Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Bolsa Chica Military Reservation:
Tactical Battery 7
155mm Batteries,
Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles
by Justin Ruhge
The first 155-mm battery at Fort MacArthur was Battery Hogsdon.
This battery of two 155 mm GPFs was built in 1928 and located
in front of the Korean Friendship Bell on the Upper Reservation
north of Point Fermin. One of these mounting rings is visible
in front of Battery 241. The other is used as part of a playground.
In 1942, a program began to place 155-mm
batteries from Santa Barbara to Bolsa Chica. Each battery consisted
of two or three mounting rings, known as Panama Mounts, that allowed
the guns to be rotated 360 degrees, and underground ammunition
storage bunkers and sleeping quarters for the troops. The batteries
were transferred in 1943 and 1944 and cost on average about $10,000
each.
Locations of these Panama Mounts and the
155-mm batteries are: Pacific Palisades, Playa Del Rey, El Segundo/Hyperion,
Redondo Beach, Rocky Point, Long Point, Fort MacArthur, Bolsa
Chica, Costa Mesa, Port Hueneme, Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara.
Some of these locations were built for 3 guns but only two were
delivered. Some of the installations are still visible in
M1918 155mm
Gun
The gun was designed during World War
I by Colonel Louis Filloux to meet France's urgent need for modern
heavy artillery, and became the standard heavy field gun of the
French Army from 1917 until World War II. It was also adopted
by the United States as the M1917, and a close derivative of
it was made in and used by the US as the M1918 through World
War II.
It was also manufactured in the USA from
1917, after the US switched to metric artillery based on French
patterns. It was used by the United States Army and United States
Marine Corps as their primary heavy artillery gun under the designation
155 mm Gun M1917 (French-made) or M1918 (US-made) until 1942,
when it was gradually replaced by the 155 mm M1A1 'Long Tom'.
During World War II, some US-made guns
were used for coast defense of US and allied territories, such
as Australia and Bermuda, typically on "Panama" mountings
- circular concrete platforms with a raised centre section, with
the carriage tires pivoting around the center section and the
split trails spread out on rails at the platform's edge.
Report of
Completed Works - Seacoast Fortifications
