Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound

Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound
The unique 16-inch gun M1919 on a disappearing carriage at Fort Michie.
Active	1900-1950
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
Type	Coast artillery
Role	Harbor Defense Command
Garrison/HQ	Fort H. G. Wright, Fishers Island, New York
Mascot(s)	Oozlefinch

The Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Long Island Sound and Connecticut from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts (all but two on islands in the sound) and underwater minefields. The area defended included the port cities and manufacturing centers of New London, New Haven, and Bridgeport, and eventually included the submarine base and shipyard in Groton. The command originated circa 1900 as an Artillery District, was renamed Coast Defenses of Long Island Sound in 1913, and again renamed Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound in 1925.

Connecticut appears to have had few coastal fortifications in the colonial era. Unnamed forts are referred to in New Haven at the site of the later Black Rock Fort (dating from 1657) and in New London at the later Fort Trumbull. The British Fort Saybrook was established at Old Saybrook in 1635, which burned in 1647, but was rebuilt the next year on a new site. It was successful in resisting a Dutch raid in 1675.

Two relatively large and at least four small coastal forts were built in Connecticut during the American Revolutionary War. The larger ones were Fort Trumbull in New London and Fort Griswold in Groton, across the Thames River from Fort Trumbull. Smaller forts were also built in New Haven (Black Rock Fort), in a part of Fairfield called Black Rock that is now in Bridgeport (confusingly also called Fort Black Rock), and at Long Point in Stonington Borough. These were all built 1775-1778. Following a British raid on Stamford in July 1781, Fort Stamford was hastily built there. One source states that Fort Saybrook was also rebuilt in the Revolution.