Coastal artillery is the branch of thearmed forces concerned with operating anti-shipartillery or fixedgun batteries incoastal fortifications.[1]
From theMiddle Ages untilWorld War II, coastal artillery andnaval artillery in the form ofcannons were highly important to military affairs and generally represented the areas ofhighest technology andcapital cost amongmateriel. The advent of 20th-century technologies, especiallymilitary aviation,naval aviation,jet aircraft, andguidedmissiles, reduced the primacy of cannons, battleships, and coastal artillery. In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquiredamphibious capabilities. Inlittoral warfare, mobile coastal artillery armed withsurface-to-surface missiles can still be used todeny the use ofsea lanes.
It was long held as a rule of thumb that one shore-based gun equaled three naval guns of the same caliber, due to the steadiness of the coastal gun which allowed for significantly higher accuracy than their sea-mounted counterparts.[citation needed] Land-based guns also benefited in most cases from the additional protection of walls or earth mounds. The range ofgunpowder-based coastal artillery also has a derivative role in international law and diplomacy, wherein a country'sthree-mile limit of "coastal waters" is recognized as under the nation or state's laws.[2]
One of the first recorded uses of coastal artillery was in 1381—during the war betweenFerdinand I of Portugal andHenry II of Castile—when the troops of theKing of Portugal usedcannons to defendLisbon against an attack from the Castilian naval fleet.
The use of coastal artillery expanded during theAge of Discoveries, in the 16th century; when a colonial power took over an overseas territory, one of their first tasks was to build a coastal fortress, both to deter rival naval powers and to subjugate the natives. TheMartello tower is an excellent example of a widely used coastal fort that mounted defensive artillery, in this case, muzzle-loading cannon. During the 19th century, the ChineseQing Dynasty also built hundreds of coastal fortresses in an attempt to counter Western naval threats.
Coastal artillery fortifications generally followed the development of land fortifications; sometimes separate land defence forts were built to protect coastal forts. Through the middle 19th century, coastal forts could bebastion forts,star forts,polygonal forts, orsea forts, the first three types often with detached gun batteries called "water batteries".[3] Coastal defence weapons throughout history were heavynaval guns or weapons based on them, often supplemented by lighter weapons. In the late 19th century separate batteries of coastal artillery replaced forts in some countries; in some areas, these became widely separated geographically through the mid-20th century as weapon ranges increased. The amount of landward defence provided began to vary by country from the late 19th century; by 1900 new US forts almost totally neglected these defences.Booms were also usually part of a protected harbor's defences. In the middle 19th centuryunderwater minefields and latercontrolled mines were often used, or stored in peacetime to be available in wartime. With the rise of thesubmarine threat at the beginning of the 20th century,anti-submarine nets were used extensively, usually added to boom defences, with major warships often being equipped with them (to allow rapid deployment once the ship was anchored or moored) through early World War I. In World War Irailway artillery emerged and soon became part of coastal artillery in some countries; with railway artillery in coast defence some type of revolving mount had to be provided to allow tracking of fast-moving targets.[4]
Coastal artillery could be part of the Navy (as inScandinavian countries, war-time Germany, and theSoviet Union), or part of the Army (as in theAnglosphere alignment for significant english-speaking countries). In English-speaking countries, certain coastal artillery positions were sometimes referred to as 'Land Batteries',[5][6][7] distinguishing this form ofartillery battery from for examplefloating batteries.[8][9]In the United Kingdom, in the later 19th and earlier 20th Centuries, the land batteries of the coastal artillery were the responsibility of theRoyal Garrison Artillery.
In the United States, coastal artillery was established in 1794 as a branch of theArmy and aseries of construction programs of coastal defenses began: the "First System" in 1794, the "Second System" in 1804, and the "Third System" or "Permanent System" in 1816. Masonry forts were determined to be obsolete following the American Civil War, and a postwar program of earthwork defenses was poorly funded. In 1885 theEndicott Board recommended an extensive program of newU.S. harbor defenses, featuring new rifled artillery and minefield defenses; most of the board's recommendations were implemented. Construction on these was initially slow, as new weapons and systems were developed from scratch, but was greatly hastened following the Spanish–American War of 1898. Shortly thereafter, in 1907, Congress split the field artillery and coast artillery into separate branches, creating a separateCoast Artillery Corps (CAC) The CAC was disbanded as a separate branch in 1950.[10]
In the first decade of the 20th century, the United States Marine Corps established theAdvanced Base Force. The force was used for setting up and defending advanced overseas bases, and its close ties to the Navy allowed it to man coast artillery around these bases.
During theSiege of Port Arthur,Imperial Japanese forces had captured the vantage point on 203 Meter Hill overlooking Port Arthur harbor. After relocating heavy 11-inch (280 mm) howitzers with 500 pound (~220 kg) armor-piercing shells to the summit of the Hill, the Japanese bombarded theRussian fleet in the harbor, systematically sinking the Russian ships within range. The Japanese were attacking the city and the Russian ships were trapped in the harbor due to mines, making this one of the few cases of coastal guns being employed in an offensive action.
On December 5, 1904, thebattleshipPoltava was destroyed, followed by the battleshipRetvizan on December 7, 1904, the battleshipsPobeda andPeresvet and the cruisersPallada andBayan on December 9, 1904. The battleshipSevastopol, although hit 5 times by 11-inch (280 mm) shells, managed to move out of range of the guns. Stung by the fact that the Russian Pacific Fleet had been sunk by theImperial Japanese Army and not by theImperial Japanese Navy, and with a direct order from Tokyo that theSevastopol was not to be allowed to escape, Admiral Togo sent in wave after wave ofdestroyers in six separate attacks on the sole remaining Russian battleship. After 3 weeks, theSevastopol was still afloat, having survived 124torpedoes fired at her while sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging six other vessels. The Japanese had meanwhile lost the cruiserTakasago to a mine outside the harbor.
On September 1, 1939, theWehrmacht began theirattack on Poland. TheArtillery Battery No. 31, part of theCoastal Artillery Division, immediately took over a huge part of the burden of defending the Polish coast, preventing German ships from approaching theHel Peninsula.[11]
On September 3, an artillery duel took place between the Polish coastal batteries,ORP Gryf andORP Wicher, and the GermandestroyersLeberecht Maass andWolfgang Zenker. After a 15-minute exchange of fire, Leberecht Maass was hit in the gun mask, with several wounded sailors (this fact was reported by both the commander of the Laskowski battery, CaptainZbigniew Przybyszewski, and the German Rear AdmiralLütjens). The German destroyers set up asmoke screen and withdrew from the fight.[12][11]
On 19 September, thebattery of the Heliodor Laskowski fired at a group of units trawling and shelling the defenses onKępa Oksywska: M 3, "Nettelbeck", "Fuchs", S.V.K. Verband (6 ships), 1stMinesweeper Flotilla (5 ships).
In the morning of 25 September, the battleshipsSMS Schleswig-Holstein andSMS Schlesien began shelling theHel Fortified Area with 280mm shells. One of them hit the concrete platform of gun no. 3 of the Heliodor Laskowski battery, killing two sailors and seriously wounding several others. The explosion damaged the camouflage, and debris and shrapnel blocked the gun mechanisms. Another shell temporarily immobilized gun no. 1, and one of the shrapnel wounded the fire director on the unprotected turret,Captain Przybyszewski. The remaining two undamaged guns of the coastal battery fire continuously, obtaining cover for the German battleship SMS Schlesien, which is laying a smoke screen. The Hel battery transfers fire to the battleship SMS Schleswig-Holstein. At 11:18, both German ships break off the duel and withdraw beyond the range of the Polish battery. The German ships fired a total of 159 shells of 280 mm caliber and 209 shells of 150 mm caliber. The two damaged guns of the Laskowski battery were soon put into operation, and the wounded commander was replaced by Captain Bohdan Mańkowski. On September 28, Captain Przybyszewski leaves the hospital against the doctors' prohibition and returns with his hand in a sling to command the battery.[11]
In another artillery duel, which took place on September 27, Laskowski's battery scored a direct hit on the battleship's starboard artillery casemate, SMS Schleswig-Holstein, wounding 14 members of its crew.[12]
During theBattle of Drøbak Sound in April 1940, theGerman navy lost the newheavy cruiserBlücher, one of their most modern ships, to a combination of fire from various coastal artillery emplacements, including two obsolete German-madeKrupp 280 mm (11 in) guns and equally obsoleteWhitehead torpedoes. The Blücher had entered the narrow waters of theOslofjord, carrying 1,000 soldiers and leading a German invasion fleet. The first salvo from theNorwegian defenders, fired fromOscarsborg Fortress about 950 meters distance, disabled the center propeller turbine and set her afire.
Fire from the smaller guns (57 mm to 150 mm) swept her decks and disabled her steering, and she received two torpedo hits before the fires reached her magazines and doomed her. As a result, the remainder of the invasion fleet reversed, the Norwegian royal family, parliament and cabinet escaped, and the Norwegian gold reserves were safely removed from the city before it fell.
Singapore was defended by its famous large-caliber coastal guns, which included one battery of three15-inch (381 mm) guns and one with two 15-inch (381 mm) guns. Prime MinisterWinston Churchill nicknamed the garrison as "TheGibraltar of the East" and the "Lion of the Sea". This perhaps compelled theImperial Japanese Army to launch their invasion of Singapore from the north, viaMalaya, in December 1941.[citation needed]
It is a commonly repeated misconception that Singapore's large-calibre coastal guns were ineffective against the Japanese because they were designed to face south to defend the harbour against naval attack and could not be turned round to face north. In fact, most of the guns could be turned, and were indeed fired at the invaders. However, the guns were supplied mostly witharmour-piercing (AP) shells and fewhigh explosive (HE) shells. AP shells were designed to penetrate the hulls of heavily armoured warships and were mostly ineffective against infantry targets.[13][14] Military analysts later estimated that if the guns had been well supplied with HE shells the Japanese attackers would have suffered heavy casualties, but the invasion would not have been prevented by this means alone.[15] The guns of Singapore achieved their purpose in deterring a Japanese naval attack as the possibility of an expensive capital ship being sunk made it inadvisable for the Japanese to attack Singapore via the sea.[16] The fact that the Japanese army chose to advance down from Thailand through Malaya to take Singapore was a testament for the respect the Japanese had for the coastal artillery at Singapore.[16] However, the lack of HE shells rendered Singapore vulnerable to a land based attack from Malaya via the Johore straits.[16]
In December 1941, during theBattle of Wake Island, USMarine defense battalions fired at the Japanese invasion fleet with six5-inch (127 mm) guns, sinking the Japanese destroyerHayate by scoring direct hits on her magazines, and scoring eleven hits on the light cruiserYubari, forcing her to withdraw, and temporarily repulsing Japanese efforts to take the island.
TheHarbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays denied Manila harbor to the invading Japanese untilCorregidor fell to amphibious assault on 6 May 1942, nearly a month after thefall of Bataan. Beyond tying up besieging Japanese forces (who suffered severe supply shortages due to the inability to use Manila as a port), the forts allowedinterception of radio traffic later decisive at Midway.
The Japanese defended the island ofBetio in the Tarawa atoll with numerous 203 mm (8-inch) coastal guns. In 1943, these were knocked out early in the battle with a combined USN naval and aerial bombardment.
Nazi Germany fortified its conquered territories with theAtlantic Wall.Organization Todt built a string ofreinforced concretepillboxes and bunkers along the beaches, or sometimes slightly inland, to housemachine guns,antitank guns, and artillery ranging in size up to the large40.6 cm naval guns. The intent was to destroy Alliedlanding craft before they could unload. During theNormandy Landings in 1944, shore bombardment was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers and landing craft. For example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had for theDieppe Raid in 1942.
The old battleshipsHMSRamillies andWarspite with the monitorHMSRoberts were used to suppress shore batteries east of theOrne; cruisers targeted shore batteries atVer-sur-Mer andMoulineaux; while eleven destroyers provided local fire support. The (equally old) battleshipTexas was used to suppress the battery atPointe du Hoc, but the guns there had been moved to an inland position, unbeknownst to the Allies. In addition, there were modifiedlanding craft: eight "Landing Craft Gun", each with two 4.7-inch guns; four "Landing Craft Support" with automatic cannon; eightLanding Craft Tank (Rocket), each with a single salvo of 1,100 5-inch rockets; eightLanding Craft Assault (Hedgerow), each with twenty-four bombs intended to detonate beach mines prematurely. Twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carriedPriest self-propelled 105mmhowitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches.
On June 25, 1944, the American battleshipTexas engaged German shore batteries on theCotentin Peninsula around Cherbourg. Battery Hamburg straddled the ship with a salvo of 240 mm shells, eventually hittingTexas twice; one shell damaging the conning tower and navigation bridge, with the other penetrating below decks but failing to explode. Return fire fromTexas knocked out the German battery.
Allied efforts to take the port ofToulon in August 1944 ran into "Big Willie", a battery consisting of two prewar French turrets, equipped with the guns taken from the French battleshipProvence, each mounting a pair of340 mm naval guns. The range and power of these guns was such that the Allies dedicated abattleship orheavy cruiser to shelling the fort every day, with the battleshipNevada eventually silencing the guns on August 23, 1944.[17][18]
AfterWorld War II the advent ofjet aircraft andguided missiles reduced the role of coastal artillery in defending a country against air and sea attacks while also rendering fixed artillery emplacements vulnerable to enemy strikes.
The Scandinavian countries, with their long coastlines and relatively weak navies, continued in the development and installation of modern coastal artillery systems, usually hidden in well-camouflaged armored turrets (for example Swedish12 cm automatic turret gun). In these countries the coastal artillery was part of the naval forces and used naval targeting systems. Both mobile and stationary (e.g.100 56 TK) systems were used.
In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquiredamphibious oranti-ship missile capabilities. In constricted waters, mobile coastal artillery armed withsurface-to-surface missiles still can be used to deny the use of sea lanes. TheType 88 surface-to-ship missile is an example of modern mobile coastal artillery. Poland also retains a coastal missile division armed with theNaval Strike Missile.[19]
During theCroatian War of Independence in 1991, coastal artillery operated byCroatian forces played an important role in defending CroatianAdriatic coast fromYugoslav naval and air strikes, especially around Zadar, Šibenik and Split, defeating theYugoslav Navy in theBattle of the Dalmatian Channels.
In practice, there is a distinction between artillery sited to bombard a coastal region and coastal artillery, which has naval-compatible targeting systems and communications that are integrated with the navy rather than the army.
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Hamilton had experimented with an ironclad floating battery, and Stevens had set up an ironclad land battery
[the floating battery] will have all the advantages of a land battery, combined with, the capability of motion
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