Fort Hancock and Sandy Hook Proving Ground [Image 2 of 12]

SANDY HOOK, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES

05.13.2021

Photo by Mark Olsen  

New Jersey National Guard   

View of the Reynolds Mortar Battery – a prototype for future concrete Endicott System Gun Batteries – at Fort Hancock, Gateway National Recreation Area at Sandy Hook, N.J., May 13, 2021. The mortars at Batteries' Reynolds and McCook fired 1,000 pound, armor-piercing projectiles to bombard enemy ships. The Endicott System, which was constructed from 1890-1910, was created to attack enemy warships from earth-covered concrete fortifications. Endicott weaponry consisted of disappearing cannons, mortars, rapid fire guns, submarine nets, underwater mines, and searchlights. The System, which was part of the Harbor Defenses of New York Military Reservation, was continuously upgraded until the end of World War II. Construction on the original Fort at Sandy Hook was started in 1859, but was never finished. In 1874, the Army established the Sandy Hook Proving Ground – the Army’s first Proving Ground – where the Army’s Ordnance Department tested new weapons and ammunition. In 1895, it was renamed Fort Hancock. The Fort was decommissioned on Dec. 31, 1974. (New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs photo by Mark C. Olsen)

• Date Taken: 05.13.2021
• Date Posted: 06.10.2021 08:47
• Photo ID: 6685242
• VIRIN: 210513-Z-AL508-2023
• Resolution: 5472x3648
• Size: 8.36 MB
• Location: SANDY HOOK, NEW JERSEY, US