Fort Drum (Philippines)

Planning and designEdit

The Board of Fortifications chaired by William H. Taft recommended that key harbors of territories acquired by the United States after the Spanish–American War be fortified. Consequently, El Fraile Island was fortified and incorporated into the harbor defenses of Manila and Subic Bays.

Initially Fort Drum was planned as a mine control and mine casemate station. However, due to inadequate defenses in the area, a plan was devised to level the island, and then build a concrete structure on top of it armed with two twin 12-inch (305 mm) guns. This was submitted to the War Department, which decided to change the 12-inch (305 mm) guns to 14-inch (356 mm) guns mounted on twin armored turrets. The forward turret, with a traverse of 230°, was mounted on the forward portion of the top deck, which was 9 ft (2.7 m) below the top deck; the rear turret, with a full 360° traverse, was mounted on the top deck. The guns of both turrets were capable of 15° elevation, giving them a range of 19,200 yards (17,600 m). Secondary armament was to be provided by two pairs of 6-inch (152 mm) guns mounted in armoured casemates on either side of the main structure. There were two 3-inch (76 mm) mobile AA guns on "spider" mounts for anti-aircraft defense, probably the 3-inch Gun M1918.

Overhead protection of the fort was provided by a 20-foot (6.1 m) thick steel-reinforced concrete deck. Its exterior walls ranged between approximately 25 to 36 ft (7.6 to 11.0 m) thick, making it virtually impregnable to enemy naval attack.

ConstructionEdit

Construction began in April 1909 and lasted for five years. The rocky island was leveled by U.S. Army engineers and then was built up with thick layers of steel-reinforced concrete into a massive structure roughly resembling a battleship, 350 ft (110 m) long, 144 ft (44 m) wide, and with a top deck 40 ft (12 m) above water at mean low tide. The 14-inch (356 mm) M1909 guns and their two custom built M1909 turrets, dubbed Batteries Marshall and Wilson, were delivered and installed by 1916. The M1909 guns were specially designed for Fort Drum and were not deployed elsewhere. The secondary 6-inch (152 mm) M1908MII guns on M1910 pedestal mounts in casemates, Batteries Roberts and McCrea, were installed the same year.

Searchlights, anti-aircraft batteries, and a 60-foot (18 m) lattice-style fire control tower were mounted on the fort's upper surface. The living quarters for the approximately 240 officers and enlisted men along with the power generators, plotting rooms and ammunition magazines were located deep inside the fort.

Philippines Campaign (1941–1942)Edit

The successful invasion of Luzon by the Japanese Imperial Army in late December 1941 quickly brought land forces within range of Fort Drum and the other Manila Bay forts. Just before the outbreak of war in the Pacific on December 7, 1941, Fort Drum had been restaffed with men and officers of the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment (E Battery). The wooden barracks located on the fort's deck were dismantled to provide an unobstructed field of fire for Battery Wilson. On January 2, 1942, Fort Drum withstood heavy Japanese air bombardment. On January 12, 1942, a Model 1906 3-inch (76 mm) seacoast gun with a pedestal mount was installed at Fort Drum to help protect the fort's vulnerable "stern" section from attack, and it was dubbed as Battery Hoyle. The very next day on January 13, before the concrete emplacement was fully dry and the gun had been bore-sighted or checked for assurance level, it became the first American battery of seacoast artillery to open fire on the enemy in World War II when it drove off a Japanese-commandeered inter-island steamer apparently bent on a close inspection of Fort Drum's vulnerable rear approach. Until that time, the cage mast control tower masked the fire of the rear main turret, while the height of the gun above water created a dead space even had the field of fire been clear.

The first week of February 1942 saw the fort come under sustained fire from Japanese 150mm howitzer batteries positioned on the mainland near Ternate. By the middle of March, the Japanese had moved heavy artillery into range, opening fire with 240mm siege howitzers, destroying Fort Drum's 3-inch antiaircraft battery, disabling one of the 6-inch guns, and damaging one of the armored casemates. Sizeable portions of the Fort's concrete structure were chipped away by the shelling. The armored turrets were not damaged and remained in service throughout the bombardment. Counter-battery fire from Fort Drum's 14-inch guns and Fort Frank's 12-inch mortars was ineffective. With the collapse of American and Filipino resistance in Bataan on April 10, only Fort Drum and the other harbor forts remained in U.S. hands.

On the night of May 5, the 14-inch batteries of Fort Drum opened fire on the second wave of the Japanese forces assaulting Corregidor, sinking several troop barges and inflicting heavy casualties. Fort Drum surrendered to Japanese forces following the fall of Corregidor on May 6, 1942 and was subsequently occupied by them until 1945. The 20-ft thick reinforced concrete roof enabled Fort Drum to withstand the concentrated and long continued pounding it received from the Japanese from about February 15 to May 6, 1942. No U.S. personnel in Fort Drum were killed during the siege and only five were injured. The four 14-inch turret guns were never out of action and were still firing effectively five minutes before the fall of Corregidor. As at the other forts in the Philippines, Fort Drum's garrison executed destruction procedures on the guns prior to the Japanese arriving to secure the fort; this is why one 14-inch gun has fallen back inside its turret. The surrender of the Manila Bay forts marked the end of U.S. resistance in the Philippines.

Philippines Campaign (1944–1945)Edit

In 1945 during the offensive to recapture Manila, the heavily fortified island was the last position in the bay that was held by the Japanese. After a heavy aerial and naval bombardment, U.S. troops gained access to the deck of the fort on April 13 and were able to confine the garrison below. Rather than attempting to break in, the troops and engineers adapted the solution first used some days earlier in the assault of mortar forts on Fort Hughes. There, the troops pumped two parts diesel oil and one part gasoline into mortar pits, stood off, and ignited it with tracer bullets.

At Fort Drum, a similar technique was employed, using air vents on the top deck, but a timed fuse was used rather than tracer fire. Upon ignition, the remaining Japanese were annihilated; the flammable mixture kept a fire burning in the fort for several days. It took 14 days before the fortress could finally be examined. With the Manila Bay forts neutralized, including Fort Drum, Japanese resistance in the Bay area ended.

The fort todayEdit

The ruins of Fort Drum, including its disabled turrets and 14-inch (356 mm) guns, remain at the mouth of Manila Bay, abandoned since World War II. The fort is being desecrated by looters starting in the 1970s seeking scrap metal inside the fort for resale. The activity is ongoing according to a report in 2009.

An automated light was recently installed by the Philippine Coast Guard on the top deck for guiding ships entering the South Channel of Manila Bay.