Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles:
Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battery Terminal Island
90mm gun on an M3
fixed mount (Coast Defense Study Group)
US Army Corps
of Engineers Los Angeles District History (14 February 1990)
The site identified as the former Anti-Motor
Torpedo Boat Battery Terminal Island, Harbor Defenses of Los
Angeles (HDLA) was located on the Southeast portion of Reservation
Point, Terminal Island, six miles Southwest of Long Beach.
The War Department obtained two Use Permits
from the Department of the Navy. One contained "no area"
and was issued on 2 January 1943 for gun emplacement sites and
the other
contained 0.08 of an acre issued on 6 October 1944 for an underground
cable right-of-way.
The site was used for two AMTB battery emplacements as part of
the harbor defenses of Los Angeles. Construction took place during
1943-1944. In addition to two fixed emplacements mounting 90mm
guns om M3 mounts and two temporary sites on portable M1 mounts.
A Declaration of Excess was filed on 25 April 1955 and Letter
Permit No. LA-457 (no area) was relinquished to the Department
of the Navy on 21 May 1951. The permit dated 6 October 1944 was
relinquished to the Department of Navy on 14 May 1956. The property
is currently owned by the Los Angeles City Harbor Department.
The property is being used as residential housing for U.S. Coast
Guard Base personnel.
Anti-Motor
Torpedo Boat Batteries, Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles
by Justin M. Ruhge
In 1942 five batteries of AMTB guns protected
the San Pedro Harbor. There were four batteries of 90-mm guns
and 37-mm guns and one of only 37-mm guns. These were fast-firing
weapons, which were supplemented with 50-caliber machine guns
and searchlights as needed. The 90-mm batteries were four guns,
two of which were permanent and two mobile. These were supplemented
with two mobile 37-mm guns.
These batteries were located at the Gaffey
Bulge where Gaffey Street winds around Battery Leary-Merriam;
JAAN No. 1, Navy Field; JAAN No. 2, Bluff Park; and Terminal Island.
The fifth battery was designated Dolphins.
This was a line of 10 37-mm guns on towers with searchlights located
along the harbor breakwater - making a total of 34 guns.
