Bit of history: NJ Coastal Battery with 16" naval guns

[Karoneth]

I thought some of you might be interested in this.  I had never known until today that NJ had two 16" (406 mm) naval guns up in Highlands, NJ in Battery Lewis to protect the NYC Harbor during WW2, along with a couple 6" (155 mm) guns.  No, this isn't an April Fool's joke.  They are actually installing a spare 16" gun from the USS New Jersey in the battery today.

 

https://twitter.com/MonCountyParks/status/583302230452936704/photo/1

 

http://co.monmouth.nj.us/documents/130/battery_lewis_info_sheet_feb_2015.pdf

[Zombie_Slayer237]

Nice find! Very interesting that the U.S. decided to do that during WWll.

[NutrientibusMeaGallus]

If they restored it so the gun could actually be used.... That would be awesome. Are those sites also the later Nike missile sites in NJ? From what I understand a lot of the shore mounted naval gun installations were basically repurposed for the Nike program. I know there were at least 2 Nike stations in NJ and a handful of others in the NY area...

[Moksie]

If they restored it so the gun could actually be used.... That would be awesome. Are those sites also the later Nike missile sites in NJ? From what I understand a lot of the shore mounted naval gun installations were basically repurposed for the Nike program. I know there were at least 2 Nike stations in NJ and a handful of others in the NY area...

 

We had a Nike missile base on Education Hill where 3 schools were located in Redmond WA.

[UncleDaddy]

Ive always thought coastal defense was such a foolish idea, its so easy to destroy a static target.

[Karoneth]

You are correct, this site that had the two 16"/50 caliber Mark 2 guns also has the "Twin Lights of the Navesink" on Mt Mitchell right near the battery and was a Nike command and control site.  More on this very historical site in NJ that was the first site in the nation with the AN/FPS-7 radar:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlands_Air_Force_Station

 

On the Nikes, on the Joint Base (Mcquire AFB - Fort Dix - Lakehurst NAEC) there was also a Nike installation.  We had about 14 total Nike sites in NJ as can be seen here!

 

http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/NYmsg.html

 

[Hawlsey]

Fort Monroe (which was the oldest operational stone fort in the US until recently) was not only home to a very robust battery of coastal artillery, but it was both the home of Artillery. When artillery split between Field and Coastal Artillery, it was the home to the Coastal Artillery school.

 

"10-inch gun on M1888 disappearing carriage (DC) at Fort Monroe, VA, April, 1918"

[Drakenred]

Actualy its harder to take out Costal guns with a battleship than people realise

 

First off a costal artilery position is in and of itself a small target compated to a battleship

 

Its a almost perfectly stable platform as oposed to anything ship mounted. (thus giving them an advantage over ship mounted gunnery)

 

the later costal batterys used by the US were further hardend against Battleships by being burried under soil, esentually making them Virtualy shell proof to anything that was not a direct hit the barrel of the gun itself.  Never mind that a target that due to being burried in the side of an artifical hill made them hard to spot visualy and on radar (in fact in a test post war the navy had to literaly dig the batterys out from under there shellproofing and then had to go back and install radar reflectors just to get a solid enough return for radar directed fire controll a something to aim at)