Harbor Defenses of New York

Harbor Defenses of New York
In June 1908, the 10th Company of the 13th Artillery District, New York National Guard (later the 245th Coast Artillery) loads a 10-inch gun at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.
Active	1895-1950
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
Type	Coast artillery
Role	Harbor Defense Command
Garrison/HQ	Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, New York
Mascot(s)	Oozlefinch

The Harbor Defenses of New York was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of New York City from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program, some of which were located in New Jersey. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The command originated circa 1895 as an Artillery District(s) and became the Coast Defenses of Eastern New York and Coast Defenses of Southern New York in 1913. Circa 1915 the Coast Defenses of Sandy Hook separated from the latter command. In 1925 the commands were renamed as Harbor Defense Commands, and in 1935 the Harbor Defenses of Eastern New York was disestablished, although possibly retaining the minefield capability. The remaining commands were unified as the Harbor Defenses of New York circa 1942.

Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian working for France, is credited with being the first European to explore the New York City area, in 1524. He was closely followed the next year by a Spanish expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Estêvão Gomes. In 1542 the French established a fortified trading post known as Fort d'Anormée Berge (Fort of the Grand Scarp), in southern Manhattan on an island in a lake later called Collect Pond. It is unclear when it was disestablished. Dutch settlement of the area began with an expedition in 1609 by Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for the Dutch East India Company, for whom the Hudson River (called the North River in the Dutch period) and other places are named. Other Dutch-sponsored explorers soon followed him, with a blockhouse/trading post in Manhattan by 1612. In 1614 Fort Nassau, a factorij or fortified trading post, was established at what is now Albany, New York. This was the first permanent Dutch settlement in the area, by the New Netherland Company as part of the colony of the same name. This colony was established primarily to exploit the North American fur trade, and grew over the next forty years with fortified settlements from the South River (Delaware River) to what is now Rhode Island.