Point Vicente Military Reservation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:49, 12 January 2013

Point Vicente Military Reservation (1942-1974) - An Coastal Military Reservation first established in 1930 above Long Point and Point Vincente in the present day city of Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles County, California. A sub-post of Fort MacArthur. Abandoned in 1974.

Point Vicente MR Site from Below	City of Rancho Palos Verdes Complex on Old Point Vicente MR

World War II (1941-1945)

Part of the Harbor Defense of Los Angeles.

Construction on the modern 6" twin gun Battery 240 began in 1942 and was completed with the proof firing of the guns in October 1943. Battery 240 was located on the upper level of the reservation overlooking Point Vincente. Two fire control stations were built at FC Site #3 behind Battery 240 higher up in the hills at the 500' level. These fire control stations serviced Battery 240, Battery 241, Battery 127 and would have serviced Battery 128 had it been armed.

Two SCR-296 Radar fire control stations were built even higher up in the hills at the 700' and 1000' levels. These Radar sites serviced Battery 240 and Battery 127.

**Long Point Military Reservation World War II Battery** (edit list)
Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery 155 - Long Point	2	155mm	Mobile, Panama Mounts	1941-1942-1943-1944	$ 8,208
Source: CDSG

Cold War (1947–1991)

A NIKE missile launch and administrative site LA-55L was located on the Long Point Military Reservation in 1956. The site consisted of a launch facility/magazine and and a barracks/administrative facility. The launch/magazine facility is now a maintenance yard for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes and the barracks/administrative facility is the city hall complex.

A separate control site LA-55C was located in the hills above the launch site. The control site housed the Radar (AN/FPS-71, AN/FPA-16) and communications equipment for controlling the missile intercepts of hostile enemy aircraft.

The NIKE systems at the Long Point Military Reservation evolved with the NIKE program into an advanced aircraft interceptor missile system with a nuclear capability. In the 1970s the threat changed from long range bomber attacks to intercontinental nuclear missile attacks and the NIKE system became obsolete. In 1974 the NIKE system was deactivated and the NIKE facilities at Long Point MR were closed.

The abandoned site was first offered to Federal agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard retained a small portion of the site that included Battery 240 for a communications site. In the end, the newly formed city of Rancho Palos Verdes obtained title to the former military reservation and the NIKE control site above it.

**Long Point Nike Batteries** (edit list)
Battery	Type	Location	GPS	Dates
LA-55C	Control	Above Point Vicente MR	33.758007, -118.368094	1956-1974
LA-55L	Launch	Point Vicente MR	33.74375, -118.403773	1956-1974
Source: Fort MacArthur - NIKE, Wikipedia - California NIKE Stes

Current Status

Most of the old military reservation site is owned by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles County, California. The city hall and other city facilities are located on the former military reservation. The area around gun emplacement #2 of Battery 240 is marked with U.S. Government signs. Access to the former NIKE launch site and magazine is restricted by city signs but nearly all of the sites can be photographed from unrestricted areas.

The NIKE control site above the old military reservation is now the Del Cerro City Park with no remnants or mention of the military facilities. The view of the California coast and Catalina Island is spectacular from this site.

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Location: City Hall, Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles County, California.

Maps & Images

Lat: 33.7447911 Long: -118.4045523

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

Recent Blog Posts:

U.S. Forts - Long Point Military Reservation, California

Sources:

U.S.Army, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles, (LA-AN-WDC-44), 31 Aug 1944, CDSG

Links:

Visited: 4 Jan 2013

Point Vicente Military Reservation Picture Gallery

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

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-|width="50%"|[[File:Battery 240 - 21.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Long Point MR Site from Below]]
+|width="50%"|[[File:Battery 240 - 21.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Point Vicente MR Site from Below]]
-|width="50%"|[[File:NIKE LA-55 - 01.jpg|300px|thumb|right|City of Rancho Palos Verdes Complex on Old Long Point MR]]
+|width="50%"|[[File:NIKE LA-55 - 01.jpg|300px|thumb|right|City of Rancho Palos Verdes Complex on Old Point Vicente MR]]
 |-
-|colspan="2"|[[File:Long Point MR - FC - 15.jpg|795px|thumb|center|Long Point MR 1930 Fire Control Station]]
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