Battery 155 - Burrwood

Battery 155 - Burrwood (1942-1944) - Battery 155 - Burrwood was a temporary, World War II, 155mm coastal gun battery on Panama mounts. The Battery was established to counter the threat of German Submarines at the entrances to the Mississippi River below New Orleans. The Battery was located near Burrwood at Southwest Pass on the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Battery construction started in July 1942. The Battery was deactivated in 1944. World War II Part of the Temporary Harbor Defense of New Orleans, Louisiana. This battery was originally built in the summer of 1942 as a temporary World War II coastal gun battery with two 155mm M1918M1 GPF rapid fire guns mounted on field carriages and emplaced on circular concrete Panama mounts. The Burrwood base camp contained nearly two-dozen buildings, most being prefab huts and the rest theater-of-operations structures. Battery 155 - Burrwood Base Camp Facilities No. Size Type Notes 9 48' x 16' Huts 6 16' x 16' Huts 1 20' x 76' supply building 1 lavatory building 1 latrine 1 combination admin/supply building 1 recreation building 1 mess hall + cooling unit for foodstuffs 1 water system 1 sewage system 1 Electrical System Overhead transmission lines from Navy Base 1 Fresh Water System 4" Pipe from Navy Base 5,235' 1 Heating system Oil shipped from New Orleans Although construction was commenced in the summer of 1942, the base camp installation was not completed until 22 Jan 1944. The two circular concrete Panama mounts for the guns and a combination Battery Control (BC)/Plotting Room/Coincidence Range Finder (CRF) tower were all built on a landfill about a mile downriver from U.S. Navy Section Base at Burrwood, Louisiana. When the guns were fired for calibration, the shock made the CRF unusable, so it was relocated to a 35' wooden tower, while a 37' steel-frame tower replaced the wooden BC tower. The plotting room was also moved to a more stable location. The battery was set up to serve as an examination battery for the Southwest Pass on the Mississippi River and it had two towers with a 60" portable searchlight on each, and two 15' wooden towers for the electric controllers. These two searchlights, along with one 24" light and three 18" lights served to both illuminated the river at night, and to serve as beach defense lights. By October 1944 the submarine situation in the Gulf appeared to be under control and on 12 Dec 1944 the HECP at Burrwood was closed and the examination batteries at both Burrwood and Port Eads were relieved. The 181st Coast Artillery Battalion moved to the HD of Pensacola, and the two 155 mm guns at Burrwood were shipped to the Erie, PA, Ordnance Depot. 155mm M1918 Gun at Fort Morgan Panama Mount at Fort Pickens Current Status No remains. Location: Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana Maps & Images Lat: 28.968056 Long: -89.37750 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: .....' GPS Locations: 28.968056, -89.37750 Burrwood, Lousiana See Also: Harbor Defense of New Orleans Sources: Gaines, William, Temporary Harbor Defenses in the Southern Defense Command: 1942-1944, The Coast Defense Journal, Vol 16 Issue 1, page 25-27 Links: North American Forts - Burrwood Military Reservation CDSG Visited: No