Existing comment:
Battery Lancaster
Defending the Golden Gate
Battery Lancaster, the northernmost of Fort Winfield Scott's coastal defense batteries, was part of a chain of fortifications that spanned the Golden Gate.
Battery Lancaster's mission was unique, among the many artillery installations on this bluff. From 1900 through World War I, Lancaster's three guns offered the only artillery coverage from the south for the narrowest part of the harbor entrance.
In addition to the gun pit, and the two gun emplacements, Battery Lancaster featured several underground rooms and ammunition magazines. Most of these were buried or destroyed by construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in the early 1930s. However, portions survived and the battery saw service again during World War II.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, soldiers were sent to defend the Bridge. The commanding officer selected flat ground near the toll plaza for the company's antiaircraft guns and set up his headquarters, and quarters for his soldiers, in what remained of Battery Lancaster.
World War II Defenses
Under the command of Captain Harry Freeman, World War II troops protected the Golden Gate Bridge with antiaircraft guns and lived in Battery Lancaster, in underground rooms beneath the Bridge toll plaza. |