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 Neurosis13
 
Location: San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
Born again Athiest, practicing Troublemaker
 |  | WWII Era Bunkers in San Diego
< on 3/18/2012 5:48 PM >
|  | | | Hey guys, I'm new to this site, but not new to UE. I wanted to share with you all a video of a friend and I exploring some WWII bunkers right on U.S./Mexico Border. It's not the best, but I figured I'd share what I have anyway.
enjoy
http://www.youtube...atch?v=29ME-iuGlYw
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/-/ooligan
    
Location: Las Vegas area
Gender: Male
When in danger, when in doubt, RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT!
| | Re: WWII Era Bunkers in San Diego
<Reply # 1 on 3/19/2012 10:27 PM >
| | | | Most of what you found/explored were known as Base End Stations. Several would be assigned to coast defense gun emplacements & manned 24/7. They would be used to spot enemy warships, and if each took an exact bearing (using a big telescope-like devices mounted on those heavy-duty pedestal mounts you saw inside) on the target & reported that data to the gun's plotting room. The bearings from the several BESs, all of which had their exact distances from each-other & from the gun position known, could allow the plotting facility to pass a firing solution to the gun & allow the gun to hit the enemy target far out at sea. At least two BESs were needed in order to triangulate the target's position, but often there were several additional BESs assigned to that one particular gun in case other BESs couldn't see due to fog, etc.
The stenciling you saw inside are for known reference points (distance is in yards). AZ = azimuth.
Each coast defense gun site had their own BESs, but sometimes, several BESs (for different guns) were very close to each other, and sometimes a dual-level facility was made so that two BESs could be in one facility.
There's a lot of that sort of stuff along the coast in the SD/LA & San Francisco areas, and a lot of history available on them, so I hope you'll do your research -- visit the Fort MacArthur museum sometime, and you can do a Google search on "Harbor Defenses of San Diego."
There are many sites you guys could get to that aren't visited/trashed much, due to rugged locations & bramble bushes, and if you do your homework, you'll see that the Army Coastal Artillery Corps & US Engineering District (that built the sites) kept very good records of locations, design blueprints, etc.
/-/oolie
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people. |
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Neurosis13
Location: San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
Born again Athiest, practicing Troublemaker
| | Re: WWII Era Bunkers in San Diego
<Reply # 2 on 3/20/2012 11:18 PM >
| | | | On your recommendation, I did a google search, and quite a few areas came up. I'm definitely going to have to research them. I really appreciate the info you've kicked down on the places I've posted. Are you ex-military? History buff? Both?
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/-/ooligan
Location: Las Vegas area
Gender: Male
When in danger, when in doubt, RUN IN CIRCLES, SCREAM AND SHOUT!
| | Re: WWII Era Bunkers in San Diego
<Reply # 3 on 3/21/2012 1:12 AM >
| | | | Both, though my primary interest is Cold War, I couldn't overlook the amazing amount of prior-generation military stuff when I lived in the SF Bay area.
By the way, these web pages will give you a good primer on the main piece of equipment mounted in those Base End stations at Border Field that you guys explored:
https://en.wikiped...idence_rangefinder
https://en.wikiped...on_position_finder
As you guys initially did, most people that come across those remains just assume they're machine gun pillboxes.
When tracking a target, a bell would sound every (8? 10?) seconds or so, and the enlisted guys inside the BES would report the current target tracking datum to the coast defense gun emplacement's plotting, spotting & radio facility (PSR, which was basically the command post, except the gun site's commander usually wasn't there). Communications would be via hardened cable that connected the sites.
If you think about all the things they had to factor-in to be able to hit a moving target that might be 15+ miles out to sea (barometric pressure, air temperature, temperature of the bags of gunpowder propellant, & even the amount of the Earth's rotation while that projectile was traveling in the air [2100lb projectile could be in the air for over a minute], etc.) it's utterly amazing that they could factor-in all those equations without computers. But in a real war, their lives would depend on it. The war never really came to the West Coast (thanks to the Battle of Midway), just a couple subs taking some potshots for psychological effect.
I'm not a member any more, but this is the organization to join if you're interested in old Coast Defense operations & sites: http://www.cdsg.org/
/-/ooligan
There are no stupid questions, just stupid people. |
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