Fort Wint was part of the harbor defenses of Manila and Subic Bays built by the Philippine Department of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

between 1907 and 1920 in response to recommendations of the Taft Board prior to the non-fortification clause of the Washington Naval Treaty. Fort Wint was located on Grande Island at the entrance of Subic Bay, approximately 35 miles (56 km) north of Manila Bay. The fort was named for Brigadier General Theodore J. Wint. As specified in the National Defense Act of 1935, this was one of the locations where

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form o ...

training was conducted. A battery of the

60th Coast Artillery (AA) The 60th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an air defense unit of the United States Army. History World War I The regiment was constituted on 23 December 1917 in the Regular Army as the 60th Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps and organized at ...

was stationed here.

Armament

Fort Wint was armed with fourteen Taft-Endicott period coast artillery pieces mounted in five batteries. Battery Warwick contained the fort's most powerful weaponry, two M1895

disappearing gun A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate ba ...

s on Buffington-Crozier carriages. Batteries Hall and Woodruff each mounted two M1905 guns, also on disappearing carriages. Batteries Flake and Jewell were armed with M1903 guns on pedestal mounts. As with other forts of the same period, the weaponry of Fort Wint was obsolete at the outbreak of hostilities with Japan in 1941.

World War II

In July 1941 minefields were laid at the entrance to Subic Bay. These included an Army controlled minefield operated from Fort Wint as well as

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...

s, with the controlled Army mines in the ship channel, and naval mines to the sides of the channel.Bogart, Charles M., ''Subic Bay and Fort Wint: Keys to Manila'', p. 2 at Corregidor.org
/ref> In December 1941 the bay entrance was ordered completely closed by Navy mines. In the first week of January 1942, as Allied forces withdrew to the Bataan peninsula, Fort Wint was ordered abandoned and its crews reassigned to other American positions in Manila Bay. This was reportedly due to a mistake by the commander of the Northern Luzon Force. Consequently, the fort played no part in the subsequent siege of the island forts. Fort Wint was recaptured by U.S. forces in March 1945. The fort suffered substantial damage during the campaign to retake the Philippines .Powers (June 1968) pp.114-115

Post-war

Grande Island and the remains of Fort Wint were incorporated into the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay. The two disappearing guns of Battery Warwick were dismantled by the

United States 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 ...

in the 1960s and shipped to Fort Casey in Washington state for renovation and display. The four guns of Batteries Flake and Jewell were removed and divided between Forts Flagler and Casey in Washington state where they remain on display. The guns of Battery Hall remain in place (pictures right). Grand Island was operated for many decades after WW II by Subic Bay US Navy Special Services as an on base resort for US Military and Civilians stationed throughout the Philippines. It was accessible via a small landing craft type boat shuttle service at the pier adjacent to the Alava Carrier Pier in front of the HQ building at Naval Station Subic Bay. During Operation New Life, in 1975, thousands of Vietnamese refugees were sheltered and processed on Grande Island after the fall of Vietnam to

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

. After that rescue mission, which lasted about six months, Grande Island was rehabilitated and was restored to its Special Services resort configuration until 1991. At that time the lease on US military bases expired, and the US bases were closed about the same time they were damaged by the eruption of

Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains, located on the tripoint boundary of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga, all in Central Luzon on the northern island of Luzon. Its eruptive histo ...

volcano. Grande Island was restored as a resort after repairs following damage from the Mount Pinatubo volcano eruption. It was restored by the civilian Philippine Subic Bay Free Port Zone Authority following the closure of the Subic Naval Base in 1992.

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