Battery Pennington: Difference between revisions
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'''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1922-1947) - Battery Pennington was an open plan, 16 inch coastal howitzer battery on [[Fort Story]], Virginia. The battery was named 27 Mar 1922 after BG [[Cummings McWhorter Pennington, Jr.]], [[2nd U.S. Artillery]], [[U.S. Civil War]] veteran, who died 30 Nov 1917. Battery construction was approved 29 Apr 1921 and began | '''{{PAGENAME}}''' (1922-1947) - Battery Pennington was an open plan, 16 inch coastal howitzer battery on [[Fort Story]], Virginia. The battery was named 27 Mar 1922 after BG [[Cummings McWhorter Pennington, Jr.]], [[2nd U.S. Artillery]], [[U.S. Civil War]] veteran, who died 30 Nov 1917. Battery construction was approved 29 Apr 1921 and began on July 1921, was completed on 5 Jul 1922 and transferred to the Coastal Artillery for use 21 Oct 1922. The howitzers were mounted between September 1922 and 20 Oct 1924. Deactivated in 1947. | ||
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Revision as of 17:32, 25 July 2010
Battery Pennington (1922-1947) - Battery Pennington was an open plan, 16 inch coastal howitzer battery on Fort Story, Virginia. The battery was named 27 Mar 1922 after BG Cummings McWhorter Pennington, Jr., 2nd U.S. Artillery, U.S. Civil War veteran, who died 30 Nov 1917. Battery construction was approved 29 Apr 1921 and began on July 1921, was completed on 5 Jul 1922 and transferred to the Coastal Artillery for use 21 Oct 1922. The howitzers were mounted between September 1922 and 20 Oct 1924. Deactivated in 1947.
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Battery Pennington History
Part of the Harbor Defense of Chesapeake Bay.
Originally built as a coastal gun battery with four 16" M1920 howitzers mounted on M1920 howitzer carriages.
Four circular open concrete pads each connected to two sets of magazines and shell rooms formed the battery infrastructure. Two detached power houses furnished electrical power to the Battery. Railroad tracks connected the magazines, shell rooms and the gun emplacement together and the gun emplacements were also connected by the rail system so any set of magazines and shell rooms could service any gun emplacement. The Battery rail system was then connected to the Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks for resupply of munitions and armament.
The shell rooms were designed so that the rail tracks ran down through the middle of the building facilitating the loading of the heavy 16" shells directly onto the rail shell carriers. The magazines were designed so that rail tracks ran on each side of the building and three roll up steel doors on each side gave handlers easy access to the large powder bags.
Behind gun emplacement #3, a 280 foot tunnel through a large sand dune led to combination plotting room and switchboard room. This tunnel was 15' high and 14' wide with railroad tracks through it, allowing railroad artillery to be sheltered inside.
Operationally, the Battery was divided into two batteries of two howitzers each and they were originally called Penningington A and B. Each of the batteries had it's own separate plotting room. Gun emplacements 3 and 4 were renamed for BG Willoughby Walke in 1940.
| Empl No |
Caliber Type |
Barrel Length |
Model | Serial No |
Manufacturer | Carriage | Service Dates |
Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16" Howitzer | 427" | M1920 | 3 | Watervliet | Howitzer, M1920, #2, Watertown | 1922-1947 | See note 1 | |
| 2 | 16" Howitzer | 427" | M1920 | 4 | Watervliet | Howitzer, M1920, #3, Watertown | 1923-1947 | See note 2 | |
| 3 | 16" Howitzer | 427" | M1920 | 2 | Watervliet | Howitzer, M1920, #4, Watertown | 1922-1947 | See note 3 | |
| 4 | 16" Howitzer | 427" | M1920 | 5 | Watervliet | Howitzer, M1920, #1, Watertown | 1924-1947 | See note 4 | |
| Source: RCW Form 1,7 Nov 1924, Coast Defense Study Group, Berhow, Mark A. ed, American Seacoast Defenses: A Reference Guide, 2nd Edition, CDSG Press, McLean, VA, 2004, ISBN 0-9748167-0-1, pages 178-179, 210 Note 1: Gun transferred from Watervliet 16 Jun 1922 Note 1: Gun transferred from Watervliet 29 Jun 1922 Note 3: Gun transferred from Watertown 2 Mar 1923 Note 4: Gun transferred from Watervliet 24 Jan 1924 | |||||||||
Current Status
No period guns or mounts in place. Many of the support buildings survive but the rail system is removed. Most of the surviving emplacement #4 structures are in the base RV park and readily accessible. The surviving emplacement #3 structures are around a part of the post housing. The surviving emplacement #1 and #2 structures are mostly in a restricted training area and not accessible.
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Location: Fort Story, Virginia Maps & Images Lat: 36.917329 Long: -76.004416 |
Sources:
Links:
Visited: 21-27 Jul 2010
Battery Pennington Picture Gallery
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