fort macarthur san pedro

Fort Macarthur San Pedro - 33°42′43″N 118°17′46″W / 33.71194°N 118.29611°W / 33.71194; -118.29611Coordinates: 33°42′43″N 118°17′46″W / 33.71194°N 118.29611°W / 33.71194; -118.29611

Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army base in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California (now the Los Angeles Waterfront). A small portion is still in military use by the USAF as a residential and administrative annex to Los Angeles Air Force Base. The fort is named after Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur. His son Douglas MacArthur later commanded American forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Fort Macarthur San Pedro

In 1888, President Grover Cleveland designated the area overlooking San Pedro Bay as an undesignated military reserve to improve the security of the expanding Los Angeles Harbor. Additional land was purchased in 1897 and 1910, and on October 31, 1914, Fort MacArthur was formally established. During the First World War the fort served as a training center and in 1917 the first large artillery batteries were installed to protect the harbour. Fixed gun emplacements have been discussed for years, and the test firings were deeply unpopular with nearby residents, shaking windows in buildings and homes for miles around.

W 37th St, San Pedro, Ca 90731

During World War II, Fort MacArthur had a harbor trans command post and a harbor defenses command post to protect the American coastline from "giant aircraft factory" shipyards (eg Calship, Todd Pacific).

(Douglas, Hughes, Martin, Northrop), Huntington Beach oil field and San Pedro Bay harbor (Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach), making the Los Angeles metropolitan area a target for attack.

By the start of World War II, the big guns had already been dismantled, and the last one was decommissioned in 1948. The Osgood-Farley Battery is the best-preserved example of a coastal artillery emplacement in the United States and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. A second position, Batteries John Barlow and Saxton, were added to the roster in 1982.

During the early years of the Cold War, Fort MacArthur became a key part of the air defenses of the West Coast and became the base of the 47th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. A battery of Nike anti-aircraft missile systems was activated at the fort in 1954 and remained in service until the early 1970s.

Fort Macarthur, Raw Salt Storage & Processing Buildings, Pacific Avenue, San Pedro, Los Angeles County, Ca

Fort MacArthur Direction Cter (DC) was the US Army Air Defense Command (AADCP) command post for Project Nike batteries in the Los Angeles Defse area. It has been located at Fort MacArthur since 1960.

Direction Cter provided radar coverage for integration of Integrated Fire Control (IFC) facilities in the area (16 facilities for MIM-14 Nike-Hercules missiles until 1968).

1959-1966 Crostell's high-frequency communications to DC with the semi-automated ground command post (SAGE) master direction setter at Norton Air Force Base (DC-17) were to coordinate military interception of targets penetrating the large USAF air defense sector. . For fighter aircraft.

During the Korean War, the L-43 Lasup radar network site at the fort provided radar observations of the area from 1950 to 1952.

The Great La Air Raid 2020

The Fort MacArthur Direction Cter started in 1960 with the AN/FSG-1 computer, the last of 10 installed, replacing the Interim Battery Data Link (IBDL). On December 14, 1960, the Army dedicated the DC Missile Master Bunker to control anti-aircraft operations (the "Blue Room") before the USAF/FAA ARSR-1C radar went live at San Pedro Hill Air Force Base in 1961.

And the AN/FSG-1 vacuum tube was replaced on 31 January 1967 with the Hughes AN/TSQ-51 Air Defse solid state control and coordination system.

On 15 November 1968, the 19th Artillery Group (Air Defse) replaced the 47th Artillery Brigade in command of DC and its batteries.

In 1975, Fort MacArthur became a subpost of Fort Ord, and two years later, the Army transferred ownership of the fort's upper and lower reserves to the City of Los Angeles. The lower reserve was removed and dredged and is now the town's pier, the Cabrillo.

Old Fort Macarthur Days 2009

The remainder of Fort MacArthur Middle Reservation was turned over to the USAF in 1982 for use at Los Angeles Air Force Base for administration and housing.

The high preserve is now a city park: San Pedro's Angels Gate Park, home of Freeship's Korean Bell.

Battery 241 (behind the Korean Freeship Bell, see upper left) artillery battery installation at Fort MacArthur Air Force Base, San Pedro, California.

Hostelling International USA (a part of Hostelling International) ran a 57-bed youth hostel in the allotted renovated military barracks.

Fort Macarthur Stock Photos

The Fort MacArthur Military Museum, located on the site of Battery Osgood Farley, features exhibits on the history of Fort MacArthur, its role in defending the Los Angeles area, Indo-Pacific Theater military operations, and the role of Los Angeles. Military port.

The Battle of Los Angeles and the Fort MacArthur Museum are featured in California Gold episode 6005 with Huel Hauser.

This can be seen in the TV series The A-Team, 24 and movies like Dragnet, Midway and Tora. Torah! Torah! Hidden underground in San Pedro, a neighborhood south of Los Angeles, are man-made caves that contain military history dating back to 1919. That was the year Fort MacArthur was completed, fortifying the Southern California coast with massive concrete gun emplacements. These rifles and mortars protected the port of Los Angeles and had a range of up to fourteen miles. It was 22 years before Pearl Harbor, but World War I proved the importance of preparing for a naval crusade against the United States. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, three more batteries were built at Fort MacArthur. They were armed with "the largest and most powerful sea defense guns ever deployed by the United States" and had a maximum range of 26 miles. This meant that they were able to hit a target even on Catalina Island. Guns that could attack warships from the sea and aircraft from the air were not used against enemy forces. They were only dismissed in 1942 during a false alarm that some claimed was a UFO invasion.

If the telephone system failed, soldiers could shout messages into the trumpet. Photo copyright 2018 Anna Budino.

Fort Macarthur Museum)

Guns were housed in concrete batteries placed in artificial hills. There were seven batteries at San Pedro, and several more at Manhattan Beach, Terminal Island, and Rancho Palos Verdes. Beneath the Osgood-Farley battery at San Pedro are elaborate rooms and corridors, including a command center, communications center, cafeteria, and electrical equipment that are still in use today. It is considered "the best preserved example of a modern US Coast Guard gun emplacement" and today forms the Fort MacArthur Museum.

Finding a museum can be difficult. The access road is sometimes gated on the Guffey side and you have to drive up to it from Osgood Farley Road. Use a map or mapping app to find your way; GPS will not help you. After you park, pause to pay your respects at the War Animal Cemetery on the way in. Essentially, the museum is a series of concrete corridors and cubicles dimly lit by light bulbs connected to the same power lines that were installed during World War II. It resembles a European cathedral: dark, slightly damp. Cluttered gun booths and ammunition boxes might well replace the tombstones of saints. Military vehicles still in operation are parked in the halls, waiting for the next old leg. MacArthur Dazer 1942 Great Air Raid on Los Angeles. The walls are hung with yellow laminated newspapers from the 1940s. Frozen in time, they claim that Pearl Harbor was bombed, and then the Japanese internees were "adjusting nicely" to their "new homes."

Although the museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, there is an obvious lack of funding because of the lack of professionally printed signs and no World War II artifacts on display that are said to be rotting in the salty air. The staff is minimal and appears to be on a volunteer basis, but it's worth asking if someone is available to give a tour. This gives you access to parts of the battery behind locked doors. You'll find a Nike Ajax missile, radio equipment that still works, and equipment that tells you where to aim guns — a mind-blowing example of military precision in an age without computers. I was amazed to see the backup communication network that was put in place when telephones or power lines went down: a network of tubes where one could shout and be heard on the other end.

After visiting the museum and gift shop, consider making a monetary donation to support and preserve Los Angeles' military history. Then head to White Point Nature Reserve to see two more batteries and a Nike missile site. Site LA-43 operated from 1955 to 1973 and was one of sixteen anti-aircraft missile sites in the Los Angeles area. During this time, "Los Angeles, due to its aerospace facilities, military bases, and rapid postwar population, became one of the most fortified areas of the United States." You can read a very detailed history of the Nike program and a white paper on how

Fort Macarthur Museum

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