Fort Andrews

Fort Andrews
Part of Harbor Defenses of Boston
Peddock's Island, Massachusetts
At the height of its armament, the fort had 16 M1896 mortars as shown, in 4 pits of four mortars each. In 1910 four of these were sent to the Philippines; these were replaced by four M1908 mortars. Later 6 mortars (2 from each of 3 pits) were removed. This photo most likely depicts Pit A of Battery Cushing at Fort Andrews.
Fort Andrews Location in Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°18′06″N 70°55′53″W / 42.30167°N 70.93139°W / 42.30167; -70.93139Coordinates: 42°18′06″N 70°55′53″W / 42.30167°N 70.93139°W / 42.30167; -70.93139
Type	Coastal Defense, later POW camp
Site information
Owner	Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area
Open to the public	yes
Site history
Built	1898-1904
Built by	United States Army
In use	1901-1947
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

Fort Andrews was created in 1897 as part of the Coast (later Harbor) Defenses of Boston, Massachusetts. Construction began in 1898 and the fort was substantially complete by 1904. The fort was named after Major General George Leonard Andrews, an engineer and Civil War commander, who assisted in the construction of nearby Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. It occupies the entire northeast end of Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor, and was originally called the Peddocks Island Military Reservation. Once an active Coast Artillery post, it was manned by hundreds of soldiers and bristled with mortars and guns that controlled the southern approaches to Boston and Quincy Bay. The fort also served as a prisoner-of-war camp for Italian prisoners during World War II, who were employed as laborers following the Italian surrender to the Allies in 1943. Today, the fort is abandoned, and is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, as part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.

Fort Andrews' gun and mortar batteries as built were as follows:

In its heyday, the fort's armament was impressive. Fort Andrews was the site of one of Boston Harbor's two 12-inch coast defense mortar complexes (the other was Fort Banks), meant to protect the southern approaches to Boston Harbor. The two pits of Battery Whitman at the northwest end of the fort were initially planned to be the first two pits of a four-pit (16-mortar) battery, in a so-called Abbott Quad design. With a range of 7 miles, these batteries could in fact have reached both the northern and southern channels into the harbor, interlocking with the fire of Fort Banks' mortars.

As it was, only two pits (in a north-south alignment) were built for Battery Whitman (Whitman Pit A is the southerly one, with Pit B behind it), and two more, of a slightly different design, became Battery Cushing (built just to the east and in an east-west alignment). When fully equipped, these pits contained 16 12-inch coast defense mortars, able to bombard the southern approaches to the harbor with projectiles weighing over 1,000 pounds (450 kg) each. Three of the mortar pits are still visible. The fourth (the most easterly of Cushing's two pits — Pit A) has been partially filled with debris from the recent demolition of other structures at the fort.