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Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay
Fort Monroe in 2004
Active	1897–1950
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
Type	Coast artillery
Role	Harbor Defense Command
Part of	First Army (1933–1941) Eastern Defense Command (1941–1945)
Garrison/HQ	Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia (1896–1950)
Mascot(s)	Oozlefinch
Engagements	World War I World War II

Hampton Roads and the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, October 1781, with American, French, and British forces of the Yorktown campaign shown

Chesapeake Bay

Hampton Roads and the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, 1826

The Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay from the Atlantic Ocean from 1896 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The immediate area protected included the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, and at least two major shipyards, along with the Norfolk naval base after 1917. The command also guarded the water approaches to Washington, DC and Baltimore.

It originated circa 1896 as an artillery district and became the Coast Defenses of Chesapeake Bay in 1913, with defenses initially at Fort Monroe on Old Point Comfort in Hampton, Virginia and Fort Wool on Rip Raps Island nearby. In 1922 four of the Coast Artillery's early 16-inch (406 mm) weapons were emplaced at Fort Story on Cape Henry. In 1925 the command was renamed as a Harbor Defense Command. During World War II additional 16-inch (406 mm) gun batteries were added at Fort Story and the new Fort John Custis near Cape Charles. Following World War II, almost all coastal defense guns were scrapped, and the harbor defense commands were disestablished by 1950.

History

Early forts in Tidewater Virginia

Colonial period

Main article: History of Jamestown, Virginia (1607–1699)

In May 1607 three ships landed English colonists from the Virginia Company of London at what soon became Jamestown, Virginia, a peninsula in the James River chosen for being easy to defend. This established the British Colony of Virginia. They quickly began building a fort there, which was completed in mid-June following a Native American attack. The immediate area proved to be swampy and the river water brackish, which led to many deaths from disease. The first two supply missions arrived in January and October 1608; the fort burned down around the time of the first mission's arrival but was rebuilt later that year. Another supply mission arrived in August 1609; however, two of its nine ships had been lost. This included the Sea Venture which was wrecked on Bermuda, and another ship lost at sea. The result was that more colonists than supplies arrived with that mission.

The colony's early years were difficult due to drought, resulting in inadequate food. Relations with the native confederation the colonists called the Powhatans ran the gamut from friendly trade to open hostility over the years. Some of the original colonists stated that they would not have survived the first years without food from the Powhatans. The colony's worst point was a severe drought and harsh winter, compounded by a Powhatan denial of food, called the "starving time" in 1609–10, in which a reported 440 of 500 settlers died. Despite supplies finally arriving on two ships built in Bermuda from the Sea Venture's wreckage and local materials in May, the settlers abandoned the colony in June 1610. However, while still in the James River, the evacuees' ships met three ships arriving on another supply mission from England. This included a new governor, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, later called "Lord Delaware", who persuaded the settlers to turn around and try again. Captain John Smith, a former president of the colony and prolific author, was injured in a gunpowder accident and returned to England in October 1609; a 1608 book of his about the colony had stimulated interest and investment in it, including this supply mission.

Several outlying colonies with forts were built in the Jamestown colony's early years. In 1609 Fort Algernon was built on Old Point Comfort, site of the 19th-century Fort Monroe. It was soon renamed the Point Comfort Fort with 25 men and was abandoned some time after 1622; various later forts were built on the site. Two forts established in 1610 were at the mouth of the Hampton River, protecting the settlement of Kecoughtan in present-day Hampton, named Fort Henry and Fort Charles with 15 men each. Unlike Jamestown, Kecoughtan was never abandoned. Fort Henry lasted until 1637, while Fort Charles was abandoned at an unknown date. An attempt was made to settle what is now the Richmond area in 1609. This included Fort West and Fort Nonsuch, which were soon abandoned. De La Warr's Fort was built there in 1610, but was also short-lived. The Richmond area was not permanently settled until 1676. In 1611 the Henricus settlement was established on the James about 12 miles southeast of Richmond, defended by four forts including Fort Charity. This was abandoned after the Native American uprising in 1622.

In 1612 John Rolfe, most likely assisted by his future wife Pocahontas, began exporting tobacco from Jamestown. This resulted in an economic boom for the colony. The Jamestown settlement outgrew its fort that year, and two blockhouses were built outside it in 1614. After 1618 an outer palisade was built. Circa 1625 the lumber of the fort and palisade was salvaged.

In August 1619 a British-owned Dutch-flagged privateer, the White Lion, appeared off Old Point Comfort. Its cargo included between 20-30 Africans captured from the slave ship São João Bautista. Traded for work and supplies from the colonists, they were the first Africans to come ashore on British-occupied land in what would become the United States. The arrival of these Bantu people from Angola is considered to mark the beginning of slavery in colonial America.

In March 1622 a coordinated Native American attack on the Virginia colony's settlements took place. Jamestown itself received warning of the attack from a friendly Indian boy and had few casualties. One result of this and other factors was the dissolution of the Virginia Company, with Virginia becoming a crown colony in 1624. In 1623–1624 the Fort at Warroskoyack (also called "The Castle" and later named Fort Boykin) was built in the future Isle of Wight County opposite present-day Newport News to guard against further attacks. In 1644 colonial-native hostilities resumed, resolved by a 1646 treaty.

In 1632 the "Fort at Old Point Comfort" was built. It was abandoned in 1665 and succumbed to a hurricane in 1667. In that year two small forts were built at Jamestown to guard against Dutch raids. They were abandoned circa 1680 and 1716.

One result of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 was the destruction and rebuilding of Jamestown. In 1699 the Virginia Colony moved its capital to Williamsburg and Jamestown was abandoned as a town. In 1727 Old Point Comfort was re-fortified with the 20-gun Fort George. Its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wooden buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force from circa 1755 until at least 1775; the fort may have been rebuilt with 25 guns in 1755.

Revolutionary War

Main article: Virginia in the American Revolution

Virginia's part in the American Revolution began with opposition by Patrick Henry and/or the House of Burgesses and General Assembly to several acts by various British government entities under King George III that interfered in the colony's affairs or imposed unpopular taxes. These events began in 1763 with Henry's role in arguing the Parson's Cause case. Henry was elected to the Burgesses in 1765.

In the French and Indian War (1754–1763) the British succeeded in forcing France to abandon all territory east of the Mississippi River. This removed a significant threat to the Thirteen Colonies. Also, combined with the expenses of the parallel Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the British national debt had nearly doubled. The British attempted to address this deficit by taxing the colonies via the Stamp Act of 1765. Virginia was among several of the American colonies that protested this on the basis of "no taxation without representation", with both the legislature's Virginia Resolves (initiated by Patrick Henry) and public protest. The Burgesses were dissolved by the governor after the Resolves in June 1764, and not called into session again until November 1766; this precluded them sending representatives to the Stamp Act Congress. The act was repealed in March 1766.

In 1767 the Gosport Shipyard was established in Portsmouth, later to become the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

The first incident of the American Revolutionary War on Virginia soil was on April 20, 1775, the day after the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Royal marines were sent to remove gunpowder from Williamsburg's magazine to a British ship. Patrick Henry opposed this at the head of a group of Virginia militia. A compromise was reached, with the British paying for the powder, but the royal governor Lord Dunmore no longer felt safe in Williamsburg and fled to a British warship.

1781 British map showing forts in the Norfolk/Portsmouth area. Fort Nelson is the fort on "Mill Point". The Revolutionary War fort on the site of the later Fort Norfolk is also shown.

In 1775 a battery on the future site of Fort Norfolk was built with local resources. On December 9, 1775 Virginia militia counterattacked British forces in the Battle of Great Bridge south of Portsmouth, Virginia, taking the minor Fort Murray, which guarded the land route from Portsmouth to Norfolk. The militia occupied Norfolk a few days later, with British forces and Governor Dunmore retreating to British warships near the city. The Patriot forces and the British engaged in a tense standoff, with the mostly Loyalist citizens of Norfolk abandoning the town. In late December the British asked to purchase supplies rather than "take them by force", followed by a request that the Patriot forces not parade and change the guard along the waterfront. The British also suggested that women and children leave the town. On 1 January 1776 the British opened fire in what was later called the "Burning of Norfolk". Landing parties were deployed to seize supplies and set fire to Patriot sniper nests. The British ceased firing in the evening. The Patriots took the opportunity over the next few days to loot the property of Loyalists who had fled the city.

Fort Nelson, named for a patriot governor of Virginia, was built in late 1776 on Hospital Point in Portsmouth, with supervision by Benedict Arnold (a patriot at the time). In 1779, a British fleet commanded by Admiral Sir George Collier confiscated its artillery and supplies and destroyed most of the parapet; the garrison evacuated the fort before it was captured. During 1781, both Benedict Arnold (having defected to the British) and Lord Cornwallis occupied the fort. A 1781 British map of fortifications erected by them on the Elizabeth River indicates that they rebuilt Fort Nelson, and shows the fort on the future site of Fort Norfolk. In that year the British also occupied Old Point Comfort and built several batteries there.

Fort Boykin, on the James River opposite Newport News, was rebuilt in the Revolution and named for its local landowner, who was an officer in the Continental Army.

Eventually, the American victory in the Yorktown campaign on October 19, 1781 proved to be the key to independence. A key event was the Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5; a French fleet defeated a British fleet off the Virginia capes, preventing the British from resupplying Yorktown, and allowing another French fleet with siege equipment to reinforce the American and French forces at Yorktown. The British received word of Cornwallis' surrender on November 25. This precipitated a collapse of Lord North's Tory government in March 1782. The new Whig government suspended offensive operations in the Thirteen Colonies and commenced lengthy peace negotiations, culminating in the Treaty of Paris that ended the war on September 3, 1783.

1783–War of 1812

Plan of Fort Norfolk in 1860

In 1794–5, new earthwork forts were built by the federal government on the sites of two Revolutionary War forts, Fort Norfolk and Fort Nelson, both as part of what was later termed the first system of U.S. fortifications. Both forts were rebuilt in the 1800s as part of the second system of U.S. fortifications, due to tensions with Britain and France that culminated in the War of 1812. Fort Nelson was rebuilt of earth lined with brick in 1802–1804, with a capacity of 37 guns. In 1807 the Chesapeake–Leopard affair off the coast near Norfolk caused a heightened state of alert at the forts and touched off more rebuilding. Fort Norfolk was rebuilt with masonry in 1807–1809, with a capacity of 30 guns. Fort Nelson had new batteries added, with 33 guns mounted. Both forts were garrisoned in the War of 1812, though neither were attacked in that war. A defensive chain was placed between the two forts to prevent British vessels from entering the river.

After the United States declared war on the United Kingdom on June 18, 1812, the Craney Island Fort was built at the mouth of the Elizabeth River; an approaching waterborne enemy would encounter it before reaching Fort Norfolk or Fort Nelson. It had seven cannon on hand in June 1813. On June 22, 1813 the fort repulsed an attack by a superior British force in the Battle of Craney Island, preventing the British from reaching Norfolk or Portsmouth. There were few British and no American casualties in the battle, though two days later the British occupied the then-undefended Old Point Comfort and burned and sacked the nearby town of Hampton.

In April 1814 British Rear Admiral George Cockburn, as ordered by his superior Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane, began raiding the southern portion of Chesapeake Bay. Determining that American defenses were limited, Cochrane planned a land expedition to raid Washington, DC. The plan was to burn portions of the city and then withdraw, in part retaliating for American raids on the Canadian side of Lake Erie, including the raid on Port Dover. On June 31 the British force landed at Benedict, Maryland on the Patuxent River and marched on Washington. On August 24 the American forces were defeated in the Battle of Bladensburg, just east of Washington, and the British entered the city. They proceeded to set fire to the Capitol (which also housed the Library of Congress), the White House, and other government facilities, but did little damage to private residences. The burning of the Library of Congress destroyed many government records, including the drawings for most of the first and second system forts. The British withdrew after three days; local tradition credits a severe storm and tornado for hastening their departure and putting out the fires. On August 27 British ships proceeding up the Potomac came opposite Fort Washington, a few miles south of the city in Maryland. With only a small garrison of 56 men and not much left to defend, the fort's commander decided to abandon the fort and detonate the magazine. The British naval force completed the fort's destruction, then moved upriver to loot Alexandria. The British force that had burned Washington marched back to their ships on the Patuxent, and soon decided to proceed to Baltimore.

The battle of Baltimore took place September 12–14, beginning with British land attacks on the 12th and 13th that drove the Americans back to the city's inner defenses. The British then apparently decided to await the result of the parallel bombardment of Fort McHenry that began at dawn on the 13th; the British army commander had been ordered not to attack unless he were certain that less than 2,000 men remained in the fort. In the early hours of the 14th, the British land force returned to their ships, though some were landed that night west of the fort in an attempt at a diversion. Somewhat later, after 25 hours of bombardment, only four of the fort's 1,000 defenders had been killed and 24 wounded, and the British forces withdrew. The raising of a large flag on the morning of the 14th, replacing a smaller flag that had flown through much of the bombardment, inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner. The British fleet and troops withdrew from Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads, proceeding to New Orleans.

1815–1860

• Main article: Fort Monroe

Map of Fort Monroe by Robert Knox Sneden, 1862, showing casemated water battery, redoubt, and gorge position; the redoubt was protected by a secondary moat. The outer moat shown for the water battery did not exist.

In March 1819, President James Monroe's War Department developed a plan to build a network of greatly strengthened coastal defenses, later called the third system of U.S. fortifications. The program eventually produced the largest masonry forts ever built by the United States. One of the goals of this program was to prevent a repeat of the British sailing up the Chesapeake or Potomac unopposed, as had happened in the War of 1812. In 1819 construction began on Fort Monroe on Old Point Comfort, the stone-and-brick fort which would become the safeguard for Chesapeake Bay and the largest fort by area ever built in the United States. It was intended as the headquarters for the third system of forts and was named for President James Monroe. It was originally named Fortress Monroe, but was officially renamed as Fort Monroe in 1832, though it has often been called by the earlier name ever since. It was first garrisoned in 1823, though work continued for nearly 25 years. The fort was designed by brevet Brigadier General of engineers Simon Bernard, formerly a French brigadier general of engineers and later commissioned in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The fort's walls were up to ten feet thick and the moat was eight feet deep. The initial design provided for up to 380 guns and was later expanded to 412 guns, intended for a garrison of 600 troops in peacetime and up to 2,625 troops in wartime. However, the fort was never fully armed.

As a young first lieutenant and engineer in the U.S. Army, Robert E. Lee was stationed at Fort Monroe from 1831 to 1834 and played a major role in its final construction and its opposite, Fort Calhoun (renamed Fort Wool in 1862). Fort Calhoun was built on a man-made island called the Rip Raps across the navigation channel from Old Point Comfort in the middle of the mouth of Hampton Roads. The Rip Raps had considerable subsidence that continued despite corrective efforts; construction was halted in 1861 with one tier of casemates completed and an upper tier of open-top casemates on about two-thirds of the fort's perimeter.

For most of the period 1824 to 1907 Fort Monroe was the site of the Army's main artillery school. From 1907 to 1946 Fort Monroe hosted the coast artillery school. Fort Monroe also hosted the Old Point Comfort Proving Ground for testing artillery and ammunition from the 1830s to 1861; after the Civil War this function relocated to the Sandy Hook Proving Ground in New Jersey.

American Civil War–1885

Main article: Virginia in the American Civil War

The American Civil War began in earnest with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12–13, 1861. Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17. On the 21st, as Confederates approached the Norfolk area, the Gosport Navy Yard's commander ordered the yard burned, along with the ships there. The Confederates soon captured the navy yard, Fort Norfolk, and Fort Nelson, leaving Fort Monroe as the only Union-held territory in the Hampton Roads area. Numerous cannon were captured at the navy yard. The Confederates eventually erected batteries at Craney Island and Sewell's Point. On May 18–19, Federal gunboats based at Fort Monroe exchanged fire with the Sewell's Point batteries. The little-known Battle of Sewell's Point resulted in minor damage to both sides.

Slaves escape to the fort after Gen. Butler's decree that all slaves behind Union lines would be protected. The policy was called the "Fort Monroe Doctrine", alluding to Butler's headquarters at the Fort.

Fort Monroe remained in Union hands throughout the war. Several land operations against Confederate forces were mounted from the fort, notably the Battle of Big Bethel in June. On May 27, Major General Benjamin Butler made his famous "contraband" decision, or "Fort Monroe Doctrine", determining that escaping male slaves who reached Union lines would be considered "contraband of war" (captured enemy property) and not be returned to bondage. Prior to this, the Union had generally enforced the Fugitive Slave Act, returning escaped slaves to the Confederacy and slavery. The order resulted in thousands of slaves fleeing to Union lines around Fort Monroe, which was Butler's headquarters in Virginia. Fort Monroe became called "Freedom's Fortress", as any slave reaching it would be free. In March 1862 Congress passed a law formalizing this policy. By the fall, the Army had built the Great Contraband Camp near the fort to try to house the families. Many contrabands were employed by the Union Army in support roles such as cooks, wagon drivers, and laborers. Beginning in January 1863, the United States Colored Troops were formed, with many contrabands enlisting; these units were composed primarily of white officers and African-American enlisted men, and eventually numbered nearly 180,000 soldiers.

Fort Monroe was valuable in implementing Union Major General Winfield Scott's Anaconda Plan, under which the Union Army occupied portions of the Confederacy's coast, with the Union Navy blockading the rest. This was intended to limit the activities of blockade runners and cut off Confederate imports and exports. The Hatteras Inlet expedition in August 1861 and Burnside's North Carolina Expedition of February–June 1862 were launched from Fort Monroe.

The Battle of Hampton Roads, the first naval battle between ironclad warships, was fought on March 8–9, 1862. The Confederate Navy had restored the Gosport Navy Yard sufficiently to drydock the damaged Union wooden-hull warship USS Merrimack and rebuild her with an iron superstructure, in which were mounted four Brooke rifles and six 9-inch smoothbore Dahlgren guns. The ship had a steam engine that was still serviceable (though she was in the yards because the engine needed work), and was commissioned as CSS Virginia on February 17, 1862. The Union had first received word of Virginia's construction in mid-1861; eventually USS Monitor was laid down in Brooklyn, New York in October and launched in January the next year. Monitor was designed by John Ericsson, and featured a single turret mounting two 11-inch smoothbore Dahlgren guns. A defecting freed slave, Mary Louvestre, who had worked for a Confederate engineer, brought word (said to be an account by a Union sympathizer working at the yard) of Virginia's completion in late February 1862; the Union Navy accelerated work on Monitor. The new ironclad was soon completed, getting underway for Hampton Roads on March 6. Two days later Virginia and five supporting Confederate vessels attacked the Union's wooden-hull warships blockading Norfolk. The Confederates sank two ships, while three more ran aground. Night ended the first day's battle, with Virginia taking refuge near the batteries at Sewell's Point. Monitor arrived at 9:00 pm that night, taking a position near the grounded USS Minnesota. The battle resumed at dawn. Despite Virginia having rifled guns, Monitor's arrival was unexpected and only explosive shells were on board. For several hours the ironclads shelled each other, with neither able to land a decisive blow. Eventually Monitor's captain was temporarily blinded by splinters entering his view slit. Monitor retreated to sort out the situation. Virginia's captain believed he had won the fight, and having taken some damage, headed back to Norfolk. When Monitor returned, Virginia's withdrawal, combined with his only orders being to protect Minnesota, resulted in Monitor not pursuing. In the immediate aftermath, both sides claimed victory. Neither ironclad again engaged in combat. The Confederacy built 18 more armored ships, while the Union built over 30 Monitor-type vessels by the end of the war.

The Union launched a major land offensive, the Peninsula Campaign, from Fort Monroe up the Virginia Peninsula on April 4, 1862. The goal was to capture Richmond, but the offensive failed.

Fort Boykin, on the James River opposite Newport News, was rebuilt and expanded by the Confederacy from mid-1861 to early 1862. Fort Huger was a new fort on the James completed by March 1862 opposite Mulberry Point, now Fort Eustis. On May 8, the forts were fired on by Union gunboats as part of the Peninsula Campaign. The Union having a range advantage, the forts were abandoned with the guns spiked, and Union marines landed to blow up Fort Boykin's magazine. The Confederates reoccupied the Fort Boykin site as a signal station.

The Union Army reoccupied the Norfolk and Portsmouth area on May 10, 1862 after a force under Major General John E. Wool landed at Willoughby and marched on the city of Norfolk. This caused the Confederates to evacuate both Fort Norfolk and Fort Nelson, resulting in the area's surrender. CSS Virginia was berthed at Craney Island, and was blown up there on the 11th. After the Union recaptured it, the Gosport Navy Yard was renamed as the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Sketch by Alfred R. Waud of Jefferson Davis imprisoned in the casemate (1865)

Following the Civil War, former Confederate President Jefferson Davis was confined for two years at Fort Monroe, beginning on May 22, 1865. For a few days he was confined in irons; newspaper accounts of this beginning on May 27 aroused sympathy for him, even in the North, and Union secretary of war Edwin M. Stanton soon ordered the irons removed. At the fort, Union surgeon John J. Craven had already recommended this, and continued to recommend better quarters, access to tobacco, and freedom of movement for Davis.

A class from the Hampton Institute (then an African-American teachers' college) examines a 15-inch Rodman gun at Fort Monroe circa 1899

In 1881, Collis P. Huntington extended the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway from Richmond to Newport News, with another branch serving Phoebus near Fort Monroe the following year. In 1886 he founded the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company to repair ships servicing the Hampton Roads transportation hub. The shipyard went on to build numerous warships for the U.S. Navy, including all of its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, a number of other carriers, and nuclear submarines. The yard also built the unique SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever built. As of 2021 the yard is named Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Endicott period

12-inch (305 mm) mortars, similar to those at Fort Monroe

1918 photo of a pit of 12-inch mortars at Fort Monroe; one mortar tube has been removed for conversion to railway artillery

Endicott Program battery with two guns on disappearing carriages, similar to several at Fort Monroe

The Board of Fortifications was convened in 1885 under Secretary of War William Crowninshield Endicott to develop recommendations for a full replacement of existing coast defenses. The board is often called the "Endicott board" and the fortification period of 1885–1905 the "Endicott period". Most of its recommendations were adopted, and construction began in 1896 at Fort Monroe on new batteries and controlled minefields to defend Chesapeake Bay. Some batteries at Fort Monroe were in or adjacent to the old fort; the remainder including most weapons 10-inch (254 mm) and larger were in a line extending north up the peninsula that forms Old Point Comfort. The fort also controlled a minefield and was the headquarters of the new Chesapeake Bay artillery district.

The Spanish–American War of 1898 resulted in two "emergency" batteries being built at Fort Monroe; most of the Endicott batteries were years from completion and it was feared the Spanish fleet would bombard the U.S. east coast. At Fort Monroe only the mortar battery of sixteen 12-inch (305 mm) mortars in four pits was near completion. The emergency batteries were one of four 4.72-inch (120 mm)/50 caliber Armstrong guns purchased from the United Kingdom, and the parapet battery of four emplacements for 8-inch (203 mm) guns on barbette carriages. Both batteries were on the roof of the old fort; the 4.72-inch (120 mm) guns in the old emplacements. Only two of the 8-inch (203 mm) guns are on record as being mounted.

Until 1901 forts in the United States were garrisoned by various artillery batteries, either from the seven Regular Army regiments (after 1814) or state militia. In 1901 the artillery batteries were redesignated as light or heavy artillery companies, numbered in different series but part of a single Artillery Corps; heavy artillery units garrisoned the forts. The light artillery became the Field Artillery branch and the heavy artillery became the separate United States Army Coast Artillery Corps in 1907.

The initial set of batteries at Fort Monroe were completed by 1906. In addition to the sixteen 12-inch (305 mm) mortars, the batteries totaled five 12-inch (305 mm) guns, eight 10-inch (254 mm) guns, three 8-inch (203 mm) guns, two 6-inch (152 mm) guns, four 4.72-inch (120 mm)/50 caliber Armstrong guns, and four 3-inch (76 mm) guns. The 12-inch and 10-inch guns were on disappearing carriages, the 3-inch guns were on masking parapet carriages (a type of disappearing carriage), and the remainder were on barbette or pedestal carriages.

Five additional batteries at Fort Wool were completed by 1908. These totaled six 6-inch (152 mm) guns on disappearing carriages and and six 3-inch (76 mm) guns on pedestal carriages.

Two single-gun 10-inch batteries at Fort Monroe were disarmed in 1908–1910; the 8-inch and 4.72-inch batteries were disarmed in 1913–1915. One 4.72-inch gun went to Sandy Hook Proving Ground for testing purposes; the remaining three were stored until remounted at Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico in 1917.

In 1913 the Chesapeake Bay artillery district was renamed as the "Coast Defenses of Chesapeake Bay". On 30 December 1916 Langley Field (now Langley Air Force Base) was established in Hampton.

World War I

The American entry into World War I brought many changes to the Coast Artillery, the Coast Defenses of Chesapeake Bay (CD Chesapeake Bay), and the Tidewater region in general. Numerous temporary buildings were constructed at the forts to accommodate the wartime mobilization. As the only component of the Army with heavy artillery experience and significant manpower, the Coast Artillery was chosen to operate almost all US-manned heavy and railway artillery in that war. At most coast defense commands, garrisons were drawn down to provide experienced gun crews on the Western Front, mostly using French- and British-made weapons. At least three companies from Fort Monroe were used to form the 53rd Artillery (Coast Artillery Corps), initially the 8th Provisional Regiment (CAC), which saw action in France as a railway artillery regiment. Some weapons were removed from forts with the intent of getting US-made artillery into the fight. Eight 12-inch mortars were removed from Fort Monroe; five of these went to France as railway artillery, but it is unclear whether or not they were used in action. Four of the six 6-inch guns at Fort Wool were also removed. Removed 5-inch and 6-inch guns became field guns on wheeled carriages. The remounted 5-inch and 6-inch guns were sent to France, but their units did not complete training in time to see action. In most cases, the 5-inch guns were scrapped or donated as war memorials after the war, while the 6-inch guns were stored (with most field carriages scrapped) and were eventually reused in World War II.

References indicate that the authorized strength of CD Chesapeake Bay in World War I was 17 companies, including five from the Virginia National Guard. Out of 34 coast artillery regiments deployed to France, six were organized at Camp Eustis and one was organized at Fort Monroe.

Several new military installations were established in Virginia's Tidewater area during the war. The land for Naval Station Norfolk was acquired in April 1917; it soon became one of the main bases of the Atlantic Fleet and eventually the world's largest naval installation. The Newport News port of embarkation was established on 17 July 1917; it eventually shipped 288,000 troops overseas. Camp Abraham Eustis (later Fort Eustis) in Newport News was originally a Coast Artillery Corps replacement training center and balloon observation school, relieving the overcrowded Fort Monroe; the land was acquired in March 1918.

Fort Story, established on Cape Henry in 1914, had two of four "emergency" batteries of redeployed guns guarding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay in World War I. All four batteries had pedestal-mounted weapons for improved target tracking and rate of fire compared with disappearing carriages. Battery A had two 6-inch (152 mm) M1900 guns moved from Fort Monroe, and Battery B had two 5-inch (127 mm) M1900 guns moved from Fort Andrews near Boston. The other batteries were near Cape Charles on Fisherman Island opposite Fort Story; they included two 5-inch (127 mm) M1900 guns from Fort DuPont, Delaware; the source of the other pair of guns is less clear, and some references list them as 6-inch (152 mm) M1900 guns.

The State Rifle Range (Camp Pendleton in World War II) was established in Virginia Beach for the training of state troops in 1914; a source states that it was used by the Navy for coastal artillery training in 1917–1919. This was more likely Army training, as the Navy had no coastal artillery function, and conducted live fire of its World War I 14-inch railway guns at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia. The rifle range was more suitable for artillery firing than Camp Eustis, as the site faced the Atlantic Ocean and firing would not interfere with civilian residences.

Circa 1918 antiaircraft batteries armed with M1917 3-inch (76 mm) guns on fixed mounts were built at Fort Story and Fort Monroe with two guns each; an additional gun was at Fort Monroe.

Between the wars

In 1919-1920 several weapon types were declared obsolete and removed from coast defenses. These included all 5-inch guns, all Armstrong guns (6-inch and 4.72-inch), and 3-inch M1898 guns (including the battery at Fort Monroe). Only in rare cases were these weapons replaced; none of the weapons removed from the Chesapeake coast defenses were replaced until World War II.

In 1922 Fort Monroe's importance in defending Chesapeake Bay was somewhat reduced with the establishment of a battery of four 16-inch (406 mm)/25 caliber howitzers at Fort Story, at the entrance to the bay. These weapons were unique to Fort Story. With the improved weapon location and a range advantage over Fort Monroe's 12-inch guns of 24,500 yards (22,400 m) versus 18,400 yards (16,800 m), the 16-inch weapons could engage attacking warships long before they could come within range of Fort Monroe.

On 1 July 1924 the harbor defense garrisons completed the transition from a company-based organization to a regimental one, and on 9 June 1925 the commands were renamed from "Coast Defenses..." to "Harbor Defenses..." as Harbor Defense Commands (HD). HD Chesapeake Bay was garrisoned by the 12th Coast Artillery Regiment of the regular army, with the 246th Coast Artillery Regiment as the Virginia National Guard component. In 1932 the 12th Coast Artillery was effectively redesignated as the 2nd Coast Artillery, continuing as the garrison of Chesapeake Bay.

World War II

16-inch (406 mm) casemated gun, similar to those at Fort Story and Fort John Custis

Early in World War II numerous temporary buildings were again constructed at the forts to accommodate the rapid mobilization of men and equipment. In 1940 the 2nd and 246th Coast Artillery Regiments were brought up to strength and activated to garrison the Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay (HD Chesapeake Bay), along with the 244th Coast Artillery Regiment (155 mm gun) from the New York National Guard.

• Fort Eustis
• Fort John Custis
• Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation
• Camp Pendleton

After the Fall of France in 1940 the Army decided to replace almost all existing heavy coast defense guns with 16-inch guns. In HD Chesapeake Bay this meant an all-new fort at Fort John Custis and new batteries at Fort Story. The forts' largest armament was ex-Navy 16-inch (406 mm) Mark 2 guns in batteries of two guns each; two batteries at Fort Story and one battery at Fort John Custis. An additional 16-inch battery was proposed for Fort Monroe but not built. These batteries were built casemated, with heavy concrete enclosures for protection against air attack, and were completed in 1943. As the new batteries were completed, older batteries of heavy guns and mortars were scrapped, though Fort Story's 16-inch (406 mm) howitzers remained in service past the end of the war.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, by early 1942 three batteries of four mobile 155 mm GPF guns each were deployed at the mouth of the bay; two at Fort Story and one at the new Fort John Custis. By mid-1942 concrete "Panama mounts" were completed for these batteries. After Pearl Harbor the 244th Coast Artillery Regiment (155 mm gun) returned from the North Carolina Maneuvers, probably providing these batteries. In February 1942 the 50th Coast Artillery Regiment (155 mm gun) was activated at Camp Pendleton, but was soon deployed elsewhere. In August 1942 a battalion of the 52nd Coast Artillery Regiment (Railway) arrived at Fort John Custis with eight 8-inch (203 mm) railway guns.

6-inch gun M1905 on shielded barbette carriage, similar to batteries in HD Chesapeake Bay

The 16-inch batteries were supplemented by new two-gun 6-inch (152 mm) gun batteries. These included heavy earth-covered concrete bunkers for ammunition and fire control, with the guns protected by open-back shields. The guns for these batteries were mostly the 6-inch guns removed in World War I for field service and stored since that war; a new 6-inch gun M1 of similar characteristics was developed when this supply of guns began to run out. Five of these batteries (only three of which were armed) were in HD Chesapeake Bay; two at Fort Story, two at Fort John Custis (one not armed), and one never-armed battery at Fort Wool. The armed batteries were completed in 1943. These replaced the remaining 6-inch battery at Fort Wool, but the two-gun 6-inch pedestal battery at Fort Monroe remained in service past the end of the war.

90 mm M1 gun on T3/M3 seacoast mount at Battery Parrott, Fort Monroe, Virginia

Four 90 mm gun (3.5 inch) Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) batteries were built in HD Chesapeake Bay; two at Fort Story, one at Forth John Custis, and one at Fort Monroe. These had 90 mm dual-purpose (anti-surface and anti-aircraft) guns. Each battery was authorized two 90 mm guns on fixed mounts, two on towed mounts, and two single 40 mm Bofors guns, although the weapons on hand may have varied.

Following mobilization in 1940 HD Chesapeake Bay was subordinate to First Army. On 24 December 1941 the Eastern Theater of Operations (renamed the Eastern Defense Command three months later) was established, with all east coast harbor defense commands subordinate to it, along with antiaircraft and fighter assets. This command was disestablished in 1946.

The US Navy also participated in defending Chesapeake Bay with net defenses and naval mines in areas not covered by the Army's controlled minefields.

The increasingly remote threat of an enemy surface attack and an Army-wide shift from a regimental to a battalion-based system meant drawdowns in HD Chesapeake Bay, starting in spring 1944. The 246th Coast Artillery was reduced to two batteries and relocated to Fort Macon, North Carolina in April 1944. The 2nd Coast Artillery was reorganized as two separate battalions in October 1944; these were inactivated in April 1945, with remaining elements transferred to HD Chesapeake Bay.

Cold War

• Cape Charles Air Force Station

Following the war, it was soon determined that gun defenses were obsolete, and they were scrapped by the end of 1948, with remaining harbor defense functions turned over to the Navy. In 1950 the Coast Artillery Corps and all Army harbor defense commands were dissolved. Today the Air Defense Artillery carries the lineage of some Coast Artillery units. For air defense in the Cold War, an extensive system of 90 mm antiaircraft guns was emplaced in the Philadelphia area in the early 1950s, followed by Nike missile systems in the late 1950s (see List of Nike missile sites#Pennsylvania and List of Nike missile sites#New Jersey). The Nike missiles were removed in the early 1970s.

Present

16-inch Mark 7 gun at Battery Winslow, Fort John Custis.

A 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun and a projectile from an Iowa-class battleship have been placed at Battery Winslow at the former Fort John Custis. Fort Wool bird sanctuary.

Heraldry

Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay

Coat of arms

• Blazon
  • Shield: The shield of the Coast Defenses of Chesapeake Bay has for its base the arms of Lord Delaware, the first Governor of the Colony of Virginia, who met and turned back the departing colonists at the mouth of the James River in 1610, thereby saving the colony. His arms consisted of a silver shield bearing a jagged black stripe placed horizontally across the centre, known to heralds as a fess dancetty. To this is added a red cross, symbolic of the landing of the first settlers at Cape Henry in 1607, their first act being to erect a cross and offer thanks for their safe arrival.
  • Crest: The crest is a hand in a gauntlet of silver mail grasping a gold trident, which commemorates the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac in Hampton Roads, the first conflict between ironclads, which type of vessels at once became supreme in naval warfare. The mailed hand grasping the trident of Neptune, the god of the seas, fittingly symbolizes that supremacy.
  • Motto: The motto is Portam Primam Defendo (I defend the first gateway) with special reference of course to the approaches to Washington, Baltimore, and other important centres lying at the head of Chesapeake Bay.

See also

• Seacoast defense in the United States
• Harbor Defense Command
• List of coastal fortifications of the United States

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

• Morgan, Mark L.; Berhow, Mark A. (2010). Rings of Supersonic Steel: Air Defenses of the United States Army 1950-1979, 3rd Edition. Hole in the Head Press. ISBN 978-09761494-0-8.

External links

• Map of HD Chesapeake Bay at FortWiki.com
• Insignia of the Coast Artillery Corps at the Coast Defense Study Group
• American Forts Network, lists forts in the US, former US territories, Canada, and Central America
• List of all US coastal forts and batteries at the Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. website
• FortWiki, lists most CONUS and Canadian forts

Category:Military units and formations in Virginia Category:Forts in Virginia Category:History of Virginia Category:United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Category:Military units and formations established in 1896 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1950