Battery Long

 (1927-1948) - Battery Frank S. Long was a reinforced concrete, Endicott Period 16-inch coastal gun battery on Fort Duvall located on Hog Island in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The battery was named in G.O. 13, 27 Mar 1922, for 1st Lieutenant Frank Sidney Long who was killed in action near Fleville, France, 5 Oct 1918. He was wounded in the side by shrapnel, refused evacuation and while caring for wounded men of his platoon, he was struck again by shrapnel and instantly killed. The battery was casemated during World War II and deactivated in 1948.

World War I (1917-1918)
Battery Long was completed and the battery accepted for service in 1927. Originally, the battery mounted two M1919 16-inch guns, one MII, and one MIII, both on open circular concrete pads and M1919 barbette carriages. There was considerable indecision by the Army about whether Battery Long should receive 12-inch (like Battery Gardner at Fort Ruckman) or 16-inch guns, and in fact, both Battery Long and Battery Gardner had both types of base rings built into their concrete work.

This was a single story battery with the guns located on the same level as the common magazine and support structure between them. Shells and powder charges were moved from the magazine to the gun loading platform along a 3' narrow gauge ammunition track that encircled each gun emplacement. The central magazine had two powder rooms and two shell rooms for each gun emplacement with a total capacity of about 145 shells and 572 powder charges per emplacement. Electrical power was furnished by the emplacement power plant in the central support structure.

World War II (1941-1945)
Before the beginning of World War II, construction started on Battery Long to casemate both of its surface-mounted 16" guns. The construction was completed in 1942. It appears that Battery Long's 16" guns were only fired on two occasions, in August and September 1942. On the first occasion, the Boston Globe reported that 3,000 residents of Hull were evacuated during the test firing (to avoid the possibility of injury to them). The second firing led to the reported evacuation of only 2,000.

Battery Long was a part of the Harbor Defenses of Boston plan throughout World War II. After the war ended in 1945 the battery was declared surplus. The guns and carriages were processed for salvage in 1948.

Current Status
Hog Island was renamed Spinnaker Island and is now totally overbuilt with condominiums. The site is on private property with no public access. No period guns mounts or carriages in place. The casmated emplacements and the support structure hallways appear to be still intact. Gun emplacement #2 is still open to the outside but gun emplacement #1 has a condominium built over the gun pit.

See Also:
 * Fort Duvall

Sources:

Links: 
 * For What They Gave - Frank Sidney Long
 * For What They Gave - Frank Sidney Long