The most recognizable and prolific fortifications in North America were the installations constructed along the shores of the United States and its territories over a hundred years ago. Travel to any major port in the United States and one can find a fortification that once stood guard to protect trade and industry. In 1885, the Board of Fortifications was established to research and report on the state of American coastal fortifications. The findings were not good. Since the end of the Civil War, twenty years previous, many of the defensive systems had seen very little improvement and most of those were obsolete. At Fort Foster, the government had purchased land in 1873 to construct Battery Berry. This project never saw completion. One of the primary reasons was the onset of America's first major economic downturn, the Long Depression of 1873-1879, at the beginning of construction. However, beginning in 1898 the site became one of the key fortifications of the Portsmouth Harbor defensive system.
The Board of Fortifications, headed by Secretary of War William C. Endicott, made sweeping suggestions that would alter the landscape of strategic coastal locations on both coasts and in American territories. Several factors helped drive the massive construction project. Technological advancements in weapons had made Civil War era weapons obsolete. Gone were smooth bore cannons. Breech loading rifled guns with more powerful propellants made for more accurate and longer reaching weapons. Changes in the role of America's navy from a defensive to a more offensive force required a new approach to protecting strategic harbors and emerging modern European navies fueled competition to build newer and more lethal weapon systems.
Endicott forts employed many newer and larger variations of older weapons. Mortars were grouped together behind concrete walls out of sight from approaching ships. These massed weapons could fire projectiles in a high trajectory to fall onto the decks of ships where there armor was weakest. Large 8, 10 and 12 inch rifled guns were mounted on disappearing carriages allowing them to be out of sight during loading. Once the weapon was loaded, it would be hoisted above the parapet for firing. The recoil helped to bring the weapon back down to the safety of the hidden loading platform. Electricity was employed to operate more than communication lines. Electric hoists, or elevators, were used to move propellant and projectile from the safety of underground magazines to the loading platform and spotlights were employed to light up target areas. The most important aspect of the defensive system was the creation of submersed minefields. Smaller and faster firing weapons were employed to protect these minefields that possessed explosives designed to damaged enemy ships from below the waterline. Connected together in groups and electrically detonated, these were the primary weapon of harbor defenses.
The Board of Fortifications, headed by Secretary of War William C. Endicott, made sweeping suggestions that would alter the landscape of strategic coastal locations on both coasts and in American territories. Several factors helped drive the massive construction project. Technological advancements in weapons had made Civil War era weapons obsolete. Gone were smooth bore cannons. Breech loading rifled guns with more powerful propellants made for more accurate and longer reaching weapons. Changes in the role of America's navy from a defensive to a more offensive force required a new approach to protecting strategic harbors and emerging modern European navies fueled competition to build newer and more lethal weapon systems.
Endicott forts employed many newer and larger variations of older weapons. Mortars were grouped together behind concrete walls out of sight from approaching ships. These massed weapons could fire projectiles in a high trajectory to fall onto the decks of ships where there armor was weakest. Large 8, 10 and 12 inch rifled guns were mounted on disappearing carriages allowing them to be out of sight during loading. Once the weapon was loaded, it would be hoisted above the parapet for firing. The recoil helped to bring the weapon back down to the safety of the hidden loading platform. Electricity was employed to operate more than communication lines. Electric hoists, or elevators, were used to move propellant and projectile from the safety of underground magazines to the loading platform and spotlights were employed to light up target areas. The most important aspect of the defensive system was the creation of submersed minefields. Smaller and faster firing weapons were employed to protect these minefields that possessed explosives designed to damaged enemy ships from below the waterline. Connected together in groups and electrically detonated, these were the primary weapon of harbor defenses.