Fire Control Tower No. 23

This tower was built to house a sophisticated system for aiming the guns of Fort Miles. From fire control towers along the coast, soldiers determined the exact location of an enemy ship using the geometric principle of triangulation. Each of these towers had at least two azimuths, binocular-like instruments that gave the precise angle between the ship and a base line. When the target was spotted, a bell rang at regular intervals, enabling the reader and plotter working the instrument to predict the location of the ship a few seconds in advance. This coordinate was used to aim the guns at the battery on the beach. For larger guns, it could take as long as fifty-three seconds for a shell to travel twenty-six miles to its target. This tower was one of 15 fire control towers built for Fort Miles, 11 on the Delaware side and 4 in New Jersey. It is the only New Jersey tower that has survived intact. The towers in North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest were demolished, while the one in Cape May City was engulfed by the Grand Hotel, with its top still visible above the roofline.

New Jersey · United States