Battery Hasbrouck (1914-1943) - Battery Hasbrouck was a reinforced concrete, Taft Period 12 inch coastal mortar battery on Fort Kamehameha, Honolulu County, Hawaii. The battery was named in G.O. 59, 1911 after Brigadier General Henry C. Hasbrouck(Cullum 1908). Battery construction started in July 1909, was completed in October 1914 and transferred to the Coast Artillery for use 10 Nov 1914 at a cost of $ 274,160.65. Deactivated in 1943.
Originally built as a Taft Period concrete coastal mortar battery with eight 12" M1908 mortars mounted on M1908 mortar carriages divided into two mortar pits (A-B) with four mortars in each pit (1-4).
Shells and powder were wheeled from the magazine to the mortar loading platforms on shot carts.
Source: RCW Form 1, 6 Feb 1935, CDSG, Berhow, Mark A. ed, American Seacoast Defenses: A Reference Guide, 2nd Edition, CDSG Press, McLean, VA, 2004, ISBN 0-9748167-0-1, pages 152-153 Note 1: Mortars and carriages ordered salvaged 1 May 1945 CDSG Gun Card Collection from NARA
The U.S. entry into World War I resulted in a widespread removal of large caliber coastal defense gun tubes for service in Europe. Many of the gun and mortar tubes removed were sent to arsenals for modification and mounting on mobile carriages, both wheeled and railroad. Most of the removed gun tubes never made it to Europe and were either remounted or remained at the arsenals until needed elsewhere.
Grobmeier, Alvin H., Officers of the U.S. Army and Others in Honor of whom Coast Artillery Forts and Batteries in Hawaii Have Been Named, CDSG News, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Nov. 1992), pp. 66-67
