Battery 207 (1944-NA) - Battery 207 was a reinforced concrete, World War II 6 inch coastal gun battery on Fort Dawes, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Battery construction started 8 Sep 1942, was completed 31 Oct 1943 and transferred to the Coast Artillery for use 28 Sep 1944 at a cost of $ 300,385.00. May have been armed with the guns from Battery 208 at the end of the war.
Originally built as a World War II concrete coastal gun battery for two 6" T2-M1 rapid fire guns mounted on M3 Shielded Barbette Carriages (SBC) placed on either side of an earth covered reinforced concrete magazine and support structure. Power was supplied by internal generators and commercial power. This battery was conditionally accepted on 28 Sep 1944 without actually being completed or armed. World War II plan location 127 site 1C.
Some indication that the guns from Battery 208 were transferred to Battery 207 after the end of the war. There is a 28 Jun 1948 newspaper account in the Boston Globe of a test firing in June of 1948.
These 6" World War II coastal gun batteries were designed to replace obsolete Endicott Period Batteries. Of the 87 planned only 45 were completed and many of those were not completed until late in the war (1944-1945).
The 6" guns fired a 105 pound armor-piercing projectile with a range of over 15 miles at a rate of up to 5 rounds per minute. The gun crews were protected by a thick shield around the gun. Only six of these guns remain in the world, two at Fort Columbia in Battery 246, two at Fort Pickens in Battery 234, and two at Fort McAndrew in Battery 282 in Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Source: RCW Form 1, 15 Nov 1944, CDSG, Berhow, Mark A. ed, American Seacoast Defenses: A Reference Guide, 2nd Edition, CDSG Press, McLean, VA, 2004, ISBN 0-9748167-0-1, pages 104-105 Note 1: Gun tubes not delivered, carriages installed. Two guns appear to have been transferred from Battery 208 at the end of the war. CDSG Gun Card Collection from NARA
Battery 207 Plan
Current Status
Completely destroyed by the construction of a wastewater treatment plant.
