"Old Coast Guard Station and Golden Gate Bridge" by U.S. National Park Service , public domain
![]() | Presidio of San FranciscoBattery Chamberlin |
Brochure of Battery Chamberlin at Presidio of San Francisco at Golden Gate National Recreation Area (NRA) in California. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
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Battery Chamberlin
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Golden Gate
National Recreation Area
Practice firing of an original 6-inch gun mounted on a disappearing carriage, around 1910.
A voice bellows, "Load!" Like integral
parts of the gun they are loading,
thirteen soldiers spring into action. The
first yanks open the breechblock (door)
at the rear of the barrel, allowing the
next to shove the seven-foot sponge in
and out of the firing chamber. Two men
San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
Baker Beach, 1905
bring forward the 100-lb. shell on a ladle,
followed by another with a long pole
who rams the shell into the barrel's
breech. The bag of gunpowder is heaved
in behind, and the breechblock is swung
shut and locked. Still another soldier
trips a lever, and the gun springs up on
massive arms, above the wall behind
which it was hidden. The sergeant shouts
"Fire!" and tugs on the long lanyard
attached to the rear of the gun. There is
a deafening boom, a tongue of flame,
and a huge cloud of smoke! The shell
speeds toward a target mounted on a raft
seven miles out to sea. The gun recoils,
swinging back and down, behind the
wall of the battery the men stand poised
to reload. Sweating in their fatigues, they
silently thank the sea breeze for cooling
them. Only thirty seconds have passed,
and they are once again reloading the gun.
Gun drill at Battery Chamberlin around 1942.
One soldier loads the gun powder bag as
another with shell ladle withdraws.
A New Era of Defense
7/06
New weaponry and ironclad ships
forced brick forts and cannonballs into
obsolescence during the Civil War.
Secretary of War William C. Endicott
authorized the construction of a new
system of defenses to guard U.S. ports
against foreign naval attack. Rifled guns,
which fired bullet-shaped projectiles,
replaced the old smoothbore cannon.
Concrete batteries, armed with rifled
guns, were built at all major American
ports between the 1880's and the 1910's.
The largest of the new guns installed at the
Presidio in the 1890s,like this one at Battery
Godfrey, had 12-inch bores.
San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
Observers at several remote posts sighted
on moving targets and telephoned angles
to a plotting room. Here, officers triangulated the target’s position and relayed aiming
orders to the gun crews.
Guns on the Beach
Battery Chamberlin’s guns
protected underwater
mines like this one.
World War II
Red Cross Cookie Brigade
visits Battery Chamberlin
during the war.
Battery Chamberlin
Today
Battery Chamberlin, the last Endicottera battery built at the Presidio, was
completed in 1904 and initially armed
with four 6-inch guns. These guns were
mounted on disappearing carriages,
which allowed the gun and crew to be
hidden behind a concrete shield during
aiming and loading. The battery
protected underwater minefields
located outside the Golden Gate from
enemy minesweepers and moderatesized warships. Its guns had a range of
8 miles and each could fire at the rate
of two rounds per minute. Most of the
guns around the Golden Gate ranged
in size from 3 inches up to 12 inches in
diameter and could strike battleships
up to 15 miles out to sea.
After Pearl Harbor, the West Coast was
on high alert for an expected Japanese
attack. The Sixth Coast Artillery
Regiment, Battery "D," manned the guns
at Chamberlin, which were hidden from
aircraft by camouflage netting. The
soldiers had to be ready to defend at a
moment's notice. They slept in cramped
makeshift bunks in the battery’s magazine
(ammunition storage room). A mess hall
and additional underground barracks
were built, but the attack never came.
batteries disarmed, and the guns scrapped
during “Operation Blowtorch.” A new
era of air and missile defense had arrived,
ushering in the Cold War and nuclear
brinkmanship with the Soviet Union.
World War II proved the superiority of
air power as well as amphibious attack,
and made stationary defenses like battery
Chamberlin obsolete. In 1948, the Coast
Artillery Corps was deactivated, all the
Today, you can take part in
demonstrations of a 50-ton rifle and
relive the duties of a soldier preparing
for imminent attack. The underground
magazine is now a museum, with photos
and exhibits on the coastal defenses of
San Francisco. Here you can contemplate the role these men and weapons
played in our nation's security.
Battery Chamberlin's original guns
were removed in 1917 for use in World
War I, but the battery was modified and
two 6-inch guns on simple “barbette”
carriages were again mounted in 1920.
By the mid-1920s, many of the “smaller”
guns were removed from their batteries,
but in 1929 the largest seacoast guns
made were mounted on either side of
the Golden Gate—16" guns with an
accurate range of 25 miles!
Cramped sleeping quarters in Chamberlin’s
shell room, 1942.
National Park Service volunteers
maintain and interpret the historic gun.
Talk to any staff member about
volunteer opportunities.
Battery Chamberlin is located at the
north end of the Baker Beach parking
lot. It is open on the first full weekend of
each month, between 11 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Call 415-561-4323 for more information.
Join a Gun demonstration.
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using soy-based ink
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