Fort at Sandy Hook The Sandy Hook area was first fortified as part of the
third system of US fortifications. Construction on the
Fort at Sandy Hook began in 1857 and ceased in 1867, with the fort serviceable though largely incomplete. This fort was never officially named, but since the area was named Fort Hancock in 1895 it is often called by that name. It was sometimes locally called Fort Lincoln or Fort Hudson. Originally two tower forts were proposed, but a much larger single fort was decided on instead. The initial design of the fort was by then-Captain
Robert E. Lee of the
Army Corps of Engineers. The fort was designed as a five-
bastion irregular pentagon, with two tiers (one
casemated, one
barbette) of
cannon totaling 173 guns on three seacoast fronts, with another 39 guns covering the landward approaches. As was common in Third System forts in the Northeast, it was built primarily of
granite. At some point, with the casemate tier of the three seacoast fronts largely complete, the fort was redesigned to speed its overall completion, basically by eliminating the landward bastion and simplifying its neighboring bastions. The Endicott Program centered on
disappearing guns, which would remain concealed behind a concrete-and-earth
parapet until raised to fire. Most of the weapons in the program were mounted on Buffington-Crozier disappearing carriages. However, early on there was doubt that this carriage could successfully raise and lower a 12-inch (305 mm) gun. The alternative developed for this was the gun lift carriage, essentially a
barbette carriage mounted on a hydraulic elevator. A steam plant powered the hydraulic system. One advantage of the gun lift carriage not found in most US disappearing gun installations was 360° all-around fire. Battery Potter (known as "Gun Lift Battery No. 1" until named in 1903) received its first gun in 1892 (a
gun M1888,
Watervliet serial no. 11, the first operational gun of the Endicott Program) and was completed in 1894, but for some reason was not accepted for service until 1898, possibly due to extensive testing. Although a few installations such as Battery Torbert at
Fort Delaware were begun as gun lift batteries, these were completed with disappearing guns, and Battery Potter was the only gun lift battery completed. In 1903 Battery Potter was named for
Joseph H. Potter, a Civil War general. ;Battery Reynolds Battery Reynolds (half of which was renamed as Battery McCook in 1906) was a battery of sixteen 12-inch caliber mortars in the "
Abbot Quad" arrangement. This was designed to place the mortars as closely together as possible, in the hope of scoring multiple hits on an enemy ship by firing simultaneously in a bracketing "shotgun" pattern. The battery had four pits in a square arrangement, with four mortars per pit, also in a square. The pits were separated by a traverse, which were the ammunition magazines and storages areas that ran the width and breadth of the Battery. These were built of concrete, backfilled with sand, and covered with vegetation. The entire battery was surrounded by a high concrete wall covered with earth for land defense. This arrangement was used at a number of early Endicott forts. However, simultaneously reloading the mortars in each pit proved cumbersome. Four mortars - the mortar closest to the magazine door in each pit - were removed and emplaced in the adjacent Navesink Highlands at the
Highlands Military Reservation. In later battery design, the pits were first built with open backs for the four mortars, and then ultimately redesigned to be arranged in a line with open backs, and two mortars per emplacement. ;Initial construction By 1909 the following batteries were constructed: Facilities for planting and controlling an
underwater minefield were built as well. Batteries Bloomfield, Richardson, Halleck, and Alexander together formed the "Nine Gun Battery" with one of the longest continuous gun lines in the Endicott system. They were begun as the seven-gun Battery Halleck in 1896, built on top of the third system fort, and were divided in 1904 after expansion to nine guns. The batteries were often called "mine defense" guns, intended to defend a minefield against
minesweepers.
Organization Fort Hancock was originally part of the New York Artillery District, part of which became the
Coast Defenses of Southern New York in 1913, along with
Fort Hamilton and
Fort Wadsworth. However, circa 1915 Fort Hancock became its own coast defense command as the
Coast Defenses of Sandy Hook. In 1924 this was renamed as the Harbor Defenses of Sandy Hook. On 9 May 1942 Fort Hancock became part of the
Harbor Defenses of New York and the Sandy Hook command was disestablished. In 1901 coast artillery companies were created by redesignating the heavy artillery companies which previously garrisoned forts, and in 1907 the
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps was established to operate the country's new defenses.
World War I Following the
American entry into World War I a number of changes took place at forts in the US, with a view to getting US-manned heavy and railway artillery into service on the
Western Front. Fort Hancock was less affected than most forts, probably due to its being a primary defense for New York City. One gun of Battery Halleck was removed for potential service as
railway artillery; several other weapons including the other guns of Battery Halleck and the three guns of Battery Arrowsmith were listed for removal but remained at the fort. Battery Engle's single gun was removed for service as a
field gun on a wheeled carriage and not returned to the fort, as were almost all of the M1897 guns forcewide.
World War II In 1940–41 Fort Hancock served as a mobilization center, with first a tent city and subsequently numerous temporary buildings accommodating trainees. ==Present==