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 28 Oct 1944. Deactivation started in July 1945 and troops were withdrawn by October 1947. 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 land lines to a plotting room within the battery structure. Also providing fire control information to the plotting room was the nearby Fort Canby SCR-296A Radar Site. The radar site could provided 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. 6" Gun at Fort Columbia Originally at Fort McAndrew, Battery 281, Argentia, NL, Canada 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. 6" Gun Crew Battery 247 Armament (edit list) Empl No Caliber Type Barrel Length Model Serial No Manufacturer Carriage Service Dates Notes 1 6" Rifle 309.9" T2-M1 15 Watervliet Shielded Barbette (SBC), M4, #3, Wellman Eng. Co. 1944-1946 See note 1 2 6" Rifle 309.9" T2-M1 17 Watervliet Shielded Barbette (SBC), M4, #4, Wellman Eng. Co. 1944-1946 See note 1 Source: CDSG Note 1: Mounted Apr 1944, sent to Battery 244, 2 Aug 1946, CDSG Gun Card Collection from NARA Battery 247 Plan Current Status Battery 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. {"selectable":false,"width":"500"} Location: Fort Canby, McKenzie Head, Cape Disappointment State Park, Washington. Maps & Images Lat: 46.28427 Long: -124.065693 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 194.62' See Also: Fort Canby SCR-296A Radar Site Fort Canby Sources: Lucero, Donella J. and Hobbs, Nancy L., The Long Beach Peninsula: Where the Columbia Meets the Pacific, Arcadia Publishing, North Beach Peninsula, 2004, 159 pages, ISBN 0738524573, page 48 U.S.Army, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project Harbor Defenses of the Columbia, (CCA-AN-CR), 12 Aug 1946, CDSG Links: CDSG Visited: 17 Sep 2015, 13 Sep 2008, 16 Feb 2008 Picture Gallery Click on the picture to see a larger version. Contribute additional pictures - the more the better! South Gun Mount Interior from the South Entrance Observation Deck Storage Shed Behind the Battery Gun pit emplacement for Battery 247 Building below Battery 247 (possibly the generator /power building?) Battery 247 entrance way, located in Cape Disapointment Camp Ground, on Makinzie Head