Battery 118

From FortWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Battery 118 (1943-1948) - Battery 118 was a reinforced concrete, World War II 16 inch coastal gun battery on Fort Miles, Delaware. Named Battery Smith (3) for MG William R. Smith, US Army. Battery construction started on 24 March 1941, was completed on 31 Oct 1942 and transferred to the Coast Artillery for use on 21 Dec 1943 at a cost of $ 1,326,000.00. Deactivated in 1948.

Fort Miles, Battery Smith Gun Emplacement #2 Bricked Up Front Casemate
Fort Miles Battery Smith Gun Emplacement #2 Rear Entrance Converted to Base Theater

World War II

Part of the Harbor Defense of the Delaware.

Originally built as casemated World War II concrete coastal gun battery with two 16" MarkII-M1 guns mounted on M4 Barbette carriages.

Battery 118 Armament (edit list)
Empl
No
Caliber
Type
Barrel
Length
Model Serial
No
Manufacturer Carriage Service
Dates
Notes
1 16" Rifle 816" MarkII-M1 110 Watervliet Barbette, M4, #24, Watertown 1943-1948 See note 1
2 16" Rifle 816" MarkII-M1 44 Midvale Barbette, M4, #23, Watertown 1943-1948 See note 2
Source: RCW Form 1, 1 May 1944, Coast Defense Study Group, Berhow, Mark A. ed, American Seacoast Defenses: A Reference Guide, 2nd Edition, CDSG Press, McLean, VA, 2004, ISBN 0-9748167-0-1, pages 176-177, 208
Note 1: Gun transferred from Watervliet 13 Jun 1942, carriage transferred from Watertown 19 Sep 1942
Note 2: Gun transferred from Watervliet 14 Jun 1942, carriage transferred from Watertown 18 Aug 1942
Battery 118 Plan


Current Status

No period guns or mounts in place. Currently used by the maintenance department of Cape Henlopen State Park and for museum artifact storage. Emplacement #2 was modified as the base theater including bricking up the front of the casemate.


Location: Cape Henlopen State Park, Fort Miles, Delaware

Maps & Images

Lat: 38.7705723 Long: -75.08614

  • Multi Maps from ACME
  • Maps from Bing
  • Maps from Google
  • Elevation: 24.667'

Recent Blog Posts:

Sources:

  • U.S.Army, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project of The Delaware, (HDDEL-AN-45), 1 Jul 1945, CDSG

Links:

Visited: 3 Aug 2010

Battery 118 Picture Gallery

Click on the picture to see a larger version. Contribute additional pictures - the more the better!


Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
content
Toolbox