Battery 155 - Fort Morgan

 (1942-1944) - Battery 155 - Fort Morgan was a temporary, World War II, 155mm coastal gun battery on Panama mounts. Located on Fort Morgan (1), Baldwin County, Alabama. Battery construction was completed in 1942. Deactivated in 1944.

World War II
Originally built as a temporary World War II coastal gun battery with two 155mm M1918M1 rapid fire guns mounted on M1918 Mobile Carriages emplaced on circular Panama mounts. One of these emplacements was on top of bastion four on the old brick fort, the top of this bastions had been leveled when Battery Duportail was built. The second Panama mount was placed near the salient angle of the northwest covered way.

Battery 155 - Fort Morgan was originally formed from elements of Battery F and G of the 50th Coast Artillery from Camp Pendleton, Virginia. Eight officers and one hundred ninety-one enlisted men arrived by train at Fort Barrancas on 7 Apr 1942 with their equipment and proceeded to Fort Morgan (1) by truck convoy. The Temporary Harbor Defense of Mobile was established there on 10 Apr 1942. Two 155mm guns and carriages were temporarily emplaced in field positions until the two Panama mounts were completed on the old brick fort.

In January 1944 two 155mm guns arrived from the deactivated Temporary Harbor Defense of Pascagoula and were stored on the east glacis of the old fort.

The Temporary Harbor Defense of Mobile was deactivated on 1 Jul 1944 and the troops departed Fort Morgan (1) on 5 Jul 1944. The two guns from Pascagoula were shipped to the Anniston, Alabama depot on 4 Jul 1944. The original two guns had their gun tubes removed and shipped to Aberdeen depot on 24 Nov 1944 and the carriages shipped to the Anniston, Alabama depot on 8 Dec 1944.

Current Status
No period guns or carriages in place. One Panama mount remains visible atop Bastion #4. In 2005 it was reported that the second Panama mount was built on the dirt fill between Battery Duportail and the brick fort wall, and when the dirt fill was removed, the mount was removed as well. The Panama mount is still on site, but is currently in storage (2005).

Sources:
 * Gaines, William, Temporary Harbor Defenses in the Southern Defense Command: 1942-1944, The Coast Defense Journal, Vol 16 Issue 1, page 4-38

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