Fort Funston is a former harbor defense installation located in the southwestern corner of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. Formerly known as the Lake Merced Military Reservation, the fort is now a protected area within the

Golden Gate National Recreation Area The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United ...

(GGNRA). It was named in honor of Frederick N. Funston (1865–1917), a Major General in the United States Army with strong connections to San Francisco, and included several

artillery batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

. The fort is located on Skyline Boulevard at John Muir Drive, west of Lake Merced. The fort was constructed upon windswept headlands along the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

coast and Ocean Beach below, above steep sandstone cliffs that provide a nesting habitat for a colony of

bank swallow The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as the bank swallow (in the Americas), collared sand martin, or common sand martin, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the ...

s (''Riparia riparia''). The last remnants of a

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

ecosystem that once covered the western half of San Francisco grows along the top of the headlands, with trailheads forming part of the California Coastal Trail that runs through San Francisco County.

History

The land was acquired by the federal government in 1900 as the Lake Merced Military Reservation, originally intended to accommodate two

12-inch coast defense mortar The 12-inch coast defense mortar was a weapon of caliber emplaced during the 1890s and early 20th century to defend US harbors from seaborne attack. In 1886, when the Endicott Board set forth its initial plan for upgrading the coast defenses of ...

batteries in the Coast Defenses of San Francisco (later Harbor Defenses). However, nothing significant was built there until after the

American entry into World War I American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in early 1917. The fort, renamed for Major General

Frederick Funston Frederick Funston (November 9, 1865 – February 19, 1917), also known as Fighting Fred Funston, was a general in the United States Army, best known for his roles in the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War. He received ...

shortly after his death in 1917, began to take shape during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, with the construction of a parade ground, barracks and a series of coastal batteries. These were Battery Howe with four 12-inch mortars and Battery Bruff with two 5-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts. These weapons were relocated from Batteries McKinnon and Sherwood at

Fort Winfield Scott Fort Point is a masonry seacoast fortification located on the southern side of the Golden Gate at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. It is also the geographic name of the promontory upon which the fort and the southern approach of the Golden Gat ...

, adjacent to the Presidio.Fort Funston at FortWiki.com
/ref>Berhow, p. 217 Battery Howe was named for Walter Howe, a general and veteran of the Indian wars who died in 1915. Battery Bruff was named after Lawrence Bruff, an Ordnance Corps colonel and instructor at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

who died in 1911. In 1920 Battery Bruff was disarmed due to a withdrawal from Army service of the 5-inch gun. In the early 1920s,

Anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

Battery No. 5 of three 3-inch guns was built at the fort.Fort Funston at American Forts Network
/ref> Following World War I, the

Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...

of 1923 caused the cancellation of numerous

battleship A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...

s and

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...

s building and planned for the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Some of the guns intended for these ships were made available to the

United States Army Coast Artillery Corps The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery ...

to defend key ports against a potential naval attack. However, only a few of these weapons were emplaced prior to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. In 1936–1939 Battery Davis was built at Fort Funston, housing two 16-inch Mark 2 Navy guns. These 143-ton guns were moved on railroad cars in 1937 from

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates t ...

to Southern Pacific's Ocean View Station. This was the prototype US 16-inch battery for casemating against air attack, which was adopted for almost all US 16-inch batteries built during the war and retrofitted to most pre-war batteries of this type. It was also the prototype for the Army's M2 carriage; previous ex-Navy 16-inch guns had used a modified M1919 carriage designed for the 16-inch gun M1919. Battery Davis was named for Major General Richmond P. Davis, a Coast Artillery officer who served in France in World War I, retired in 1929 and died in 1937. Also, an unnamed battery of four 155 mm guns on concrete " Panama mounts" was built at the fort circa 1938. In 1940 Battery Davis was joined by Battery Townsley at

Fort Cronkhite Fort Cronkhite is one of the components of California's Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Today part of the National Park Service, Fort Cronkhite is a former US Army post that served as part of the coastal artillery defenses of the San Francisc ...

. A third 16-inch battery, Battery 129 (also called "Construction 129") at

Fort Barry Fort Barry is a former United States Army installation on the West Coast of the United States, located in the Marin Headlands of Marin County, California, north of San Francisco. Opened in 1908, the fort was part of the Coast Artillery Corps and ...

, was built for the San Francisco area during World War II but not completed or armed. Four additional 155 mm guns on Panama mounts were emplaced as Battery Bluff. Also, four 40 mm Bofors gun batteries were placed around the fort. From December 1941 through April 1944 Fort Funston's garrison included elements of the 18th Coast Artillery Regiment. The gun batteries were declared obsolete shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but a 90 mm anti-aircraft gun battery was on the site 1953-57 during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. Fort Funston later became a

Nike missile The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

launch site, hosting sites SF-59L (now the parking lot) and SF-61 from 1956 to 1963. The fort was inactivated in 1963 and eventually transferred to the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

to be administered as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. At some point Batteries Howe and Bruff were demolished, while the Panama mounts have either been destroyed by erosion or buried.

Features

The area is covered with a network of trails suitable for hiking or horseback riding. There are two

Dutch sand ladder A Dutch sand ladder is a cable or rope ladder with rungs usually made of wood, lying on a sandy slope to allow persons to ascend or descend with minimal erosion. Use of Dutch Sand Ladders in Fort Funston. Illustrated. The bottom end is anchored ...

s that extend down the dunes to the beach. The beach is known for its magnetic sand and strong currents, discouraging swimming. Fort Funston is a popular dog park and the only park in the GGNRA that allows off-leash dogs. The strong, steady winds make the cliffs overlooking the beach a popular site for

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

. The gliding is rated intermediate difficulty (Level III). When the NPS first took over administration of the area in the early 1970s, rangers asked hang gliders what they needed. A few months later NPS opened up a gate so fliers could drive up to the old Nike site to park rather than hike in from the road, and they provided a port-a-potty. Additionally, the world record for the farthest thrown object was set here in 2003 by Erin Hemmings, who threw an Aerobie flying ring 1,333 feet.

Wildlife

Bank swallow The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as the bank swallow (in the Americas), collared sand martin, or common sand martin, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the ...

(''Riparia riparia'')

References

External links

NPS.gov Fort Funston official site
{{authority control Landforms of San Francisco Golden Gate National Recreation Area Dunes of California Hang gliding sites Funston Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area Closed installations of the United States Army Gliding in the United States 1900 establishments in California

History

Features

Wildlife

See also

References

Further reading

External links