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| Battery Hearn | |
|---|---|
Fort Mills, Corregidor Island | |
| Part of Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays | |
| Cavite, Philippines | |
.jpg) The preserved remains of Battery Hearn | |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1920-21 |
| Built by | United States Army |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Corregidor (1942) Battle of Manila (1945) |
Battery Hearn is a single gun, 12-inch coast artillery battery located on the island of Corregidor, part of the harbor defenses Manila and Subic Bays. Battery Hearn may be best known for the iconic photograph of Japanese soldiers performing a banzai salute on the gun following the capitulation of U.S. forces on Corregidor in May 1942.
Construction and design
editBattery Hearn was one of two 12-inch long range cannons installed at Fort Mills in the early 1920s. Recognizing the need for longer range weaponry to match advances in naval gunnery following World War I, The U.S. Army decided to mount several older Endicott era 12-inch M1895MIA4 Gunson M1917 "long range" barbettes. Compared to earlier Endicott-era disappearing gun carriages, these were designed mountings would permit a much greater elevation of fire, considerably extending the range of the weapons. 0f 29,000 yards[1]
Built on open concrete Batteries Hearn and Smith were 360 traverse. Magazine and plotting room underground. to be the last significant upgrade of the Manila and Subic Bay defenses prior to World War II. Article XIX of the 1922 The Washington Naval Treaty froze fortification of Pacific bases
World War II
edit
Battery Hearn was unable to achieve sufficient elevation necessary high trajectory to hit Japanese positions on Cavite[2] Battery Hearn's crew disabled the weapon prior to the surrender of Corregidor on 6 May 1945. As with other weapons of this Battery Hearn was never used against targets for which it was designed: armoured warships.
Post-war
editBattery Hearn, as with other guns of Corregidor defenses of w was not repaired after world war II and the remains of the harbor defenses of Manila and Subic Bays were abandoned by the United States. The massive gun escaped scrap hunters in the 1970s and 1980s that damaged other gun batteries on the island forts.
References
editSources
edit- Belote, James H. (1967). Corregidor, Saga of a Fortress. Harper&Row.
- Kaufmann, J.E.; Kaufmann, H.W. (2004). Fortress America: The Forts That Defended America, 1600 to the Present. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81550-8.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - Lewis, Emanuel Raymond (1993). Seacoast Fortifications of the The United States: An Introductory History. Annapolis: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1557505026.
- McGovern, Terrance C. and Mark A Berhow American Defenses of Corregidor and Manila Bay 1898-1945. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84176-427-2
- Morton, Louis (1953). The Fall of the Philippines. U.S. Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 5-2. – full text