Subdeacon Joe Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 The Concrete Battleship- Coast Artillery with a Pacific Twist At just over 11 miles across, the mouth of Manila Bay was just wide enough that forts on both sides would be needed. The Army thought El Fraile Island would be a nifty spot for a fort, situated as it was right at the chokepoint of the inlet. But as you can see from the picture above, it wasn’t exactly prime real estate. So the Army made a pretty radical decision. They razed the island to just above the high water mark, and turned it into a concrete battleship. Really. A massive casemate was built, with walls 25-40 feet thick, and a roof up to 18 feet thick of reinforced concrete. Two turrets with two 14” rifles each were installed, with a lattice fire control tower similar to those aboard contemporary US Navy battleships. Interestingly, the turrets were not identical to those used on 14” gun armed battleships, but were designed specifically for this fort. Four casemated 6” guns, and a pair of 3” anti-aircraft guns rounded out the armament. It was roughly 350 feet long, 144 feet wide, and the main deck rose 40 feet above high water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantry Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 If you look in Google Earth you can see just see it. It remained active and effective until the very end until it surrendered to the Japanese. The main side & deck armor was never penetrated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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