and Battery Reynolds (later Reynolds-McCook), initially the "Gun Lift Battery" and the "Sandy Hook Mortar Battery", both of which were built with high walls all around for land defense, a feature not found in most subsequent US installations. ;Battery Potter Defenseable entrance Fort Hancock, NJ

Battery Potter was the prototype battery for the steam-hydraulic gun lift carriage. The Endicott Program centered on

disappearing gun A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate back ...

s, which would remain concealed behind a concrete-and-earth

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

until raised to fire. Most of the weapons in the program were mounted on Buffington-Crozier disappearing carriages. However, early on there was doubt that this carriage could successfully raise and lower a 12-inch (305 mm) gun. The alternative developed for this was the gun lift carriage, essentially a

carriage mounted on a hydraulic elevator. A steam plant powered the hydraulic system.Berhow, pp. 130–133 One advantage of the gun lift carriage not found in most US disappearing gun installations was 360° all-around fire. Battery Potter (known as "Gun Lift Battery No. 1" until named in 1903) received its first gun in 1892 (a gun M1888, Watervliet serial no. 11, the first operational gun of the Endicott Program) and was completed in 1894, but for some reason was not accepted for service until 1898, possibly due to extensive testing. The gun lift system proved expensive to build and operate, as the steam plant had to be running continuously to provide pressure for elevator operation. Other early 12-inch gun installations were on simple non-disappearing barbette carriages until the M1896 Buffington-Crozier carriage was developed for the 12-inch gun. Although a few installations such as Battery Torbert at

Fort Delaware Fort Delaware is a former harbor defense facility, designed by chief engineer Joseph Gilbert Totten and located on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River.Dobbs, Kelli W., et al. During the American Civil War, the Union used Fort Delaware as ...

were begun as gun lift batteries, these were completed with disappearing guns, and Battery Potter was the only gun lift battery completed. In 1903 Battery Potter was named for Joseph H. Potter, a Civil War general. By 1907 several additional batteries were completed at Fort Hancock, and with the construction of Battery Arrowsmith under way to cover its sector, Battery Potter was disarmed. Three spare gun lift carriages were modified as barbette carriages, designated Altered Gun Lift Carriage M1897, and emplaced at

Fort Flagler Fort Flagler State Park is a public recreation area that occupies the site of Fort Flagler, a former United States Army fort at the northern end of Marrowstone Island in Washington. The state park occupies at the entrance to Admiralty Inlet and ...

(2) and

Fort Worden Fort Worden Historical State Park is located in Port Townsend, Washington, on 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 ...

(1) in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

area of Washington state. ;Battery Reynolds Battery Reynolds (half of which was renamed as Battery McCook in 1906) was a battery of sixteen 12-inch caliber mortars in the " Abbot Quad" arrangement. This was designed to place the mortars as closely together as possible, in the hope of scoring multiple hits on an enemy ship by firing simultaneously in a bracketing "shotgun" pattern. The battery had four pits in a square arrangement, with four mortars per pit, also in a square. The pits were separated by a traverse, which were the ammunition magazines and storages areas that ran the width and breadth of the Battery. These were built of concrete, backfilled with sand, and covered with vegetation. The entire battery was surrounded by a high concrete wall covered with earth for land defense. This arrangement was used at a number of early Endicott forts. However, simultaneously reloading the mortars in each pit proved cumbersome. Four mortars - the mortar closest to the magazine door in each pit - were removed and emplaced in the adjacent Navesink Highlands at the

Highlands Military Reservation Highlands Air Force Station was a military installation in Middletown Township near the borough of Highlands, New Jersey. The station provided ground-controlled interception radar coverage as part of the Lashup Radar Network and the Semi-Autom ...

. In later battery design, the pits were first built with open backs for the four mortars, and then ultimately redesigned to be arranged in a line with open backs, and two mortars per emplacement. ;Initial construction By 1909 the following batteries were constructed:Berhow, p. 210 Facilities for planting and controlling an underwater minefield were built as well. Battery Dynamite was one of a few built for Zalinski pneumatic

dynamite gun A dynamite gun is any of a class of artillery pieces that use compressed air to propel an explosive projectile (such as one containing dynamite). Dynamite guns were in use for a brief period from the 1880s to the beginning of the twentieth century. ...

s; these used a dynamite-loaded projectile with a much larger explosive charge than conventional guns of similar bore. However, they also had a much lower velocity with consequent

fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and control i ...

problems and were withdrawn from service by 1902. Batteries Bloomfield, Richardson, Halleck, and Alexander together formed the "Nine Gun Battery" with one of the longest continuous gun lines in the Endicott system. They were begun as the seven-gun Battery Halleck in 1896, built on top of the third system fort, and were divided in 1904 after expansion to nine guns. The unnamed one-gun battery contained a French-made Schneider gun unique in the US artillery system; it was probably a test gun from the Proving Ground pressed into service after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War. The batteries were often called "mine defense" guns, intended to defend a minefield against

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

Organization

Fort Hancock was originally part of the New York Artillery District, part of which became the

Coast Defenses of Southern New York The Harbor Defenses of New York was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of New York City from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program, some of which were located in New J ...

in 1913, along with

Fort Hamilton Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which i ...

and

Fort Wadsworth Fort Wadsworth is a former United States military installation on Staten Island in New York City, situated on The Narrows which divide New York Bay into Upper and Lower halves, a natural point for defense of the Upper Bay and Manhattan beyon ...

. However, circa 1915 Fort Hancock became its own coast defense command as the Coast Defenses of Sandy Hook. In 1924 this was renamed as the Harbor Defenses of Sandy Hook. On 9 May 1942 Fort Hancock became part of the

and the Sandy Hook command was disestablished. In 1901 coast artillery companies were created by redesignating the heavy artillery companies which previously garrisoned forts, and in 1907 the

United States Army Coast Artillery Corps The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery ...

was established to operate the country's new defenses.Coast Artillery Organization – A Brief Overview, Bolling W. Smith & William C. Gaines
/ref>

World War I

Following the

American entry into World War I American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

a number of changes took place at forts in the US, with a view to getting US-manned heavy and railway artillery into service on the Western Front. Fort Hancock was less affected than most forts, probably due to its being a primary defense for New York City. One gun of Battery Halleck was removed for potential service as

railway artillery A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best-known are ...

; several other weapons including the other guns of Battery Halleck and the three guns of Battery Arrowsmith were listed for removal but remained at the fort. Battery Engle's single gun was removed for service as a field gun on a wheeled carriage and not returned to the fort, as were almost all of the M1897 guns forcewide. Also, four mortars (one from each pit) of Battery Reynolds-McCook were removed in 1917 to be remounted at the

to the south of Sandy Hook. In 1917 construction began on two batteries at Fort Hancock with two guns each on long-range barbette carriages; these were completed in 1921 and named Battery Kingman and Battery

Mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Uni ...

Interwar period

Following World War I a number of additional changes took place in the Coast Artillery, and Fort Hancock was no exception. The proving ground functions were relocated to

Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...

in Maryland. The three guns of Battery Arrowsmith were removed. Unusually, Battery Reynolds-McCook was stripped of all its mortars, and the mortars at Highlands were also removed. The M1898 guns of Battery Urmston were removed in 1920 as one of several weapon types withdrawn from service at this time. The new long-range batteries and a gun battery at

Fort Tilden Fort Tilden, also known as Fort Tilden Historic District, is a former United States Army installation on the coast in the New York City borough of Queens. Fort Tilden now forms part of the Gateway National Recreation Area, and is administered ...

had become the primary gun defenses for Greater New York; however, the older guns remained in place until World War II. The new 12-inch batteries originally had open emplacements; these were casemated against air attack in 1942–43. Fort Hancock was generally in caretaker status from 1919 until the 1930s. In 1931 Batteries C and E of the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Coast Artillery (Railway) Regiment, totaling two 12-inch railway mortars and two 8-inch railway guns, were stationed at the fort. Subsequently, the fort was used as a practice range for other railway artillery units.Gaines

World War II

In 1940–41 Fort Hancock served as a mobilization center, with first a tent city and subsequently numerous temporary buildings accommodating trainees. With Batteries Kingman and Mills and batteries at

and the

providing adequate gun defenses for Greater New York, Fort Hamilton's other through weapons were gradually scrapped in 1942–43. In 1943 a harbor entrance control post was built on the long-defunct Battery Potter, and Battery Gunnison was rebuilt to accommodate the 6-inch pedestal-mounted guns of Battery Peck as an

examination battery An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...

. This battery also became known as Battery New Peck. Two Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) batteries were established at the fort, each with an authorized strength of four guns, two on fixed mounts and two on towed mounts. AMTB 7 was at a location that is unclear from references, while AMTB 8 was at the "old" Battery Peck.

Cold War

In 1946 it was determined that gun defenses were obsolete, and Fort Hancock's guns were scrapped. The fort was deactivated with the demise of the Coast Artillery Corps in 1950, but a year later was re-activated as a base for and antiaircraft guns, the first stateside Cold War defenses. The fort was deactivated again in 1953, but reactivated in 1956 as a

Nike missile The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

base (site NY-56). This lasted through 1974, when the stateside Nike missile system was deactivated.

Post-Cold War

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

damaged Buildings 119 and 120, built during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and in 2018 the NPS decided to raze the buildings, with demolition to begin in 2020.

Present

Fort Hancock was decommissioned as an active

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

installation in 1974. It is now part of the National Parks of New York Harbor under the

National Park System The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

. A museum is managed as part of the Sandy Hook Unit of

Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bir ...

. In 2013, the Park Service introduced Nubian goats to the fort in order to clear away poison ivy that has been growing unchecked on the six-acre property for about 40 years. The ''21st Century Federal Advisory Committee'' was formed in September, 2012, intended for citizens to advise the National Park Service on potential redevelopment of the Fort's unused buildings. Since then, various rehabilitation and adaptive re-use proposals have been solicited for lease of the various buildings from the National Park Service. As of 2018, a few of the structures are under lease or letters of intent. The NPS is also seeking repairs to structures heavily damaged by

in 2012. A

Rodman gun Drawing comparing Model 1844 8-inch columbiad and Model 1861 10-inch "Rodman" columbiad. The powder chamber on the older columbiad is highlighted by the red box. The Rodman gun is any of a series of American Civil War–era columbiads designed b ...

(the biggest gun produced in the Civil War era), a Rodman gun, several Nike missiles, and two rare M1900 guns at Battery New Peck a.k.a. Battery Gunnison are displayed at the fort. Battery Gunnison was the only gun battery at Fort Hancock that wasn't salvaged for scrap after World War 2, and still retains these two guns on barbette carriages, made in 1903. The Battery has been undergoing an in-depth restoration since 2003 by the Army Ground Forces Association, a non-profit group of living historians who have brought the Battery back to how it looked in 1943, and who offer living history programs throughout the year. The Army Ground Forces Association is also an official Park Partner with the National Park Service. Fort Hancock has one of the largest collections of preserved Endicott batteries anywhere, including various experimental batteries at the former proving ground. Significant remains include the dynamite gun battery and the test battery for the gun turrets of

Fort Drum Fort Drum is a U.S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, on the northern border of New York, United States. The population of the CDP portion of the base was 12,955 at the 2010 census. It is home ...

in Manila Bay, Philippines. Many of the garrison buildings survive. However, only a small part of one wall of the third system fort, with four

embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...

s, remains. Nike Site NY-56 remains one of the few Nike batteries left in the nation where both the launch and radar sections survive intact. The Launch Area was heavily damaged in Hurricane Sandy, but the radar site, located at Horseshoe Cove, is under restoration by US Army Air Defense Artillery veterans of the Cold War era, several of whom were stationed at Fort Hancock in the 1960s-70's.Coast Defense Study Group newsletter, August 2017, pp. 5-18

Gallery

File:Ft Hancock.JPG, Fort Hancock Historic Post, showing Guardian Park, with

Nike-Hercules The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclear warhead, but ...

missile File:Aiming 14 gun, Sandy Hook, Bain News Service.jpg, A 14" disappearing gun at the proving ground File:6-inch gun on model 1900 pedestal mount.gif, 6-inch gun on M1900 pedestal mount, seen at Emplacement Number 1 of Battery Fremont Peck. This exact gun, and an identical gun also mounted at Battery Peck, were moved to Battery John Gunnison in 1943, where the Battery became "Battery New Peck." They remain there to this day, and Battery Gunnison / New Peck is undergoing a full restoration to how it looked in 1943 at the height of World War 2. File:"OFFICERS' ROW" AT FORT HANCOCK, SANDY HOOK - NARA - 547981.jpg, Officers' Row, 1973. Photo by

Arthur Tress Arthur Tress (born November 24, 1940) is an American photographer. He is known for his staged surrealism and exposition of the human body. Early life and education Tress comes from a Jewish background; his parents immigrated from Europe. He was ...

File:Officers Houses Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, New Jersey seen in 2021.jpg, Officers Houses, seen in 2021 File:Historic Gun, Sandy Hook, NJ - panoramio.jpg, 20-inch

with shells File:Sandy Hook Archeological Site (27).JPG, 10-inch Rodman gun in front of officers' quarters File:Nike memorial Fort Hancock NJ1.jpg, Nike-Ajax and Nike-Hercules missiles

References

Notes

Bibliography

*
Gaines, William C., Coast Artillery Organizational History, 1917-1950, ''Coast Defense Journal'', vol. 23, issue 2, pp. 6-8, 25-27
* * * * *

External links

– from National Park Service partner
History of Fort Hancock
* ttp://cdsg.org/fort-and-battery-list/ List of all US coastal forts and batteriesat the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts

Army Ground Forces Association, reenactors at Sandy Hook
{{authority control

Hancock Hancock may refer to: Places in the United States * Hancock, Iowa * Hancock, Maine * Hancock, Maryland * Hancock, Massachusetts * Hancock, Michigan * Hancock, Minnesota * Hancock, Missouri * Hancock, New Hampshire ** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...

Military installations in New Jersey Museums in Monmouth County, New Jersey National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey Military and war museums in New Jersey Sandy Hook, New Jersey Lighthouse museums in New Jersey Gateway National Recreation Area Middletown Township, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Monmouth County, New Jersey 1859 establishments in New Jersey 1974 disestablishments in New Jersey Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Closed installations of the United States Army Military history of New York City Military installations established in 1859 Military installations closed in 1974