Near Pensacola Beach in Escambia County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)

Battery Worth

Hold Your Ears

— Fort Pickens —

Battery Worth Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 31, 2014

1. Battery Worth Marker

Inscription.
Battery Worth's guns were deafening. The gun crews were told to "stay loose and keep your mouths open." Cotton was available, but most soldiers did not use it and developed "artilleryman's ear." Gun pits on the left and right housed eight 12-inch mortars that could lob 700-pound projectiles in high arcs to penetrate ship decks seven to nine miles away. Half the armament was scrapped after World War I, but four mortars remained until 1942, when the battery became the Army-Navy Harbor Defense Command Post for the Pensacola area during World War II.

Erected by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Forts and Castles • War, World I • War, World II. A significant historical year for this entry is 1942.

Location. 30° 19.431′ N, 87° 16.743′ W. Marker is near Pensacola Beach, Florida, in Escambia County. Marker can be reached from Fort Pickens Road, 9 miles west of Pensacola Beach Boulevard (State Road 399). Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Fort Pickens Road, Gulf Breeze FL 32561, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. William Bartram Trail (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Battery Cooper (approx. ¼ mile away); Battery 234

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(approx. 0.4 miles away); Chasefield Plantation Cemetery (approx. 0.4 miles away); Apache Prisoners (approx. 0.7 miles away); Step Back in History (approx. 0.7 miles away); Deadly Explosion (approx. ¾ mile away); Fort within a Fort (approx. ¾ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pensacola Beach.

Regarding Battery Worth. Completed in 1899, Battery Worth housed eight 12-inch mortars in two gun pits. Although the battery lost half its armament in 1918 in accordance with the War Department policy to reduce weaponry mounted in the nation's older emplacements, the other four mortars remained active until 1942. The battery became essential for Army-Navy defense activities in the 1940s by housing the Fire Control Switchboard Room, Harbor Entrance Control Post and the Harbor Defense Command Post.

Also see . . . Battery Worth Fort Wiki article. (Submitted on January 2, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.)

Battery Worth Command Post and right side pit. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 31, 2014

2. Battery Worth Command Post and right side pit.

Battery Worth Command Post image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 31, 2014

3. Battery Worth Command Post

Battery Worth gun portal image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, December 31, 2014

4. Battery Worth gun portal

Fort Pickens entrance sign. image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mark Hilton, January 1, 2015

5. Fort Pickens entrance sign.

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on January 2, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 421 times since then and 15 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on January 2, 2015, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.