Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Fort Baker: Battery Duncan
Battery Duncan
by Mr. Chuck Woffard
This Endicott battery was named in GO
194, February 14, l902 in honor of Colonel James Duncan, a West
Point graduate, who had a highly distinguished record in the
Mexican War. In 1849 he became a Colonel in the Inspector General
Dept., but died that same year.
Ordnance
This battery was armed with two 8-inch breech
loading rifles, Model 1888; serial number 8 came from the West
Point Foundry and serial 24 from Bethlehem Iron Company. The guns
each weighed 32,489 lbs and cost $16,875.00. There were a total
of 93 manufactured.
These were mounted on barbette carriages
Model 1892, numbers 2 and 4, and were fabricated at the Watertown
Arsenal, and these are the specification for them. #2 was shipped
from Watertown Arsenal to Fort Monroe on May 10, 1898, and from
there to Fort Baker in 1899. Carriages Built: 9, Original Emplacement:
9, Time Emplaced: 1898-1900, Number of Bolts: 16, Circle Diameter:
9' 10", Parapet Height: 6". Most mounted in temporary
emplacements, two designed batteries, Drew (1 emplacement) and
Duncan (2 emplacements). The carriage weighted 84,000 lbs and
cost $14,000.00.
The following is information on the Model
1888 #8 and #24
Emplacement #1 the reference height of
the crest=214.01 and Emplacement #2 the reference height of the
crest=214.04.
Gun # 1 Model 1888 Serial 8 was mounted
and emplaced in April 1900, under the supervision of 1st Lt Harry
Clark and was tested for level on May 10-12, 1900 by Capt. Otto
von Geldru. Reference of base ring at the top of the ring = M.L.L.W.
212.14 ft. and the number of shots fired was 49, since its first
target practice on January 5, 1904.
Gun # 2 Model 1888 Serial 24 was mounted
and emplaced in April 1900, under the supervision of 1st Lt Harry
Clark and was tested for level on May 10-12, 1900 By Capt. Otto
von Geldru. Reference of the base ring/top of ring M.L.L.W. 212.9
ft, and the number of shots fired was 48, since its first target
practice on January 5, 1904.
The following is information on Carriages
Model 1892 #2 and #4
Carriage Model 1892 #2 was mounted May
10-12, 1900 under the supervision of 1st Lt Harry Clark and was
leveled by Capt. Otto von Geldru.
Carriage Model 1892 #4 was mounted May
10-12, 1900 under the supervision of 1st Lt Harry Clark and was
leveled by Capt. Otto von Geldru.
Sights
The sights on these guns were M1910, can
not find the serial numbers for them.
Ammunition Service
The means which must be provided for moving
ammunition depend, of course, upon the weight and bulk of the
piece to be moved. Since this battery was a one story and was
level from shell and powder rooms to the loading platforms, and
used an overhead trolley to move the shells out of the room into
the hall, where they were loaded on a shot truck and taken to
the gun for loading, other than a crane to hoist the shell to
the breech, in the powder there are no mechanical gear provided,
the propellant charges were light enough to carry in a handbarrows.
The projectile are stored in rows along
the wall of the shell room, with there point to the wall so the
bases could be gotten at for placing fuses, the bottom layer
of shells where placed in pairs and put on timber skids, and
then stacked using the same method. There were trolley rails
fastened to the ceilings over the center of gravity of the shells
in each row, after 1908 this was changed, and the larger shells
were stacked in two rows down the middle of the shell room, there
fore there was a passageway between the walls and between the
rows.
The form of trolley used in this battery
were four wheeled travelers, running on the lower flanges of
I-beams suspended from the ceiling of the shot room and passages.
Each trolley carried a half ton Yale-Weston triplex block.
As far as powder service, the powder was
shipped to the battery in metal cases and stored in racks, that
they were shipped in, in most cases, there ends projecting into
the passageway. When a cartridge was desired the solder strip
was to be pulled of without moving the cartridge case from the
rack, this loosens the top of the case and the cartridge is then
pulled out, leaving the case still fastened in it proper place,
all the powder was carried in a handbarrow, by four men to the
gun for loading.
The ammunition supply for this battery
was stored in the magazines. There were two shell rooms that
where 27' x 10', and held 200 shots that were 28" long and
200 shell that were 36" long. The battle allowance for this
battery was 150 rounds of fire and larger amounts could be put
in the shell and powder, by stacking higher or closer together.
The size of the powder magazine was 16' x 17' and held 800 cartons,
3 tiers high each box was 10 1/8 x 10 1/6 x 23 13/32, can not
find out how many in a box, and each and had a range of 16,268
yards.
Construction
As with any battery is to be built in
any Engineer district, as much information as may be necessary
is sent to the district officer. On March 17, 1898 directions
were given by telegraph to construct this emplacement for two
8" guns with funds from the appropriation for National Defense
Act of March 9, 1898, in the amount of $49,000.00.
Further instructions directed the use of all possible dispatch
in carrying this work to a completion. Lt Deakyne was placed
in charge, after surveys of the ground had been made and plans
prepared work was commenced. This battery was arranged to straddle
the ridge and face south, thus giving the most advantageous field
of fire. This peculiar situation enabled the magazine, etc. to
be held at the level of the terrepleins, so that no lifts are
required and the service of the guns would be very rapid. There
was some time consumed in building roads, arranging the pumping
plant, and accumulating supplies. The road itself was 2,400 feet
long, with a grade of 1 in 15 to connect the battery site. Construction
of this battery began in March 29, 1898, with the clearing and
grading of the site.
After the site was cleared, the excavation was started. There
was 17,885 cubic yards of dirt and sand excavated . The material
encountered was a soft red rock that required blasting and two
shifts of men working from 4.00 a.m. until 12.00 p.m. and from
12 p.m. till 8.p.m. were employed in the excavating. Part of
the work was done before and after daylight, light being obtained
from large oil lamps, known as station lamps. Excavation for
the magazine was carried down to grade by April 21, 1898 and
the construction of forms was then begun. On the timber used
in making the forms, in all cases dressed lumber was to be used.
After the forms were started then came the iron and steel, in
the form of I beams for reinforcing ceilings, and in columns
for supporting ceilings. For reinforcing concrete deformed steel
bars were inserted into places in the forms. A total of over
2,300 lbs of reinforcing bars was used.
While excavation was in progress the concrete plant was being
put up. It consisted, essentially, of a cubic mixer driven by
a steam engine and a large platform above the mixer. The material
was hauled up to this platform by teams, and after measurement
in the required proportions it was delivered through a hopper
into the mixer. The mixer was given at least 10 turns; the concrete
was then discharged into cars running on a track that extended
from the mixer to all parts of the work.
The first concrete was laid April 24, but owing to difficulty
in operating the original pumping plant, concrete work was not
fairly started until May 4. The rough concrete of the magazine
was completed May 12 and cement finishing was immediately begun.
In the larger emplacement like Duncan the gun block is very large
and complex, and separated from the other portions of the emplacement
by "planes" or more "properly, surfaces of weakness",
there is one between the parapet and also one between the loading
platform, the latter is sometimes it is a few feet farther away
from the axis of the gun, also there is the loading platforms,
which is space around the gun and the carriage, upon which the
members of the detachment stands while loading the ammunition
the gun. By the 14th the rough concrete of platforms was in place,
and the base rings have been set. There was used over 2,700 yards
of concrete and nearly 1,112 yards of finished concrete, which
they mixed in a color to help it blend in with top of the hill,
was used in this battery.
A large amount of excavation was made in front of the battery
to cut down the ridge to the necessary grade for the field of
fire, at the end of June there was still a months on hand to
entirely complete the work.
All walls in contact with earth were coated with paraffin paint.
On smooth plastered surfaces 1 gallon covered 8 square yards
with one coat or 6 square yards with two coats. The magazine
was covered with an embankment of earth; in this a lookout was
built. The walls and ceiling of the rooms and passages were whitewashed;
using 1 barrel of lime, 1 bluing, 1 lb. of potash, and 10 lbs
of Russian tallow.
The walls that show in the distance were tinted to correspond
with the color of the soil bank surrounding the battery. For
this purpose they were coated with a mixture of cement and water
to the constituency of whitewash and adding Pecora mortar stain
and lampblack in such proportion as to produce as nearly as possible
the dull red color of the bank, and the results were satisfactory,
both in immediate appearance and durability. The earth covering
the magazine and the various slopes was coated with loam and
seeded with barley.
A reservoir for permanent water supply of the battery was built
on the ridge northwest of the battery. It is cylindrical in shape,
12 feet in diameter and 12 feet high, made of concrete, having
its top on a level with the surface of the ground. Its capacity
is about 10,000 gallons. The water is pumped to the reservoir
from a well near Horseshoe Cove with the pumping plant that was
used in the construction of the battery.
A latrine was constructed on the west
side of the road leading out from the north corner of the battery.
It consists of rear and end walls of concrete 1 foot thick, with
a frame front and shingle roof. The water for the latrine comes
from the reservoir supplying the battery, the outlet is a 4"
pipe leading down the hill from the battery and emptying at the
bluff near the edge of the bay.
The width across the front of this battery
was 165' and the depth was 90', the gun had a range of 16,268
yards, at an elevation of 217 feet; distance between the guns
138 feet. Unlike most heavy-caliber batteries of this period,
Duncan was a one story work, with its magazine floor at the same
level as the emplacement, and a very high central traverse, it
also had a Plotting Room (10' x 28') that was equipped with one
Lewis Depression Position Finder, one Whistler Hearne Plotting
Board: Model 1904, one Pratt Range Board: Model 1905, and Time
Interval Ball, and E and D Room (10' x 10' ) Guard Room (10'
x 16') and a switchboard, which was part of the E and D room
with a central gallery (75' x 6') to take the shells and powder
to the guns.
One of the last thing to be done is to
the using of sand on the front and flanks of the battery. The
sand was filled in front of the concrete then when a shell was
fired at the battery it has been found that a projectile entering
a mass of sand appears to have a tendency to deflect upward and
to leave the sand with out penetrating very far, there was over
3,000 yards of fill including the back fill. The exception is
the blast apron, which is made of concrete, and immediately in
front of the gun, they had to be laid very carefully.
When the structure is completed the district
Engineer officer prepares the so called "transfer drawing"
then the Engineer officer and the local Coast Artillery officer,
made an inspection of the structure, and all was in order the
keys, were transferred to the Artillery commander. This two 8-inch
gun emplacements on Yellow Bluff were completed in March 1899,
the Engineers reported it complete and recommended that it be
turned over to the care of troops even through the guns and carriages
had not arrived. The carriages arrived in July from the east,
and R.D. Noble and A. Desonza of Sausalito moved them from the
wharf to the site of the battery for the sum of $585.00 and were
completed in early 1899. On May 7, 1898, the engineers reported
it complete and recommended that it be turned over to the care
of the troops even though the gun had not been mounted.
The guns arrived Dec. 1899 and Davis &
Sons of San Francisco moved them to the site for a cost of $420.00,
the work was completed the same month. The base rings were set
in January, the reference of Base Ring-Top LLW 212.14 feet, then
the guns where mounted, and the battery was and transferred on
May 6 1900, at a cost of $57,536.00.
Fire Control
The Plotting Room at Duncan had the following
equipment in a 10' x 28' room that was equipped with one Lewis
Depression Position Finder, Type A-Model 1 and the top of the
pedestal was 4.35 -- one Whistler Hearne Plotting Board: Type
A Model 1904, one Pratt Range Board: Model 1905, and Time Interval
Ball. This battery had a standard B.C. and B station. No horizontal
system provided. Standing fire control system installed and was
complete in 1909.
Miscellaneous
It was ventilated by natural draft 6"
vent from the magazine terminating in emplacement wall. It was
connected to both water and sewer and had a siphon latrine, for
data transmission they were provided a telephone and speaking
tubes. Trunnion elevation in the inside of this battery was 215.1,
Datum plane M.L.L.W.
Abandonment
It's guns were dismounted in 1917, and
shipped to the Watervliet Arsenal, where they were mounted on
railway carriages, these weapons were never sent overseas, but
rather remained in storage for many years, the original barbette
carriages were sold as scrap to the Union Junk Company of San
Francisco in May or June of 1918, they also left much of the
equipment and machinery in place. After the guns in this battery
were dismounted, the magazines were used for storage purposes.
In July 1, 1932 the latrine and the B. and the B.C. were demolished
as per the authority if the 1st Ind HQ Ninth Corps. This battery
saw service from 1898 to 1917. Battery Duncan offers a vivid
contrast to the near by 1870s Battery Cavallo, and the 1900s
Battery Yates, to the novice and the expert alike the contrasts
in architecture and material among these three batteries can
be an exciting experience.
Battery Duncan
by Justin Ruhge
Commenced immediately upon the receipt
of funding, Duncan was built in about three months. The carriages
arrived from the east in July 1899. The work was completed in
December and the guns mounted shortly thereafter. The battery
was turned over to the troop on May 5, 1900.
Located on Yellow Bluff above and to the
northeast of Battery Cavallo, and known prior to its official
naming as the Yellow Bluff Battery, Battery Duncan consisted
of two 8-inch guns on barbette carriages, essentially identical
with those at Battery Spencer, though smaller. Like the No. 3
gun of Spencer, its field of fire was directed inward, over the
Bay. Both were designed at a time when coast defenses were intended
not only to keep an enemy from entering a harbor, but also to
deny him safe anchorage should he succeed in entering. Unlike
most heavy caliber batteries of this period, Duncan was a one-story
work with its magazine floor at the same level as the emplacements,
and with a very high central traverse.
Battery Duncan's two 8-inch breech-loading
rifles Model 1888, No 8, came from the West Point Foundry and
No. 24 came from the Bethlehem Steel Company. These guns were
mounted on barbette carriages Model 1892, Nos. 2 and 4 from the
Watertown Arsenal.
Battery Duncan was names in General Order
16 February 14, 1902 in honor of Colonel James Duncan, a West
Point graduate, who had a highly distinguished record in the
Mexican War. In 1849 he became a Colonel in the Inspector General
Department but died that same year.
Battery Duncan's first target practice
by troops of the 68th Company, Coast Artillery was on January
5, 1904.
Because of the limited utility of both
the battery's orientation and its weapons, it came to be regarded
as obsolete by World War I. Its guns were removed after having
fired a total of only about 50 rounds each and then used as railroad
guns in Europe. Following its abandonment as an active defense
unit, the battery structure was used, along with the old Battery
Cavallo fting type of carriage. Later this plan was modified
to place the guns on the Buffington-Crozier carriages.
Report of
Completed Works - Seacoast Fortifications
