Historic California Posts, Camo,
Stations and Airfields
Lime Point Military Reservation:
Ridge Battery
Presidio of San Francisco
Training Aids Support Center Photo Collection, C-1, Golden Gate
National Recreation Area, Photo Archives.
Ridge Battery consisted of four 15-inch
Rodman emplacements located mid-way along the ridge and more
than a hundred yards north of Cliff Battery/Battery Spencer.
It was first armed in 1893 with four 15-inch Rodman smoothbores
transferred from the Presidio of San Francisco. (They were dismounted
at Fort Scott to make way for construction of Battery Cranston
and Marcus Miller.) Ridge Battery was disarmed circa 1909. It
wasn't affected by the construction of Cliff Battery, and its
four positions are still visible as you walk up the "covered
way" to Battery Spencer.
Ridge Battery
by Justin Ruhge
Ridge Battery was just inland from Cliff
Battery by about 100 feet. Here Mendell proposed to place four
15-inch guns and four seacoast mortars. Two of the guns would
fire into the waters of the bay and two toward the sea. Two traverses
containing magazines would complete the works. This battery was
only slightly lower than Cliff Battery, its terreplein having
an elevation of 438 feet. This battery was also completed in
1873. Most of it exists today. Only two 8-inch rifles were mounted
here in the 1890s. No mortars were ever mounted.
Ridge Battery
Today
Looking towards Battery
Spenser, October 2000
Looking From Battery
Spenser, October 2000
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