WW2 16-inch/50 Coast Defense Batteries at Fort Story

WW2 16-inch/50 Coast Defense Batteries at Fort Story. . , Two new 16-inch batteries were authorized for construction at Fort Story in 1939 and 1940. The emplacements for the new batteries would differ from previous designs such as that used for the two 16-inch howitzer batteries, Pennington and Walke, built at Fort Story in 1922. The new seacoast batteries were protected from naval shelling and aerial bombardment with steel reinforced concrete casemates and armored shields., The four 16-inch/50 guns, very similar to the barrel on display here, were mounted inside thick concrete casemates approximately 500 feet apart in two separate batteries. Between the casemates was a service gallery off which several protected rooms contained powder and projectile storage, while a perpendicular gallery led to the power room and air conditioning which in turn was covered with a layer of sand up to 20 feet thick. The guns in the casemates were further protected by heavy armor shields and additional overhead concrete and steel. The center entrance was through the power room, with other entrances behind each gun. These batteries had plotting rooms in a separate bombproof structure, away from the noise and blast of the guns., This standard design became known as the 100-Series Battery Construction. The 16-inch/50 guns used in the Chesapeake Bay defenses were US Navy guns which became available to the US Army as a result of the Washington Naval Conference of 1922 limitations on new warship building. These 16-inch guns had a range of 45,155 yards or about 25 miles. Two of these 16-inch coast defense batteries were constructed at Fort Story , Battery Ketchum (#120) and un-named Battery #121 , which are located within sight of the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse (Battery Ketchem is located on the Great Dune, behind the post chapel, about 400 yards away). These two batteries were constructed in 1941-1943 and served until 1948. Though their 16-inch/50 guns are gone, the emplacements themselves are still in used today by several US Navy tenants., [Caption:] , Battery Ketchum is seen on the left proof firing one of its 16-inch/50 guns in 1943, while above a 16-inch/50 barrel is offloaded from railcar to trailer at Fort Story in 1942 (NARA)., Source: Terry McGovern, CDSG