Planning and Design
The Board of Fortifications chaired by William H. Taft recommended that key harbors of territories acquired by the United States after the Spanish-American War be fortified. Consequently El Fraile Island was fortified and incorporated into the harbor defenses, Manila and Subic Bays.
Initially Fort Drum was planned as a mine control and mine casemate station. However, due to inadequate defenses in the area, a plan was devised to level the island, and then build a concrete structure on top of it armed with two twin 12 inch guns. This was submitted to the War Department, which decided to change the 12 inch guns to 14 inch guns mounted in twin armoured turrets. The forward turret, with a traverse of 230°, was mounted on the forward portion of the top deck, which was 9 feet below the top deck; the rear turret, with a full 360° traverse, was mounted on the top deck. The guns of both turrets were capable of 15° elevation, giving them a range of 19,200 yards. Secondary armament was to be provided by two pairs of 6 inch guns mounted in armoured casemates on either side of the main structure. There were two 3 inch mobile AA guns on "spider" mounts for anti-aircraft defense. Overhead protection of the fort was provided by a 18ft. thick steel-reinforced concrete deck. The exterior concrete walls of the fort were to be 25-to-60-foot-thick (7.6 to 18 m).
Read more about this topic: Fort Drum (El Fraile Island)
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