Defending this vital harbor

Defending this vital harbor. . , The importance of Portland harbor over two centuries is clear from the fortifications you see from here. Behind you, lies Fort Allen , an 1814 earthworks. Three granite Civil War forts remain visible. Fort Gorges rises in the harbor. Fort Scrammel is across the bay at the one o'clock position. Fort Preble is connected by a breakwater to Spring Point lighthouse., By world war two, defenses included forts with gun batteries, minefields, submarine nets, hydrophones, and magnetic submarine indicator loops on the ocean floor to ward off Germany's dreaded submarines., Fort Gorges , This three-story granite fort was still under construction when the Confederate raider Tacony stole the Caleb Cushing, a U.S. Revenue Cutter anchored near Fort Allen, out from under its nose., The construction of Fort Gorges [#8 on map], designed to mount 95 guns, was mostly completed in 1865 while the Civil War was ending. It never fired on enemy ships., Fort Gorges' hexagonal shape allowed its cannon to cover all the harbor entrances. Its projectiles, fired at water leve, ricocheted across the surface., Advances in explosives mad Fort Gorges obsolete by the middle of the Civil War. In the early 1900s, the fort's 34 ten-inch Rodman cannon were removed, leaving one ten-inch Parrott rifle on the top level., Fort Gorges last serve militarily in world war two, storing submergible mines., Fort Scammell , Just visible on the far shore is House Island's partially hidden Fort Scammell. [#3], It is the only fort in Casco Bay ever to engage the enemy in battle. It fired on a British privateer during the War of 18 12; and the privateer returned fire., Fort Scammell was modernized during the Civil War. It features projecting exterior granite bastions connected by underground earthen walls., Designed for 71 guns, it was never completely armed nor garrisoned., Fort Preble , From 1776 through World War II, fortifications at the site of Fort Preble defended Portland harbor in wartime. [See #4 on the map at right], During the Civil War, an updated design called for mounting 130 guns, but was never completed., Today, the site hosts the campus of Southern Maine Community College.