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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 Endicott forts were fully funded during and after the Spanish–American War, and were substantially complete by 1906. In 1905 the Taft Board met to decide on further improvements. The United States had acquired Hawaii and the Philippines in 1898, along with the Panama Canal Zone in 1903.
Fort Wetherill retained its pair of 6-inch pedestal guns. Fort Burnside gained a pair of 3-inch guns from Fort Getty. All the original Endicott-era guns of Forts Adams, Getty, Greble, and Kearny were removed or scrapped by 1944. [34] Five 90 mm gun Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) batteries were built or deployed in the Narragansett Bay area.
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 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.
As new defenses were built, and with little threat to the east coast from enemy air or surface raiders, the heavy weapons at Boston's Endicott-era forts were scrapped in 1942-43. Fort Warren's and Fort Heath's 12-inch guns were the last heavy Endicott weapons to be scrapped, in 1945.
All of these forts also had between four and seven 6-inch (152 mm) guns and several 3-inch (76 mm) guns to defend the minefields against minesweepers. Fort Mansfield was one of the smallest Endicott forts, with two 8-inch (203 mm) disappearing guns and four 5-inch (127 mm) guns. The initial forts were substantially complete by 1906. [29]
12-inch (305 mm) disappearing gun emplacement, Fort Stark. As recommended by the Endicott Board of 1885, construction began in 1898 on three forts to defend the Portsmouth area. Fort Stark on Jaffrey's Point was the largest, Fort Foster in Kittery was second, and two new batteries were built adjacent to Fort Constitution. [18]