Battery Potter

Battery Potter or "Gun Lift Battery No.1" built in 1892 at Fort Hancock, New Jersey was the world's only disappearing gun battery that used hydraulic elevators to move the guns above a protective parapet wall. Battery Potter was also the first Endicott system battery to be partially armed.

History

For battery potter began in 1890 when a large concrete plant was set up where the power plant now exists today. A team averaging of 60 laborers including blacksmiths, stone masons, engineers, painters and carpenters worked mostly during the warmer months of the year on battery potter from 1890-1894 when the south gun was completed. Battery Potter was first armed with a 12 inch model 1888 breech loading rifle serial number 11 in 1892, the gun lift and the weapon performed well after adjustments were made and construction continued on the south gun after the north gun had been proven and was completed in 1894. During its use as a gun battery there were a few minor changes involving water proofing and the addition of stop valves for each side of the battery. In 1903 the then "gun lift battery number one" has been named Battery Potter after Joseph H. Potter. Not long afterwards the battery was considered obsolete and to be replaced by the newer and faster disappearing gun batteries using the Buffington-Cozer type gun carriage on the bay side of Sandy Hook, this would provide all round protection that until then only Potter could provide unlike the newer guns that only had a 180 degree field of fire.

In 1906 construction started on Battery Arrowsmith, a single battery of three 8 inch Buffington Cozer type guns facing the bay side of the hook, this was less than the recemended number of three 8 and 10 inch batteries on the bay side but was enough to warrant the deactivation of Battery potter. The guns and the gun lifts were removed in 1906 and primary fire control stations of other gun batteries were built on the teraplein of battery potter, the rest of the machinery in potter was removed in 1909 and the interior was used mostly for storage. The primary fire control stations were abandoned in the 1920's after the other batteries became obsolete and were deactivated. During World War II, two radar towers were built on the roof of potter for use by the Harbor entrance command post, the HECP and the radar and also abandoned after the end of the war.

See also

* Coastal artillery
* Seacoast Defense (US)

References