Boston Organization and Batteries
Overall command of the Boston Harbor defenses was located at the Harbor Defense Command Post (HDCP) at Fort Banks, the former mortar fort in Winthrop. Under the Harbor Commander were two main artillery commands: South (C-1) and North (C-2). The North Command was headquartered at Fort Ruckman in Nahant, while the South Command was located at Point Allerton . Each of these commands in turn contained two gun battalions: a primary battalion (16-inch and 12-inch guns) and a six-inch gun battalion. For the North, these were G-7 and G-6, both located at East Point. For the South, these were and G-1 at Fourth Cliff and G-2 at Strawberry Point.
Command of the Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) defenses (G-4) was located at Ft. Dawes on Deer Island. This contained a mixture of 9 older 3-inch guns in concrete emplacements on the harbor islands plus 12 newer 90mm guns in 5 batteries (the "900 Series" guns) dispersed around the harbor. Anti-aircraft (AA) defense (G-3), with its command also at Ft. Dawes, involved another 8 3-inch AA guns in 4 batteries located at various forts in the harbor. These guns, first emplaced in the 1920-1930 decade, were augmented at the outbreak of WW2.
Altogther then, there were a total of 57 larger caliber guns (3-inch and up) in the harbor defenses of Boston. Twenty-five of these guns were in the numbered tactical batteries of the North and South commands; 20 more were 90mm AMTB guns, in the separately numbered "900 Series" batteries; and 12 were in the four 3-inch AA batteries. Click to open any of the following panels for details.
The battery ttactical numbers were used during WW2 as a shorthand way of referring to the major gun batteries. Two of these batteries (#12 and #13, both at Ft. Dawes) were never put into service. Two numbers (#1 and #8) were not used. This left 12 operational batteries (with 25 guns). The tactical numbers of these batteries are listed below, in numerical order:
1. [Number not used]
2. Battery 208, two 6-inch guns at Fourth Cliff.
3. Battery Bumpus, two 3-inch guns at the northeast end of Ft. Andrews on Peddock's Island.
4. Battery McCook, two 6-inch guns at the northeast end of Ft. Andrews on Peddock's Island, to the west of Btty Bumpus.
5. Battery Long, two 16-inch guns at Ft. Duvall on Hog (now Spinnaker) Island.
6. Battery Stevens, two 3-inch guns on the southeast side of Ft. Strong on Long Island.
7. Battery Basinger, two 3-inch guns on the north side of Ft. Strong (Long Island)..
8 . [Number not used]
9. Battery Williams, three 3-inch guns at the south end of Ft. Standish on Lovells Island.
10. Battery Whipple, two 6-inch guns on the southeast end of Ft. Standish.
11. Battery Jewell, two 6-inch guns on Outer Brewster Island.
12. Two 16-inch guns planned for Construction 105 at Ft. Dawes, which was canceled before completion (c. 1943). The gun tubes were delivered but then cut up and disposed of for scrap.
13. Two 6-inch guns of Construction 207 at Ft. Dawes on Deer Island, which were never installed.
14. Battery Gardner, two 12-inch guns at Ft. Ruckman in Nahant.
15. Battery 206, two 6-inch guns at East Point in Nahant.
16. Battery Murphy, two 16-inch guns at East Point in Nahant.
For the North Group, the primary gun battalion (G-7) included the two 16-inch guns of Battery Murphy (Battery #16) at East Point in Nahant and the two 12-inch guns of Battery Gardner (Battery #14) at Fort Ruckman, also in Nahant. The 6-inch gun battalion (G-6) contained only the two guns of Battery 206 at East Point (Battery #16) in Nahant, since the two 6-inch guns of Construction #207 at Fort Dawes on Deer Island were cancelled before completion.
For the South Group, the primary gun battalion (G-1) consisted of the two 16-inch guns at Fort Duvall in Hull (Battery #5). Two more 16-inch guns had been planned for Construction 105 at Fort Dawes on Deer Island, but this installation was cancelled and its gun tubes scrapped. The 6-inch gun battalion (G-2) consisted of four two-gun batteries:
- Battery McCook at Fort Andrews on Peddock's Island (Battery #4);
- Battery Whipple at Fort Standish on Lovells Island (Battery #10);
- Construction #206 at Fourth Cliff (Battery #2); and
- Battery Jewell, on Outer Brewster Island (Battery #11).
For the AMTB defenses under the G-4 Battalion, there were a total of nine older 3-inch guns, on pedistal mounts, in the concrete emplacements at the forts:
- Two at Battery Bumpus, Fort Andrews (Battery #3)
- Three at Battery Williams, Fort Standish (Battery #9);
- Two at Battery Stevens, Fort Strong (Battery #6); and
- Two at Battery Basinger, also at Fort Strong (Battery #7).
In addition, the G-4 Battalion controlled five batteries of the newer 90mm guns. These were known as the "900 Series" batteries, No. 941 through No. 945. Each battery contained four guns, and in addition mounted two 37mm antiaircraft guns on M3 carriages plus additional .50 cal. machine gins for ground and air defense. These batteries were located in open emplacements, as follows:
- Battery 941: at Fort Revere in Hull, by the harbor at the northern edge of the fort;
- Battery 942: on Great Brewster Island, at the northern end;
- Battery 943: at Fort Standish (at the northeast tip of Lovells Island, in front of the older Battery Terrill);
- Battery 944: at Fort Dawes (at the southeast tip of Deer Island, in front of the older Battery Taylor); and
- Battery 945: at Fort Heath in Winthrop, at the southeast corner of the fort.
In the G-5 Battalion, there were four separate AA batteries, each with three 3-inch guns, located as follows:
- Battery No. 1: at Fort Revere (on Telegraph Hill) in Hull;
- Battery No. 2: at Fort Standish, on the small hill at the center of Lovells Island;
- Battery No. 3: at Fort Strong on Long Island, at the middle of the northwest shore; and
- Battery No. 4: at Fort Ruckman in Nahant, about 800 ft. northwest of Battery Gardner..
The final tactical unit was the Mine command (G-5), located at Ft. Warren on Georges Island. There were 30 mine groups of 19 mines each ( a total of 570 mines), assigned to two mine batteries--the South mines being controlled from Fort Warren and the North mines from Fort Strong.
