Battery 247
Battery 247 (1944-1947) - A World War II reinforced concrete gun battery built at Fort Canby between 9 Feb 1943 and 31 Aug 1944 at a cost of $243,397. Transferred to the Cast Artillery for service on 28 Oct 1944. Deactivation started in July 1945 and troops were withdrawn by October 1947.
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Battery 247 Gun #2 Mount Ring 2015. -
Battery 247 Gun #1 Mount. -
Battery 247 South Entrance 2015.
World War II (1941-1945)
Part of the Harbor Defense of the Columbia. One of three like batteries that provided a "triangle of fire" protection for the mouth of the Columbia River. Battery 245 at Fort Stevens, Battery 246 at Fort Columbia and Battery 247 at Fort Canby made up the three points of the triangle.
Armament consisted of two rapid-fire 6", Model T2, 309.9" long rifled guns each mounted in a separate shielded M4 Barbette carriage. Between the two guns was a reinforced concrete bunker housing the ammunition and control mechanisms.
Target and fire control information was provided from a series of coastal observation stations by telephone landlines to a plotting room within the battery structure. Also providing fire control information to the plotting room was the nearby Fort Canby WWII Radar Site. The radar site could provide precise range and azimuth for a single target. Correcting adjustments could be made by the observation stations observing the splashes of near misses and occasionally the splashes could also be observed on the radar.
| 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.
Current StatusBattery 247 is located on McKenzie Head in Cape Disappointment State Park near Ilwaco, Washington. The battery is open to the public and in reasonable condition. No guns or carriages are in place. Follow the signs to McKenzie Head and park in the small lot at the base of the trail. It's a short climb from the parking lot to the battery above. Parking is limited. Lat: 46.28427 Long: -124.065693 Elevation: 194' Bing, Google
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