Elizabeth Islands Military Reservation

Elizabeth Islands Military Reservation was a World War II coastal defense site located on Cuttyhunk Island and Nashawena Island in the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Islands Military Reservation
Part of Harbor Defenses of New Bedford
Gosnold, Massachusetts
90 mm M1 gun on T3/M3 fixed seacoast mount at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Elizabeth Islands Military Reservation
Location in Massachusetts
Coordinates41°25′21.79″N 70°54′0.88″W
TypeCoastal Defense
Site information
Ownerprivate
Site history
Built1943
Built byUnited States Army
In use1943-1946
Battles/warsWorld War II
Garrison information
GarrisonCuttyhunk, Massachusetts
90 mm M1 gun on towed mount at CFB Borden, Canada.

History

The Elizabeth Islands Military Reservation was built on land acquired by the US government in 1943. It consisted of an early radar, an observation post, fire control towers, and artillery batteries.[1]

The reservation had two Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) batteries of four 90 mm guns each, AMTB 932 on the northern tip of Cuttyhunk and AMTB 933 on Fox Point, Nashawena. Each battery had an authorized strength of four 90 mm guns, two on fixed mounts and two on towed mounts, plus two towed 37 mm M1 guns or 40 mm Bofors M1 guns. These were mirrored across the channel by a single 90 mm AMTB battery at the Barneys Joy Point Military Reservation.[1]

Both islands were disarmed in 1946.[1]

Present

The site today consists of the foundations of the various buildings and gun blocks. Two fire control towers also remain standing.[1]

See also

References
  1. "Southeastern Massachusetts - Harbor Defenses of New Bedford and Buzzard's Bay". American Forts Network. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  • Berhow, Mark A., Ed. (2015). American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Third Edition. McLean, Virginia: CDSG Press. ISBN 978-0-9748167-3-9.
  • Lewis, Emanuel Raymond (1979). Seacoast Fortifications of the United States. Annapolis: Leeward Publications. ISBN 978-0-929521-11-4.
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