Coastal artillery

thumb|right|The [[Castle Islands Fortifications, Bermuda|fortifications of the Castle Harbour Islands and St. George's Harbour, in Bermuda. Construction beginning in 1612, these were the first stone fortifications, with the first coastal artillery batteries, built by England in the New World.]]

thumb|right|An [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman redoubt of the Dardanelles Fortified Area. The weapon is possibly a German-made 28 cm SK L/40 gun on a coast defense mount.]]

Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications.

From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of cannons were highly important to military affairs and generally represented the areas of highest technology and capital cost among materiel. The advent of 20th-century technologies, especially military aviation, naval aviation, jet aircraft, and guided missiles, reduced the primacy of cannons, battleships, and coastal artillery. In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquired amphibious capabilities. In littoral warfare, mobile coastal artillery armed with surface-to-surface missiles can still be used to deny the use of sea lanes.

It was long held as a rule of thumb that one shore-based gun equaled three naval guns of the same caliber, due to the steadiness of the coastal gun which allowed for significantly higher accuracy than their sea-mounted counterparts. Land-based guns also benefited in most cases from the additional protection of walls or earth mounds. The range of gunpowder-based coastal artillery also has a derivative role in international law and diplomacy, wherein a country's three-mile limit of "coastal waters" is recognized as under the nation or state's laws.

History

thumb|50-pounder Model 1811 [[Columbiad (7.25 inch or 184 mm bore) and center-pivot mounting designed by George Bomford as an experimental coastal defense gun. This gun was built in 1811 as a component of the Second System of US fortifications.]]

One of the first recorded uses of coastal artillery was in 1381—during the war between Ferdinand I of Portugal and Henry II of Castile—when the troops of the King of Portugal used cannons to defend Lisbon against an attack from the Castilian naval fleet.

The use of coastal artillery expanded during the Age of Discoveries, in the 16th century; when a colonial power took over an overseas territory, one of their first tasks was to build a coastal fortress, both to deter rival naval powers and to subjugate the natives. The Martello tower is an excellent example of a widely used coastal fort that mounted defensive artillery, in this case, muzzle-loading cannon. During the 19th century, the Chinese Qing Dynasty also built hundreds of coastal fortresses in an attempt to counter Western naval threats.

Coastal artillery fortifications generally followed the development of land fortifications; sometimes separate land defence forts were built to protect coastal forts. Through the middle 19th century, coastal forts could be bastion forts, star forts, polygonal forts, or sea forts, the first three types often with detached gun batteries called "water batteries". Coastal defence weapons throughout history were heavy naval guns or weapons based on them, often supplemented by lighter weapons. In the late 19th century separate batteries of coastal artillery replaced forts in some countries; in some areas, these became widely separated geographically through the mid-20th century as weapon ranges increased. The amount of landward defence provided began to vary by country from the late 19th century; by 1900 new US forts almost totally neglected these defences. Booms were also usually part of a protected harbor's defences. In the middle 19th century underwater minefields and later controlled mines were often used, or stored in peacetime to be available in wartime. With the rise of the submarine threat at the beginning of the 20th century, anti-submarine nets were used extensively, usually added to boom defences, with major warships often being equipped with them (to allow rapid deployment once the ship was anchored or moored) through early World War I. In World War I railway artillery emerged and soon became part of coastal artillery in some countries; with railway artillery in coast defence some type of revolving mount had to be provided to allow tracking of fast-moving targets.

Coastal artillery could be part of the Navy (as in Scandinavian countries, war-time Germany, and the Soviet Union), or part of the Army (as in the Anglosphere alignment for significant English-speaking countries). In English-speaking countries, certain coastal artillery positions were sometimes referred to as 'Land Batteries', distinguishing this form of artillery battery from for example floating batteries.

In the United Kingdom, in the later 19th and earlier 20th Centuries, the land batteries of the coastal artillery were the responsibility of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

In the United States, coastal artillery was established in 1794 as a branch of the Army and a series of construction programs of coastal defenses began: the "First System" in 1794, the "Second System" in 1804, and the "Third System" or "Permanent System" in 1816. Masonry forts were determined to be obsolete following the American Civil War, and a postwar program of earthwork defenses was poorly funded. In 1885 the Endicott Board recommended an extensive program of new U.S. harbor defenses, featuring new rifled artillery and minefield defenses; most of the board's recommendations were implemented. Construction on these was initially slow, as new weapons and systems were developed from scratch, but was greatly hastened following the Spanish–American War of 1898. Shortly thereafter, in 1907, Congress split the field artillery and coast artillery into separate branches, creating a separate Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) The CAC was disbanded as a separate branch in 1950.

In the first decade of the 20th century, the United States Marine Corps established the Advanced Base Force. The force was used for setting up and defending advanced overseas bases, and its close ties to the Navy allowed it to man coast artillery around these bases.

Russo-Japanese War

thumb|right|Japanese 11-inch howitzer firing; shell visible in flight

During the Siege of Port Arthur, Imperial Japanese forces had captured the vantage point on 203 Meter Hill overlooking Port Arthur harbor. After relocating heavy howitzers with 500 pound (~220 kg) armor-piercing shells to the summit of the Hill, the Japanese bombarded the Russian fleet in the harbor, systematically sinking the Russian ships within range. The Japanese were attacking the city and the Russian ships were trapped in the harbor due to mines, making this one of the few cases of coastal guns being employed in an offensive action.

On December 5, 1904, the battleship Poltava was destroyed, followed by the battleship Retvizan on December 7, 1904, the battleships Pobeda and Peresvet and the cruisers Pallada and Bayan on December 9, 1904. The battleship Sevastopol, although hit 5 times by shells, managed to move out of range of the guns. Stung by the fact that the Russian Pacific Fleet had been sunk by the Imperial Japanese Army and not by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and with a direct order from Tokyo that the Sevastopol was not to be allowed to escape, Admiral Togo sent in wave after wave of destroyers in six separate attacks on the sole remaining Russian battleship. After 3 weeks, the Sevastopol was still afloat, having survived 124 torpedoes fired at her while sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging six other vessels. The Japanese had meanwhile lost the cruiser Takasago to a mine outside the harbor.

World War II

Poland

On September 1, 1939, the Wehrmacht began their attack on Poland. The Artillery Battery No. 31, part of the Coastal Artillery Division, immediately took over a huge part of the burden of defending the Polish coast, preventing German ships from approaching the Hel Peninsula.

On September 3, an artillery duel took place between the Polish coastal batteries, ORP Gryf and ORP Wicher, and the German destroyers Leberecht Maass and Wolfgang Zenker. After a 15-minute exchange of fire, Leberecht Maass was hit in the gun mask, with several wounded sailors (this fact was reported by both the commander of the Laskowski battery, Captain Zbigniew Przybyszewski, and the German Rear Admiral Lütjens). The German destroyers set up a smoke screen and withdrew from the fight.

Post-World War II

After World War II the advent of jet aircraft and guided missiles reduced the role of coastal artillery in defending a country against air and sea attacks while also rendering fixed artillery emplacements vulnerable to enemy strikes.

The Scandinavian countries, with their long coastlines and relatively weak navies, continued in the development and installation of modern coastal artillery systems, usually hidden in well-camouflaged armored turrets (for example Swedish 12 cm automatic turret gun). In these countries the coastal artillery was part of the naval forces and used naval targeting systems. Both mobile and stationary (e.g. 100 56 TK) systems were used.

In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquired amphibious or anti-ship missile capabilities. In constricted waters, mobile coastal artillery armed with surface-to-surface missiles still can be used to deny the use of sea lanes. The Type 88 surface-to-ship missile is an example of modern mobile coastal artillery. Poland also retains a coastal missile division armed with the Naval Strike Missile.

During the Croatian War of Independence in 1991, coastal artillery operated by Croatian forces played an important role in defending Croatian Adriatic coast from Yugoslav naval and air strikes, especially around Zadar, Šibenik and Split, defeating the Yugoslav Navy in the Battle of the Dalmatian Channels.

In practice, there is a distinction between artillery sited to bombard a coastal region and coastal artillery, which has naval-compatible targeting systems and communications that are integrated with the navy rather than the army.

Examples

;In the UK

Admiralty Pier Turret
Tyne Turrets
Cross-Channel guns
Palmerston Forts
Needles Battery
Ness Battery

;British Empire

Castle Islands Fortifications, Fort St. Catherine's, St. David's Battery, Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda and nearly a hundred other forts and batteries built in Bermuda between 1612 and 1939.
Fort Siloso
Fort Ostenburg
Fort Queenscliff
Hobart coastal defences
Coastal fortifications of New Zealand

;United States of America

Board of Fortifications
U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps
Seacoast defense in the United States
List of coastal fortifications of the United States
Battery Chamberlin

;Dominion of Canada

York Redoubt
Connaught Battery
Cape Spear
Fort Amherst

;Asia

Manila and Subic Bays
Fort Drum (El Fraile Island)
Fort Mills
Singapore – consisted of five 15-inch (381 mm) guns
Taku Forts

;Nazi Germany

Atlantic Wall
Hanstholm fortress / Batterie Vara
Cross-Channel guns
Battery Lothringen

;South & Central America

Callao
Fort Copacabana
Santa Clara Battery
Valdivian fort system

;Australia

Fort Denison
Fort Glanville
Fort Pearce

;Other

Heliodor Laskowski's Artillery Battery No. 31 (XXXI)
Coastal artillery of the Dardanelles Strait, Ottoman Empire
German coastal battery Tirpitz near Constanța, Romania
Swedish Coastal Artillery
Russian Empire: Peter the Great's Naval Fortress, part of the fortification line protecting Saint Petersburg
Spanish Army Coastal Artillery, including eighteen 38.1 cm /45 Model 1926 naval gun

Gallery

File:RML 11 inch 25 ton gun at Fort George in Bermuda.jpg|RML 11 inch 25 ton gun at Fort George, Bermuda.

File:16-inch coast artillery gun stamped Watervliet Arsenal 1921.jpg|16-inch howitzer M1920, Fort Story, Virginia, USA 1942.

File:Fire of the Oil Depot Caused by Our Gunfire.jpg|Pallada under fire as the Oil Depot burns

File:Pallada and Pobeda.jpg|Pallada and Pobeda

File:Martello Tower seen from Ferry Island Fort, Ferry Reach, Bermuda 2011.jpg|The evolution of coastal fortification design, between the 1790s and 1822, can be discerned between Ferry Island Fort (in the foreground), with multiple guns arrayed to cover the water westward, and the Martello tower in the background, which used a single gun with 360° traverse to cover the area.

File:Suomenlinna gun 5.jpg|19th-century coastal artillery guns preserved in Suomenlinna fortress in Helsinki.

File:British 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle-Loaded (RML) Gun on Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort, Bermuda.jpg|British 64 Pounder RML Gun on a Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort, Bermuda. The fort housed a fixed battery, meant to serve as coastal artillery, as well as guarding against an overland attack.

File:Coastal fortification, gun turret schematic.png|Schematic of a coastal fortification with a rotating gun turret.

File:Coastal fortification, fixed battery schematic.png|Coastal fortification with fixed guns.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12507, Amerika, Küstenbatterie beim Abschuss.jpg|16-inch Navy MkIIMI gun (possibly MkIIIMI) firing from a US Army coast defense mount, 1931. The weapon behind it is on a disappearing carriage.

File:16-inch-Casemated.jpg|Typical US Army World War II installation of a 16-inch casemated gun.

File:St. David's Battery (or the Examination Battery), St. David's, Bermuda in 2011.jpg|A 9.2" RBL (two 6" RBLs are in background) of the St. David's Battery (or the Examination Battery), St. David's Island, Bermuda in 2011

File:BL 9.2 inch gun Mk X at Fort Victoria on St. George's Island in Bermuda.jpg|9.2" RBL at Fort Victoria on St. George's Island in Bermuda

File:St. David's Battery, Bermuda in 1942.jpg|St. David's Battery, Bermuda in 1942, with two 9.2" (left) and two 6" guns

File:BL 6 inch rifle, with two BL 9.2 inch rifles beyond, at St. David's Battery, Bermuda, 2011.jpg|A 6" RBL, and two 9.2" RBLs, at St. David's Battery, in Bermuda, in 2011

File:Tk3 at Femörefortet.jpeg|75 mm turret gun model 1957 at Femöre battery, Sweden

File:Bateria Outão 01.JPG|3 abandoned BL 6-inch Mk VII naval gun at 7th coastal artillery battery at Outão, Portugal

File:Stanowisko nr 4 baterii im. Heliodora Laskowskiego w Helu.jpg|Site no. 4 of the Heliodor Laskowski's battery with 130 mm B-13 gun in Hel, 2024

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Books and articles

References

External links

Coast Defense Study Group homepage and list of US forts and batteries
A brief history of the coast artillery corps
Defenses along the Pacific Coast of the United States
Fort Carroll
Coastal Artillery of Finland and Russia at Northern Fortress
John T. Duchesneau: The Artillery of Fort Adams