Mortar Battery Marker

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Sandy Hook in Monmouth County, New Jersey — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Mortar Battery

By Bill Coughlin, September 20, 2009

1. Mortar Battery Marker

Inscription. Four mortars occupied a single pit. With twelve other mortars in nearby pits, they were designed to fire simultaneously, lobbing 12-inch, 800-pound shells in high arcs, to penetrate ships’ lightly-armored decks. Built in the early 1890’s, this was the first battery of its kind in the United States.

Batteries or Forts?
Although masonry forts looked intimidating, bristling with cannon, they were no match for the new battleships with their increased mobility and firepower.

Gun batteries were a solution – separate gun emplacements of reinforced concrete protected by tons of earth and sand. Camouflaged by dunes and bushes, batteries made smaller, concealed targets, and provided space to mount a variety of weapons. Coastal batteries were also a less costly defense system than old-style forts.

Erected by National Park Service.

Location. 40° 27.674′ N, 74° 0.099′ W. Marker is in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in Monmouth County. Marker can be reached from Hudson Drive, on the right when traveling north. Click for map. Marker is located in the Fort Hancock area in the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, near the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. Marker is in this post office area: Highlands NJ 07732, United States of America.

Other nearby markers.

Marker in Fort Hancock Photo, Click for full size

By Bill Coughlin, September 20, 2009

2. Marker in Fort Hancock

At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Keeping the Light (within shouting distance of this marker); Lighting the Way (within shouting distance of this marker); Sandy Hook Light (within shouting distance of this marker); Rodman Gun (approx. 0.3 miles away); Protecting American Coasts (approx. 0.4 miles away); 200 Years of Service (approx. 0.4 miles away); The Guns of Sandy Hook (approx. 0.4 miles away); Nike Ajax Explosion (approx. 0.4 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Sandy Hook.

More about this marker. Two pictures of mortars appear on the marker, along with an illustration of the trajectory of shells fired from the battery to a target in the water.

Also see . . . Fort Hancock. NY Harbor Parks website. (Submitted on September 22, 2009, by Bill Coughlin of North Arlington, New Jersey.)