CABRILLO The Guns of San Diego Historic Resource Study

G. Fire Control Stations

The base-end stations built during the war for the new batteries had either one or two levels, were constructed of concrete, and usually had steel roofs. Unlike the older stations, they were camouflaged with rocks cemented on their roofs. The two-level stations had an extra room at the rear of the lower level. Observers often used this room as sleeping quarters although it was not authorized as such. Although the designations of these stations may seem bewildering at first glance, there was logic to the numbering system, for example, B5/3 S5/3. The batteries at San Diego were listed in a tactical order. The lower number "3" indicates that this is a base-end station for the battery that had the tactical number 3, which was Battery Ashburn. The upper number "5" indicates that this was Battery Ashburn's fifth base-end station.

By July 1945 these stations ranged from Solana Beach (Santa Fe) in the north to the Mexican border:

* Extant 1990. ** B5/3 S5/3 shifted from Mexican border to Solana Beach (Santa Fe) along with other redesignations later in the war. B=target azimuth station. S=shot/splash azimuth station.

Additional fire control stations included the combination HDCP-HECP, Battalion One Command Post (CP), Battalion Two CP, meteorological station (former army radio building), and fire control switchboard, all at Fort Rosecrans. A fort command post and Battalion Three CP at Fort Emory were planned but not built. [13] Battalions had replaced the former Groups by 1945.

By 1943 several of the older fire control stations were unassigned, their batteries having been abandoned. Among then were the base-end stations for Battery Calef-Wilkeson (HS8 and HS9) that are within the boundaries of Cabrillo National Monument. Three of the two-level, dug-in stations built during the war are also within the monument: BC3-B1/3 S1/3, (HS3) the battery commander's station and a base-end station for 16-inch Battery Ashburn northwest of the old lighthouse and above the army radio station; BC5, B1/5 S1/5, (HS12) the battery commander's station and a base-end station for Battery Humphreys, the higher of the stations below the Whale Overlook; and B2/1 S2/1 — B4/10 S4/10, (HS13) the upper level was a base-end station for Battery Woodward and the lower was a base-end station for Battery Grant; this is the lower station below the Whale Overlook. The older base-end station below the Cabrillo Statue, HS10, was assigned to Battery McGrath as BC6 B1/6.

Battalion 2 command post facing westward over ocean. Located on Naval Ocean Systems Center property. Photo courtesy of George R. Schneider.

Battalion 1 command post, located south of Old Point Loma Lighthouse on Naval Ocean Systems property. Photo courtesy of George R. Schneider.

H. Wartime Events [14]

On December 8, 1941, the President of Mexico gave permission for a U.S. Army detachment to enter Baja California to survey the country to determine any enemy activity and to select sites for the installation of aircraft detectors. The first detachment, under Capt. Albert P. Ebright, 11th Cavalry, was stopped at the border by the Mexican Army, the local general not having been informed of the permit. The soldiers returned to Fort Rosecrans. Later a detail of American officers was allowed to enter the country, but Mexico demanded that they be in civilian clothing and unarmed. By the summer of 1942, the United States had erected three radar stations in Baja California: at Punta Salispuedes, twenty miles northwest of Ensenada; Punta San Jacinto, 125 miles south of Ensenada; and Punta Diggs on the northeast coast of the peninsula. American personnel operated the stations at first and taught Mexican soldiers how to operate them. In August 1942 the Mexican Army took over the operations under the provisions of lend-lease. [15]

Throughout the war three organizations composed the Harbor Defenses of San Diego: Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, HDSD; the 19th Coast Artillery Regiment (HD), and the 166th Station Hospital (250 beds). The 19th CA Regiment consisted of a headquarters battery, searchlight battery, and three battalions, each with a headquarters battery and three lettered companies. In addition the 141st Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop was attached to Fort Rosecrans. Elsewhere in the San Diego area a large number of army units, including the 140th and 125th Infantry Regiments, the 33rd Coast Artillery Brigade (AA), and the 770th Military Police Battalion, maintained guard. All these units were under the command of the Southern California Sector which was activated December 8, 1941, under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Joseph Stillwell. During the war the U.S. Navy had fifteen activities at San Diego, including the Naval Repair Base, Destroyer Base, Naval Air Station on North Island, Naval Training Station, Naval Supply Depot, Naval Amphibious Base at Coronado, and naval hospitals.

Between 1941 and 1945 Harbor Defenses experienced sixty-one reports of enemy submarines, unidentified surface vessels, and underwater contacts. In the two years 1942 and 1943, ships and planes went into action twenty-eight times because of these reports. During 1943 alone, 115 depth charges were dropped off San Diego. Later studies, however, have not confirmed any Japanese submarine activity in the vicinity of San Diego.

Three military units were activated at Fort Rosecrans in 1942 and 1943. The 262nd Coast Artillery Battalion, consisting of a headquarters battery and two lettered companies, organized in May 1942 and departed for duty in Alaska in November where the Japanese had occupied Attu and Kiska. Black soldiers formed the second unit, the 77th Chemical Smoke Generator Company in April 1942. This outfit remained in San Diego where it established the smoke generator defense of the area. The third outfit, the 281st CA Battalion, was at Fort Rosecrans from February to May 1943, when it departed for the South Pacific.

In May 1942 the United States learned that Japan had prepared plans for attacks on Midway and Alaska. The War Department anticipated that the Japanese would carry out hit-and-run attacks on West Coast cities at the same time. The Pentagon rushed all possible aid to the coast. Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, paid a visit to San Diego on May 23-24. The attacks did not come. Japan suffered a major defeat at Midway early in June. This was the turning point in the Pacific War, but the harbor defenses remained on guard until Japan surrendered. [16]

The death blow finally came to Fort Rosecrans' first Endicott battery, Calef-Wilkeson, in the fall of 1942 when orders came to salvage the guns and carriages. Along with these 10-inch guns, the mortars of Batteries John White and Whistler were declared obsolete. The fort's adjutant figured out the amount of metal in tons that salvaging would yield:

The Army allowed Superintendent John R. White, of Sequoia National Park, to visit Cabrillo National Monument in 1943. He was not pleased with what he saw. The lighthouse had been painted in camouflage colors and was still being used as part of the signal station. The Army had erected a wooden signal tower on the parking lot south of the tower. The superintendent also caught sight of either one of the concrete fire control stations below the later Whale Overlook or the new concrete signal station south of the parking lot. But the Army would continue to have control of the monument for three more years. [18]

The only serious accident during the war in the harbor defenses occurred on January 29, 1944. A defective fuse in a 6-inch, high-explosive projectile caused a premature detonation at Battery Humphreys. Five soldiers were killed and seven were wounded. Both the tube and the cradle were destroyed and several months passed before a replacement gun arrived.

Starting in January 1944, the number of troops assigned to the San Diego area began to decline. Col. Ottosen, besides commanding the harbor defenses, took over command of the Army's San Diego Sub-Sector and moved its headquarters along with the 115th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron to Fort Rosecrans. In June the cavalry transferred to Louisiana, the sub-sector was deactivated, and two platoons of the 141st Cavalry Troop were attached to the harbor defenses.

During 1944 a number of tank and antiaircraft battalions garrisoned the fort while they trained in amphibious landings for operations in the Pacific. The 19th CA Regiment was deactivated that fall, the 1st Battalion becoming the 19th CA Battalion (HD), and the 2nd Battalion, the 523rd CA Battalion (HD). The downgrading of the harbor defenses speeded up in 1945. Most of the personnel transferred overseas. The Harbor Defense Command Post ceased operations in August, two days before Japan's surrender. In September the two harbor defense battalions were deactivated and the garrison now consisted of a headquarters battery and four lettered batteries. Both the Army and the Navy discontinued their activities at the Harbor Entrance Control Post that same month. The twenty-four-hour alert for almost fifty months had come to an end.

I. A Final Look at the Defenses

Army Engineers prepared a "supplement" to the harbor defense project for San Diego and forwarded it to Washington in April 1946, where notations were made on it as late as 1948. Only a few extracts from the supplement are included herein inasmuch as the era of traditional coastal defense was quickly passing into history. [19]

The "Groups" had given way to "Battalion" command posts. Battalion CP1 controlled those elements charged with the defense of the channel entrance to San Diego Bay, that is, the AMTB batteries. Battalion CP2 controlled those elements that could attack enemy naval forces approaching from the north. Battalion CP3, located at Fort Emory, was to have controlled the weapons that could attack an enemy approaching from the south. It was not built. The tactical numbers of the batteries had changed due to the inclusion of the AMTB weapons:

An interesting note said that all the cantonment buildings at Fort Emory were constructed as small one- or two-family cottages and were arranged to give the appearance of a defense housing project. The buildings were painted in pastel colors and the roofs were colored red, blue, and green. Lawns, shrubbery, stone walks, and trees heightened the effect.

Notations on the supplement marked the end of the guns of San Diego. Battery Strong's 8-inch guns were eliminated by War Department approval in 1947. Ashburn's 16-inch guns followed in 1948, as did McGrath's 3-inch guns. The record is silent about the 6-inch batteries Woodward, Humphreys, and Grant, but, before long, their weapons had gone to gun heaven too. The harbor defenses of San Diego were no more.

The harbor defenses in northern Fort Rosecrans upon completion of the modernization program, 1945. National Archives, RG 407, Box 118, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project, Harbor Defenses of San Diego, 1945. (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

The harbor defenses in southern Fort Rosecrans upon completion of the modernization program, 1945. National Archives, RG 407, Box 118, Supplement to the Harbor Defense Project, Harbor Defenses of San Diego, 1945. (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)