The Harbor Defenses of Argentia and St. John's was a

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 d ...

harbor defense command A Harbor Defense Command was a military organization of the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps designated in 1925 from predecessor organizations dating from circa 1895. It consisted of the forts, controlled underwater minefields, and other c ...

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 opposin ...

.Stanton, p. 478 It was part of the

Newfoundland Base Command Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, established as a result of the 1940

Destroyers for Bases Agreement The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rights ...

with the United Kingdom. It coordinated the US Army coast defenses of

Naval Station Argentia Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Ne ...

and the port of St. John's,

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

from January 1941 to (possibly) August 1945. These included

coast 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 c ...

Fort McAndrew Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941 to 1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province, Ne ...

Argentia Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which r ...

and

Fort Pepperrell Pepperrell Air Force Base, previously known as Fort Pepperrell, is a decommissioned United States military base located in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada which operated from 1941 to 1961. The base was named in honour of Sir William Pepperr ...

in St. John's.Coast defenses in Newfoundland at the Coast Defense Study Group website
/ref>Berhow, p. 225

History

On 15 January 1941 the

was activated on board the

United States 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, cla ...

troop transport ship USAT '' Edmund B. Alexander'' at the

New York Port of Embarkation The New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for the movement of troops and supplies from the United States to overseas commands. The command had facilities in New York and New Jersey, roughly covering the ...

. The ship departed for Argentia and St. John's on the 20th, arriving at

on the 25th to drop off troops and construction personnel, and soon docking in St. John's as a

barracks ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...

until May 1941, when housing for the garrison was finished.Fort Pepperrell at FortWiki.com
/ref> The ship brought troops of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Battery A of the 57th Coast Artillery (Tractor Drawn) (TD) Regiment with four mobile 155 mm guns, and Battery B of the 62nd Coast Artillery (Anti-aircraft) (AA) Regiment. It appears the 155 mm gun battery may have been split with two guns each at Argentia and St. John's; their presence at St. John's prior to 1942 is uncertain. It is likely the other units were split also. Although the harbor defense command was reportedly activated with the arrival of the 155 mm gun battery, it was on a small scale initially. On 27 March 1941 the United States officially signed the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

agreement which gave possession of the site for

(initially Camp Alexander) near St. John's; construction work began in earnest on 15 April. The Naval Operating Base at

was commissioned on 15 July 1941; the adjacent Naval Air Station (NAS) Argentia was commissioned 28 August 1941. On 20 July 1941 the 155 mm gun battery was redesignated as Battery A, 53rd Coast Artillery (TD) Regiment, and on 1 August 1941 (some sources 1942) the AA battery was redesignated as Battery A, 421st CA (AA) Battalion (Separate). At some time the remainder of the 421st probably arrived in Newfoundland. On 14 April 1942 a second AA battalion, the 422nd CA (AA) (Composite) arrived in Newfoundland. On 11 November 1943 the CA (AA) battalions were redesignated as Antiaircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalions (Composite). Both battalions returned to the United States in January 1944.Stanton, p. 498 During 1941 two Lend-Lease 10-inch M1888

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 were emplaced at Fort

Cape Spear Cape Spear (french: Cap d'Espoir) is a headland located on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland near St. John's in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. At a longitude of 52°37'W, it is the easternmost point in Canada and North ...

near St. John's; these were manned by Canadian forces. Another pair of 10-inch guns were at

Botwood Botwood is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Census Division 6. It is located on the west shore of the Bay of Exploits on a natural deep water harbour used by cargo ships and seaplanes throughout the town ...

in northern Newfoundland. These were supplemented by at least two Canadian-manned QF 4.7-inch B Mark IV* guns at

Fort Amherst Fort Amherst, in Medway, South East England, was constructed in 1756 at the southern end of the Brompton lines of defence to protect the southeastern approaches to Chatham Dockyard and the River Medway against a French invasion. Fort Amherst ...

; these were former

field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artille ...

s converted to fixed mountings. On 1 May 1941 part of Battery D, 52nd Coast Artillery (Railway) Regiment arrived at Fort Pepperrell with two

8-inch M1888 The 8-inch gun M1888 (203 mm) was a U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps gun, initially deployed 1898–1908 in about 75 fixed emplacements, usually on a disappearing carriage. During World War I, 37 or 47 of these weapons (references vary) w ...

railway gun 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 railroad car, railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the ...

s, initially emplaced at Signal Hill. At some point in 1942-43 they moved to Red Cliff. In the summer of 1941, deployed to Argentia to house flag headquarters for the base. On 7 December 1941 the United States entered World War II following the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. Construction ramped up at US facilities in Newfoundland; for coast defense batteries this was primarily at Argentia. The major effort at this time was the construction of Battery 281 and Battery 282 at Fort McAndrew from January through October 1942. These batteries had two 6-inch guns each, on shielded long-range carriages with reinforced concrete and earth bunkers housing

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...

and

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 ...

equipment.Fort McAndrew at FortWiki.com
/ref> Two

indicator loop An anti-submarine indicator loop was a submerged cable laid on the sea bed and used to detect the passage of enemy submarines. History In the first years of World War I submarines were fearful, one-sided weapons because they were invisible. In J ...

stations for magnetic detection of submarines were established in Newfoundland; a US Navy-manned station at Argentia (Station 1X) and a Royal Canadian Navy-manned station at St. John's. On 14 February 1942 the 1st Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment was activated in Newfoundland, joining the 3rd Battalion; the remainder of the regiment arrived on 6 July 1942. The 2nd Battalion moved to Greenland at some point soon afterward, and the regiment departed Newfoundland in September 1943. On 16 February 1942 the 8-inch and 155 mm batteries were redesignated as elements of the 24th Coast Artillery Regiment, which became the primary coast artillery unit in Newfoundland through October 1944 at least, and possibly to the end of hostilities. The regimental headquarters and two additional batteries arrived at Fort McAndrew on 25 March 1942.Gaines, p. 16 18 February 1942 saw the Argentia base at the center of one of the worst accidental disasters in the US Navy's history when and grounded and were lost with heavy casualties southwest of the base. ''Truxtun'' lost 110 men (nearly her entire crew) and ''Pollux'' lost 95 men. also grounded, but with no loss of life. Over 100 victims were buried in Argentia's military cemetery. By the end of 1942 the US-manned coast defense gun batteries in Newfoundland were as follows (at Argentia unless otherwise noted): The Anti- Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) batteries had four 90 mm dual-purpose guns each, two on fixed mounts and two on towed mounts. The 24th Coast Artillery was reduced to a battalion on 23 March 1943. The unit was partially inactivated in January 1944 (HHB and one battery inactivated; one source says fully inactivated), and in October 1944 the battalion was reorganized with at least one battery inactivated. If fully inactivated, possibly its functions and personnel were transferred to the harbor defense command. Its date of return to the US is unclear, and unusually it was not fully inactivated until 8 September 1945.Stanton, p. 484

Post World War II

Following the war, it was soon determined that gun defenses were obsolete, and most guns (unusually, not the Canadian-manned guns mentioned or Batteries 281 and 282) were scrapped by the end of 1948. Argentia remained a US Navy station until 1995, and Fort Pepperrell became

Pepperrell Air Force Base Pepperrell Air Force Base, previously known as Fort Pepperrell, is a decommissioned United States military base located in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada which operated from 1941 to 1961. The base was named in honour of Sir William Pepperre ...

postwar, but was transferred to Canada as

CFS St. John's Garrison St. John's is a Canadian Forces Garrison located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Garrison St. John's is located on north shore of Quidi Vidi Lake on part of the former site of Pepperrell Air Force Base, as well as a small adj ...

in 1960.

Campaign streamers

World War II * American Theater without inscription

Present

The pair of Canadian-manned 10-inch guns at Fort

remain in place without carriages, and the pair of 4.7-inch guns at

are still mounted as of 2014. Unusually, the four guns of Batteries 281 and 282 were never scrapped. Battery 282's pair of 6-inch guns remain in place, while Battery 281's guns and mountings were shipped to

Fort Columbia Fort Columbia State Park is a public recreation area and historic preserve at the site of former Fort Columbia, located on Chinook Point at the mouth of the Columbia River in Chinook, Washington. The state park features twelve historic wood-fr ...

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, US for display at a similar battery there in 1993.List of surviving seacoast weapons at the CDSG website as of 2014 (PDF download)
/ref>

References

* *
Gaines, William C., Coast Artillery Organizational History, 1917-1950, ''Coast Defense Journal'', vol. 23, issue 2, p. 16
*

External links

Map of Harbor Defenses of Argentia at FortWiki.com

Map of Harbor Defenses of St. John's at FortWiki.com

List of all US coastal forts and batteries
at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
American Forts Network, lists forts in the US, former US territories, Canada, and Central America

FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts
{{NLMilitary, state=collapsed United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Military installations in Newfoundland and Labrador Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945