Historic California
Posts, Camps, Stations and Airfields
Fort Miley: Battery
Loren H. Call
Battery Loren
H. Call
by Gordon Chappell, National Park Service
Battery Loren H. Call was built for the
5 inch M1900 guns mounted on M1903 pedestal mounts removed from
Battery Ledyard, Fort McDowell, during the Japanese scare of
1914-1915. It was completed in 1916 and decommissioned in 1921.
Battery Call was disarmed in 1921, the guns sent to Watervliet
Arsenal. The carriages were dismounted scrapped and sold to a
John W. Smith of San Francisco sometime thereafter.
The battery was named for aviation pioneer
First Lieutenant Loren H. Call who was killed in an airplane
crash at Texas City, TX on 9 July 1913. The emplacement was destroyed
by subsequent construction for the Veterans Hospital.
Battery Loren
H. Call
by Justin Ruhge
The two 5-inch guns and pedestals for
this battery were transferred from Battery Ledyard on Angel Island.
This battery was to have its own magazine and plotting room located
under the traverse between the guns.
Construction of this new and simple battery was completed in
September 1915. This work was turned over to the Coast Artillery
Corps in June 1916.
General Orders 23, War Department, April
27, 1915, named this battery Lorne H. Call in honor of First
Lieutenant Loren H. Call, Coast Artillery Corps, who was killed
on July 8, 1913, while making an airplane flight in the line
of duty.
Battery Call continued to function throughout
World War I. However, in 1921, its guns were dismounted and shipped
to the Watervliet Arsenal in New York. The carriages were dismounted,
scrapped, and sold to John W. Smith, San Francisco. The date
that the Army considered the battery abandoned is unknown. With
the establishment of a veterans' hospital at Fort Miley, the
emplacements of this battery were destroyed.
Report of
Completed Works - Seacoast Fortifications
