2008.10.12
Battery Townsley
Battery Townsley was top secret in WWII, and was a casemated battery with two 16" caliber guns (aka battleship guns) that shot one ton armor-piercing shells 25 miles out to sea. Kaboom!
1 page / 18 photos
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Rodeo Beach
Battery Townsley is just north of the Golden Gate, and stands guard over the entrance to the San Francisco Bay. Here we are looking south down the coast, with Rodeo Beach and Fort Cronkhite in the foreground.
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Battery Townsley - 1938
The battery was constructed in 1938. It took almost two years, until the summer of 1940, to get the big guns and complex ready to fire rounds of live ammunition.
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Rusty Anchor
These anchors were used to pull the big guns through the tunnels (the guns had to be replaced on a regular basis).
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Calibrated to Detonate
The huge shells contained fuses which were calibrated to detonate after the shell had pierced the enemy ship's armor.
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Nike Missiles Rule Sausalito
This is some old military graffiti artwork from the 50's or 60's. By then Nike missiles, not the big guns, guarded the coast.
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Blast chamber
This tunnel/chamber was added in the 60's to test blast effects, long after the battery was decommissioned post WWII.
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Spotting Scope
These spotting scopes were in hardened bunkers located at distances from Battery Townsley to allow for precise triangulation.
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