Mortars to Missiles

Captions: (upper center) Enemy attackers never arrived to challenge the troops guarding San Francisco's critical port, but artillery crews did fire some guns mounted around the Golden Gate during practice drills.; (map of coastal defense batteries (click on image to enlarge) , bottom center) Between 1776 and 1974, three nations guarded San Francisco's port against foreign invasion. First Spanish, then Mexican, guns defended the harbor entrance. Later, United States troops manned weapons on both sides of the Golden Gate. Today, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area preserves an extensive collection of historic coastal defense structures. (upper right) Built within artificial hills and natural bluffs to protect them from aerial attack, World War II-era batteries were the final generation of coastal defense using land based artillery. Within a few years of the war's end, the last of the guns were removed and the casemates stood empty.; Nike Missile Site SF88, built in the 1950s, was the last defense installation constructed in the Marine Headlands. The launch site is just down the road, the radar equipment that guided the missiles was located on a hilltop across the valley, and administrative work was based in the buildings to your left., (bottom right) For much of the 20th century, the headlands were dotted with military observation posts (base end stations), searchlights, radar sites, underground crew shelters and communications facilities.