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Endicott Period battery with two guns on disappearing carriages 10-inch disappearing gun at Battery Granger, Fort Hancock, New Jersey. In 1885, US President Grover Cleveland appointed a joint Army, Navy and civilian board, headed by Secretary of War William Crowninshield Endicott, known as the Board of Fortifications (now usually referred to simply as the Endicott Board).
The initial Endicott batteries were completed in 1907. Some of the Spanish–American War batteries were short-lived; Fort Getty lost its 6-inch Armstrong gun by 1900, along with Fort Adams' single 8-inch gun. However, in 1907 there was a re-alignment of 6-inch Armstrong guns. Fort Adams received a battery of three 6-inch Armstrong guns as a ...
Four of these batteries were built in the Boston area, of which three were armed. These were Battery 206 at the East Point Military Reservation, Battery 207 at Fort Dawes (not armed), Battery Jewell (a.k.a. Battery 209) on Outer Brewster Island in the Brewster Islands Military Reservation, and Battery 208 at the Fourth Cliff Military ...
A number of Endicott batteries were built near (and sometimes in) previous forts. Since everything had to be designed and built from the ground up, progress was slow until the Spanish–American War of 1898 potentially threatened the U.S. east coast with bombardment by the Spanish fleet.
The 8-inch guns were removed in 1900 to arm new Endicott batteries elsewhere and to make room for the new batteries at Fort Stark; the 15-inch guns and Parrott rifles remained at least through the end of 1903. [11] [21] The forts were completed in 1905.
Most of the Endicott batteries at Fort Wadsworth have been buried. Paradoxically, much of Battery Duane, the 8-inch battery abandoned in 1915, remains intact near Fort Tompkins. The third system forts Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins are also intact. Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins are only accessible on a ranger-led tour.
Completion of Endicott batteries and refurbishment or redeployment of 1870s batteries were also included. The 1870s-type batteries were armed with Civil War-era Rodman guns and Parrott rifles, along with some new weapons: 21 8-inch M1888 guns (slated for incomplete Endicott forts) on modified 1870s Rodman gun carriages. [27]
Most Endicott batteries were still years from completion, especially the 3-inch and 6-inch batteries. Some 6-inch and 4.7-inch guns were purchased from the United Kingdom and mounted at the Endicott forts still under construction, including the two 4.7-inch guns at Fort Strong. [11]