Sunday, February 08, 2009

Corregidor Island: Battery Grubbs

Battery Grubbs is another of Corregidor's heavy seacoast emplacements one will get to visit on the regular guided island tour. Work for this battery was done from 1907 to 1911 at a cost $212,397.86. It had two 10-inch disappearing guns making the battery the only battery with 10-inch gun emplacements in the Manila Harbor Defenses. These were 1895M1 guns on Model 1901 Disappearing Carriages (#25/#14 and #22/#16) and were apparently never changed during the battery service life. It was named in honor of 1st Lt. Hayden Y. Grubbs, 6th U.S. Infantry, who died during the Philippine-American War in 1899.

Main article: Corregidor's artillery batteries
Related article: Corregidor Island day trip via Sun Crusies

Corregidor Island: Battery Hearn

Battery Hearn is another of the relatively intact Corregidor artillery batteries one visits during the regular island tour. Constructed from 1918 to 1921 at a cost of $148,105, Hearn and companion Battery Smith were the last major caliber sea coast artillery built on Corregidor before the Washington Disarmament Treaty of 1922.

Battery Hearn was part of Battery Smith (Battery Smith Gun No. 2) until 1937 when it was renamed Hearn in honor of Brigadier General Clint C. Hearn who commander the harbor defenses on Manila and Subic Bay in 1919.

It was armed with a 12-inch (305mm) gun model 1895A2, mounted on a Barbette Carriage Model 1917, which with a maximum firing elevation of 35 degrees, could fire a 1,000-pound (454.5kg) shell propelled by a 270-pound (122.7kg) separately loaded bagged charge to a range of 30,000 yards 17 miles or 7.4 km.

Main article: Corregidor's artillery batteries
Related article: Corregidor Island day trip via Sun Crusies

Friday, February 06, 2009

Corregidor Island: Battery Way

Battery Way is said to be the most intact of Corregidor's artillery batteries. And it's no surprise that it's one of the most visited and most photographed attractions on the island.

Construction for this battery began in 1904. It was completed in 1914 at a total cost of $112,969 and named in honor of 2nd Lt. Henry N. Way, 4th U.S. Artillery, who died in service in the Philippines in 1900.

Armed with four 12-inch (305mm) M1890 mortar carriages which were capable of lobbing a 1,000-pound (454.5kg) deck piercing shell or 700-pound (318kg) high explosive shell 14,610 yards (8.3 miles or 13.35 km) in any direction.

On May 6, the day Corregidor surrendered, Battery Way continued firing all morning. Only when the breech block of its last gun froze at 11 a.m., warped by the heat from constant firing, did it stop firing. It was the last of Corregidor's "concrete artillery" to cease fire before the surrender at 12 noon.

Main article: Corregidor's artillery batteries
Related article: Corregidor Island day trip via Sun Crusies
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