Fort Casey

Fort Casey State Park is located on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington state. It is a Washington state park and a historic district within the U.S. Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve.

Admiralty Inlet was considered so strategic to the defense of Puget Sound in the 1890s that three forts, Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, and Fort Worden at Port Townsend, were built at the entrance with huge guns creating a "triangle of fire." This military strategy was built on the theory that the three fortresses would thwart any invasion attempt by sea.

Fort Casey is now a 467-acre (1.89 km²) marine camping park. The Admiralty Head Lighthouse is located within the state park.^[1]

Three miles of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail wrap around the park.

History

Fort Casey, seen from the water

Designed as part of the massive modernization program of U.S. seacoast fortifications initiated by the Endicott Board, construction on Fort Casey began in 1897. In 1901, the big guns on disappearing carriages, which could be raised out of their protective emplacements so that the guns were exposed only long enough to fire, became active. However, the fort's batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed.

The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the subsequent development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack. In addition, the development of battleships designed with increasingly accurate weaponry transformed the static strategies of the nineteenth century into the more mobile attack systems of the twentieth century.

Most of Fort Casey's guns and mortars were removed during World War I, when they were mounted on railcars to serve as mobile heavy artillery. Some of these weapons were returned to the fort after the war, and were scrapped during World War II as 16-inch guns and other weapons at other forts superseded them.

The two 10-inch guns on disappearing carriages currently mounted at Fort Casey were transferred from the Philippines in the 1960s, along with two three-inch guns. The 10-inch guns are M1895MI (No. 26 and No. 28 Watervliet) on disappearing carriages M1901 (No. 13 and No. 15 Watertown) at Battery Worth, Fort Casey (originally at Battery Warwick, Fort Wint, Grande Island, Philippines). The three-inch guns are M1903 (No. 11 and No. 12) on barbette carriages M1903 (No. 6 and No. 7) at Battery Trevor, Fort Casey (originally at Battery Flake, Fort Wint).^[2]

Notes

↑ "Fort Casey State Park". Washington State Parks. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
↑ Berhow, p. 230, 233

References

Harris, Alfred W. (November 1968). "Comment and Discussion". United States Naval Institute Proceedings.
Powers, William M., PHC USN (June 1968). "Comment and Discussion". United States Naval Institute Proceedings.
Berhow, Mark A., Ed. (2004). American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Second Edition. CDSG Press. ISBN 0-9748167-0-1.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Fort Casey State Park.

Protected areas of Washington

Federal

National Parks	Mount Rainier North Cascades Olympic

National Monuments	Hanford Reach (USFWS) Mount St. Helens Volcanic (USFS) San Juan Islands (BLM)

National Historical Parks & Sites	Fort Vancouver NHS Klondike Gold Rush NHP Manhattan Project NHP Nez Perce NHP San Juan Island NHP Whitman Mission NHS

National Historical Reserves	Ebey's Landing

National Trails	Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Pacific Crest Trail Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail

NPS National Recreation Areas	Lake Chelan Lake Roosevelt Ross Lake

National Wildlife Refuges	Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually Columbia Conboy Lake Copalis Dungeness Flattery Rocks Franz Lake Grays Harbor Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer Little Pend Oreille McNary Pierce Protection Island Quillayute Needles Ridgefield Saddle Mountain San Juan Islands Steigerwald Lake Toppenish Turnbull Umatilla Willapa

National Forests	Colville Gifford Pinchot Idaho Panhandle Kaniksu Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Okanogan Olympic Umatilla Wenatchee

USFS National Recreation Areas	Mount Baker

National Wilderness	Alpine Lakes Boulder River Brothers Buckhorn Clearwater Colonel Bob Glacier Peak Glacier View Goat Rocks Henry M. Jackson Indian Heaven Juniper Dunes Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Ridge Mount Adams Mount Baker Mount Rainier Mount Skokomish Noisy-Diobsud Norse Peak Olympic Pasayten Salmo-Priest San Juan Stephen Mather Tatoosh Trapper Creek Washington Islands Wenaha–Tucannon Wild Sky William O. Douglas Wonder Mountain

National Marine Sanctuary & Estuarine Research Reserve	Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Klickitat Skagit White Salmon

State

State Parks	Alta Lake Anderson Lake Battle Ground Lake Bay View Beacon Rock Belfair Birch Bay Blake Island Blind Island Bogachiel Bottle Beach Bridgeport Bridle Trails Brooks Memorial Cama Beach Camano Island Camp Wooten Retreat Center Cape Disappointment Centennial Trail Clark Island Columbia Hills Columbia Plateau Trail Conconully Crawford Curlew Lake Cutts Island Daroga Dash Point Deception Pass Doe Island Dosewallips Doug's Beach Eagle Island Federation Forest Fields Spring Flaming Geyser Fort Casey Fort Columbia Fort Ebey Fort Flagler Fort Simcoe Fort Townsend Fort Worden Ginkgo Petrified Forest Goldendale Observatory Grayland Beach Griffiths-Priday Ocean Harstine Island Hope Island (Mason County) Hope Island (Skagit County) Ike Kinswa Illahee Iron Horse James Island Jarrell Cove Joemma Beach Jones Island Joseph Whidbey Kanaskat-Palmer Kinney Point Kitsap Memorial Kopachuck Lake Chelan Lake Easton Lake Sammamish Lake Sylvia Lake Wenatchee Larrabee Leadbetter Point Lewis and Clark Lewis and Clark Trail Lime Kiln Point Lincoln Rock Manchester Maryhill Matia Island McMicken Island Millersylvania Moran Mount Pilchuck Mount Spokane Mystery Bay Nine Mile Recreation Area Nolte Obstruction Pass Ocean City Olallie Olmstead Place Pacific Beach Pacific Pines Palouse Falls Paradise Point Patos Island Peace Arch Pearrygin Lake Penrose Point Peshastin Pinnacles Pleasant Harbor Posey Island Potholes Potlatch Rainbow Falls Rasar Reed Island Riverside Rockport Sacajawea Saddlebag Island Saint Edward Saltwater Scenic Beach Schafer Seaquest Sequim Bay Shine Tidelands Skagit Island Skull Island South Whidbey Island Spencer Spit Spring Creek Hatchery Squak Mountain Squilchuck Steamboat Rock Steptoe Battlefield Steptoe Butte Stretch Point Stuart Island Sucia Island Sun Lakes-Dry Falls Tolmie Triton Cove Turn Island Twanoh Twenty-Five Mile Creek Twin Harbors Upright Channel Wallace Falls Wanapum Recreational Area Wenatchee Confluence Westhaven Westport Light Yakima Sportsman

State Forests	Ahtanum Capitol Elbe Hills Green Mountain Loomis Loup Loup Tahuya Tiger Mountain Yacolt Burn

Natural Area Preserves	Admiralty Inlet Badger Gulch Bald Hill Barker Mountain Bone River Camas Meadows Carlisle Bog Castle Rock Charley Creek Chehalis River Surge Plain Chopaka Mountain Clearwater Bogs Cleveland Shrub Steppe Columbia Falls Columbia Hills Cypress Highlands Dabob Bay Dailey Prairie Davis Canyon Entiat Slopes Goose Island Gunpowder Island Hamma Hamma Balds Ink Blot Kahlotus Ridgetop Kennedy Creek Kings Lake Bog Kitsap Forest Lacamas Prairie Natural Area Little Pend Oreille River Marcellus Shrub Steppe Methow Rapids Mima Mounds Monte Cristo Niawiakum River North Bay Oak Patch Olivine Bridge Pinecroft Point Doughty Riverside Breaks Rocky Prairie Sand Island Schumacher Creek Selah Cliffs Skagit Bald Eagle Skookum Inlet Snoqualmie Bog Spring Creek Canyon Trout Lake The Two-Steppe Upper Dry Gulch Washougal Oaks Natural Area Whitcomb Flats Willapa Divide

Natural Resources Conservation Areas	Cattle Point Clearwater Corridor Cypress Island Devils Lake Dishman Hills Elk River Ellsworth Creek Granite Lakes Hat Island Hendrickson Canyon Klickitat Canyon Lake Louise Loomis Lummi Island Merrill Lake Middle Fork Snoqualmie Morning Star Mount Si Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area Shipwreck Point South Nemah South Nolan Stavis Table Mountain Tahoma Forest Teal Slough Washougal Oaks Natural Area West Tiger Mountain White Salmon Oak Woodard Bay

Other

Former state parks	Damon Point Fay Bainbridge Fort Okanogan Fort Ward Park Griffin Bay Lyons Ferry Park Mukilteo Lighthouse Park Osoyoos Lake Veteran's Memorial Park Wenberg

Blanchard Forest
Cascadia Marine Trail
The Enchantments
Goose Island
Les Hilde Trail & Trailheads
Little Pend Oreille
Mount Adams Recreation Area
Sehome Hill Arboretum
Walker Valley ORV Riding Area
Withrow Moraine
Yellow Island

Coordinates: 48°9′51.8″N 122°40′39.4″W / 48.164389°N 122.677611°W / 48.164389; -122.677611

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Fort Casey

History

See also

Notes

References

External links