Fort Barry 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 ...

installation on the West Coast of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located in the

Marin Headlands The Marin Headlands is a hilly peninsula at the southernmost end of Marin County, California, United States, located just north of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge, which connects the two counties and peninsulas. The entire area is pa ...

of Marin County, California, north of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Opened in 1908, the fort was part of the

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 ...

and operated throughout the 20th century, before its closure and eventual transfer to the

National Park Service 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 propert ...

Armaments

The fort was initially armed with 5 batteries: # Battery Mendell was the first battery to be built at the fort, beginning in July 1901. It had two 12-inch breech-loading rifles, Model 1895, on Buffington-Crozier "disappearing" carriages Model 1897. It was named for Colonel George Mendell, the engineer officer who had supervised construction of batteries around San Francisco Bay. #Battery Alexander was an eight- mortar battery with Model 1890 breech-loading 12-inch mortars mounted on model 1896 Mark I carriages. It was named for Colonel Barton S. Alexander. #Battery Edwin Guthrie mounted four six-inch rapid-fire guns, Model 1900, mounted on

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 ...

carriages. The battery was named for Captain Edwin Guthrie, of the 15th Infantry Regiment. #Battery Samuel Rathbone also mounted four six-inch rapid-fire guns, Model 1900, mounted on barbette carriages. The battery was named for Lieutenant Samuel Rathbone. #Battery Patrick O'Rorke mounted four 15-pounder, 3 inch guns on Model 1903 pedestal mounts. The battery was named for Colonel

Patrick O'Rorke Patrick Henry "Paddy" O'Rorke or O'Rourke (March 25, 1837 – July 2, 1863) was an Irish-American immigrant who became a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. Early life O'Rorke ...

. Battery Elmer J. Wallace, was added in 1917 with two long-range 12-inch guns each with a 360-degree field of fire. Battery Construction No. 129 was built on the summit of the fort in 1943 to contain two 16-inch guns, but was never armed or named. Later, the area above Battery 129 became the radar and control area for

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 ...

Site SF-87 whose launch area was in

Fort Cronkhite Fort Cronkhite is one of the components of California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Today part of the National Park Service, Fort Cronkhite is a former US Army post that served as part of the coastal artillery defenses of the San Francisc ...

Balloon hangar

The balloon hangar at Fort Barry is a surviving element of the U.S. Army’s brief experimentations with using tethered balloons as part of the nation’s system of coastal defenses. Constructed and abandoned the same year, the structure is the only surviving hangar of its type that actually housed an army balloon, and one of only two examples of its type known to survive in the country. As such, it has a national level of significance for its part in the evolving stories of both coastal defense and military aviation. The balloon hangar at Fort Barry was completed on June 27, 1921. The

24th Balloon Company Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

moved its balloon into the new structure not long afterwards.

Tunnel

A half-mile (0.8 km) long tunnel connected Fort Barry and

Fort Baker Fort Baker is one of the components of California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Fort, which borders the City of Sausalito in Marin County and is connected to San Francisco by the Golden Gate Bridge, served as an Army post until t ...

. In June 1937, the tunnel's width was increased to .

Decommissioning

Fort Barry was discontinued as a U.S. Army installation , effective 10 September 1974 by General order Number 25.

References

External links

National Park Service
– Forts Baker, Barry, and Cronkhite {{authority control

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...