Fort Tilden

Fort Tilden (1917-1974) - A late Endicott Period Coastal Fort originally established 19 Feb 1917 as Camp Rockaway Beach, later named Fort Tilden after Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York State and Presidential candidate in 1876. Decommissioned in 1974 and transfered to the National Park Service Gateway National Recreation Area (GNRA).

Fort Tilden History

Established as a part of the Harbor Defense of Southern New York.

World War I

Camp Rockaway Beach was established on 19 Feb 1917 by a cadre of 4 Army officers and 130 enlisted men on Rockaway Beach, but the site was not actually purchased from New York State until 1 May 1917. Construction on the post began that year under the supervision of U.S. Army Engineers and concentrated on the building of the coastal gun batteries themselves. A limited number of support facilities were built to facilitate the gun battery construction.

Fort Tilden World War I Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery Harris (2)	2	16"	Long Range Barbette	1921-1923-1924-1948	$ 136,035	Casemated during WWII
Battery Unnamed	4	12"	Mortar	1917-1919	$ ?	At NAS Rockaway
Battery Kessler	2	6"	Pedestal	1917-1923-1923-1947	$ ?	Buried, guns from Battery Burk, Fort Hamilton (1)
Battery Fergusson	2	6"	Pedestal	1917-1917-1917-1942	$ ?	Guns from Battery Kinney, Fort Slocum (2)
Source: CDSG

Post World War I

Fort Tilden Plan

World War II

Fort Tilden World War II Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Battery Cost	Notes
Battery 220	2	6"	Pedestal	1941-1943-1944-1946	$ 229,507	Not Armed
Battery AMTB 18 - Norton Point	4	3"	Fixed Pedestal	1943-1943-1943-1946	$ ?	Norton Point Guns & carriages from Fort Wadsworth, Battery Catlin
Battery AMTB 19 - Norton Point	2 2	90mm 90mm	Fixed Pedestal Mobile	1943-1943-1943-1946	$ ?	Norton Point
Battery AMTB 20 - Rockaway Point	2	3"	Fixed Pedestal	1943-1943-1943-1946	$ 5,950	Rockaway Point Guns & carriages from Fort Wadsworth, Battery Catlin
Battery AMTB 21 - Rockaway Point	2 2	90mm 90mm	Fixed Pedestal Mobile	1943-1943-1943-1946	$ 12,891	Rockaway Point
Source: CDSG

Current Status

The portion of the Fort that contained the coastal gun batteries was declared surplus and is now a Baltimore County Park.

Now a part of Fort Tilden National park. No period guns or carriages in place.

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Location: Fort Tilden, Rockaway Peninsula, Queens, New York City Maps & Images Lat: 40.563889 Long: -73.891111 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: '

Sources:

• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 585
• The History of Fort Tilden
• Wikipedia - Fort Tilden
• NorthAmericanForts.com
• Coast Defense Study Group, CDSG Press, CDSG Digital Library

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