WWVets.com

A Seacoast Rifle

Large rifled Coastal Artillery pieces used to protect harbors and naval bases

The

Coastal

Artillery

Corps in WW1

The Artillery Corps was divided into two types: field artillery and coast artillery. The US Army Coastal Artillery Corps was responsible for coastal and harbor defense of the United States between 1901 and 1950

The Coastal Artillery Corps was created as a separate branch of the service in 1901. It specialized in heavy, stationary guns meant to defend US harbors and foreign outposts.

In the early years of the US participation in WW1, the CAC had to rely on French and British Howitzers. US ordnance was not ready for European transport and the United States was unprepared for large industrial-scale manufacturing.

The CAC provided crucial heavy fire support during major battles and also laid the groundwork for US anti-aircraft defense.

"The longest-range field gun in the world

Produced by the Ordnance Department, US Army, for service in France, though the hostilities ceased before they reached General Pershing. More than a hundred of these guns are said to have been prepared for shipping to France, and their range and power would probably have an astonished the Germans, as did the great naval guns mounted on railway cars and manned by American seamen, that did such effective work in the closing days of the conflict."

Captured German "Minnie"

National Archives Photo

The Coastal Artillery Corps was responsible for the installation and Operation of aquatic Minefields. They were under observation and detonated remotely. Larger vessels "mine planters" were manned by civilian crews until 1918 when the US Army Mine Planter Service was created. Mines were considered to be the primary armament of coastal defense.

Trench Art

Created by WW1 Soldiers from spent shells

Battery C, 151st Artillery, Coastal Artillery Corps

Editors note: The gentleman on the far right is George Allen Bridges of Greensburg, Decatur County, Indiana, my grandfather. Photo from the family collection.

He was a member of a WW 1 veterans group, the 3H Club, in Vallejo, California. The 3 H's stood for Healthy, Hearty, and Handsome.

Service record: April 12, Noviant; April 29 to May 28, St. Jean; Sept. 12, St. Mihiel; Oct. 21 - 24, Bois de Grand Portin, France. Served overseas from August 14, 1917, to February 3, 1919.

The WW1 designation of Coastal Artillery Corps was created in 1901 when the US Army Artillery was divided into two divisions, 126 Companies of Heavy Artillery and 30 Companies of Light (Field) Artillery. This was necessitated by the difference in training required to man heavy guns versus training for the quicker movements of light artillery (4 to 6 lb.) field guns. The Heavy Artillery (8 lb. or greater) was named the Coastal Artillery Corps and played a major roll in World War 1 when the War stagnated into entrenched positions on the front lines.

Initial involvement of the CAC was with large-caliber guns, stationary mounted, along with the coastal areas and foreign outposts with forts or fortified gun outposts. We were not prepared for the large scale troop movements, and as the United States entered the fighting in Europe, they initially used French or British made weapons.

80% of the men who lost their lives on the battlefields, fell to artillery fire.

The evolution of warfare, specifically the use of aerial bombing and heavy tanks lead to the CAC being deactivated during WWII and officially abolished in 1950.

CACTrench_Morter

Trench Mortar Division shoulder patch

Coastal Artillery Corps Insignia

WW1 Coastal Artillery Corps Patch

Battery C, 151st Artillery, Coastal Artillery Corps

Soldier's Stories:

William Wirt Morea, Coastal Artillery Corps, Lake County, Indiana

“While I was with Co. A., Ammunition Train, 1st Div., I was in practically every place in and around the war zone. In order to mention all, I would need a war map of France. I was with the 28th Infantry, 1st Div., which was the first American army outfit across into Germany on December 13, 7:30 a.m. I was also with the H Co. that was in the 2nd Battalion. I believe I'm one of the first boys of Lake County to cross the Rhine. After being chosen for the Composite Army, Co. B., I traveled in every parade they took part in and return with the “General Pershing Guard of Honor” as we were called.

Paul Vernon Wycoff, Coastal Artillery Corps, Ripley County, Indiana

“Fired presidential salute of 21 guns at Ft. Hamilton on Dec. 9, 1918, as President Wilson’s ship, the George Washington, sailed out of the harbor for France. Was Sergeant of the Guards and fired reveille guns in salute as the convoy passed.”The 38th Coastal Artillery Corps was welcomed to New York when arriving from Newport News, being mistaken for overseas troops. They were in full overseas equipment as they expected to sail for France on November 11.

The two-day trip from Newport to New York was full of peril from floating mines. The soldiers wore life belts the entire time. They reached New York in time to march in the Thanksgiving Day parade.

Paul Vernon Wycoff

Edward Leroy Wright, Coastal Artillery Corps, Allen County, Indiana

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward A Wright; born May 27th, 1900 in Hammond, Indiana. He was living in Ft. Wayne when he enlisted in the US Regular Army in February, 1917. Sent to Columbus Barracks, Ohio, hence to Fort Terry, NY. Assigned to the 2nd Company, Coastal Artillery Corps, Anti-air Craft Division. Went overseas (exact date not known), and was in active service throughout the war. Died of influenza, December 17, 1918, in Evacuation Hospital #1, Ravigny, France. Buried in the American Cemetery, Ravigny.

Big Guns

320 MM Field Artillery Field School, Batteries Land M, 52nd Coast Artillery Corps, 320 MM railway.

Army Heavy and Railroad Artillery School, Mailly, Auhe, France.

National Archives Photo 12492 Group 111, Indiana War Memorial Archives

Guns were stripped from US Battleships to be used inland. US Official Photo, "America's War For Humanity"

Coastal Artillery Corps testing huge mortars at a Fort on the Atlantic Coast National Archive Photo CN3123 Group 64, Indiana War Memorial Archives

35th CAC, 80th Div. loading a 14" gun on the Argonne Front
National Archive photo, Indiana War Memorial Archives

Real-photo postcard of a military railway artillery gun on train tracks near the Verdun front in France during World War I. The gun is pictured firing at night (Undated) [Photograph by: Shaffer]. US Army Signal Corps

Post war CAC:

The weight of the CAC railroad artillery required special reinforcement that most railway lines did not have. They also needed concrete hardstands on railroad spurs. These restrictions left the big guns little more than mobile fortifications that proved to be easy targets for ships and the emerging aeroservice. The Coastal Artillery Corps was officially disbanded in 1950 and its functions were merged with the Artillery branch of the US Army.

from Wikipedia:

Controlled mine fields

c. 1901 the Coast Artillery took responsibility for the installation and operation of the controlled from the Corps of Engineers; these were planted to be under observation, remotely detonated electrically, and protected by fixed guns. With that responsibility the Coast Artillery began to acquire the vessels required to plant and maintain the minefields and cables connecting the mines to the mine casemate ashore organized as a "Submarine Mine Battery" within the installation command, "submarine" meaning "underwater" in this case. The larger vessels, called "Mine Planters", were civilian-crewed until the creation of the US Army Mine Planter Service (AMPS) and Warent Officers Corps in 1918 to provide officers and engineers for the ships designated as mine planters. The mine component was considered to be among the principal armament of coastal defense works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Coast_Artillery_Corps

Real-photo postcard of a military railway artillery guns on train tracks, parked somewhere along the front in France during World War I (Undated) [Photograph by: Shaffer]. US Army Signal Corps photo

"American Mortar railway mount used to destroy concrete and deep underground fortifications. It will hurl a high shell more than ten miles and can be put into operation in fifteen minutes."

By US Government - This version published in " The War of the Nations & quot; page 193, December 1919. Downloaded from US Library of Congress archive of WWI rotogravure magazine pages at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/rotogravures, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4172398

The converted Naval large guns were capable of striking deep behind enemy lines. They helped cripple the German supply dumps and rail nodes.

They were instrumental on the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives.

There were 34 regiments, and 70,000 members of the Coastal Artillery Corps on the Western Front.

126 companies of heavy (coast) artillery
30 companies of light (field) artillery

By U.S. Army - Coast Artillery Journal November/ December 1941, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17492286

First Chief of United States Army Coast Artillery