Information board monochrome photograph World War 2 soldiers loading rapid-fire gun, Battery Yates, Fort Baker, San Francisco


By the 1890s the US War Department was concerned about the condition of the country's coastal defences and made recommendations to modernise and re-arm all existing sea-ports. The 'Endicott Board', named after Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, ranked San Francisco as the most important harbour on the Pacific Coast and second only to New York in the country. Fort Baker was built between 1902 and 1910 to house the soldiers at eight newly constructed gun batteries in Marin County on the north side of the Golden Gate. The Endicott-era, reinforced concrete Battery Yates, overlooking San Francisco Bay, to the east of Fort Baker, and named after Captain George W. Yates, killed at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876, was built in 1903, at a cost of $41,407. It was transferred to the Coast Artillery in June 1905 and de-activated in 1943. Battery Yates had six gun emplacements , each with a 3-inch M1902l rapid fire gun, and each having its own magazine. This photograph, part of an information board at the site, shows soldiers, around the start of World War 2, practising their loading drill to help keep their skills sharp. Although Battery Yates' guns were never fired in anger, they could load a 15-pound shell and fire one of these guns every five seconds.


Size: 5152px × 3444px
Location: Information board, Battery Yates, Fort Baker, Golden Gate, San Francisco California, USA
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2, 3-, archive, artillery, baker, battery, board, california, coast, coastal, concrete, emplacement, endicott-era, fort, francisco, gate, golden, gun, information, monochrome, photograph, rapid-fire, reinforced, san, soldiers, usa, war, world, yates