Construction
Construction began in April 1909 and lasted five years while the island was leveled by U.S. Army engineers and then was built up with thick layers of steel-reinforced concrete into a massive structure roughly resembling a concrete ship, 350 feet long, 144 feet wide, and with a top deck 40 feet above water at mean low tide. The 14 inch M1909 guns and their two custom built turrets, dubbed Batteries Marshall and Wilson, were delivered and installed by 1916. The secondary 6 inch M1908MII guns, batteries Roberts and McCrea, were installed the same year. Searchlights, anti-aircraft batteries, and a lattice-style fire control tower were mounted on the fort's upper surface. The living quarters for the approximately 240 officers and enlisted men along with the power generators, plotting rooms and ammunition magazines were located deep inside the fort.
Read more about this topic: Fort Drum (El Fraile Island)
Famous quotes containing the word construction:
“No construction stiff working overtime takes more stress and straining than we did just to stay high.”
—Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter and director, and Dan Yost. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon)
“The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than convictions.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)
“There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)