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Federal battery with 13-inch seacoast mortars, Model 1861, during the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia (1862). Drawing showing trajectories of gun and mortar fire. Siege artillery is heavy artillery primarily used in military attacks on fortified positions.
When the United States gained independence in 1783, the seacoast defense fortifications were in poor condition. Concerned by the outbreak of war in Europe in 1793, the Congress created a combined unit of "Artillerists and Engineers" to design, build, and garrison forts in 1794, appointed a committee to study coast defense needs, and appropriated money to construct a number of fortifications ...
Until 1901 federal forts were garrisoned by various artillery units; following the Civil War most units at the forts were designated as heavy artillery batteries. [4] Although designs varied, most were bastioned polygonal forts , having a large seacoast armament with musketry loopholes and howitzer positions to defend against land attacks.
Heavy artillery during the Civil War consisted of siege artillery, garrison artillery, and coastal artillery. Siege and garrison artillery were larger versions of field artillery, mounted on heavyweight carriages which allowed them very limited mobility: the M1839 24-pounder smoothbore was the largest one which could still be moved by road.
The 16-inch howitzer M1920 (406 mm) was a coastal artillery piece installed to defend major American seaports between 1922 and 1947. They were operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps.
The 12-inch coast defense mortar was a weapon of 12-inch (305 mm) caliber emplaced during the 1890s and early 20th century to defend US harbors from seaborne attack. [note 1] In 1886, when the Endicott Board set forth its initial plan for upgrading the coast defenses of the United States, it relied primarily on mortars, not guns, to defend American harbors.
The War Department formed a Board of Review that recommended an increase in strength, which resulted in 105 new CA companies in 1916–17, although these were initially undermanned. After the American entry into World War I, the Coast Artillery as a whole was ordered brought up to strength, and 71 new companies were organized by July 1917. [10]
The siege of Fort Pulaski (or the siege and reduction of Fort Pulaski) concluded with the battle of Fort Pulaski fought April 10–11, 1862, during the American Civil War. Union forces on Tybee Island and naval operations conducted a 112-day siege, then captured the Confederate -held Fort Pulaski after a 30-hour bombardment.