Battery Alexander, fully armed by 1906, mounted eight 12-inch mortars designed to fire shells in a high arc onto the decks of enemy battleships. Low-trajectory gunfire from nearby batteries, aimed close to the enemy's waterline, would have joined its mortar fire. Because mortars were believed to be less accurate than guns, all the mortars in a pit, or an entire battery, would fire at an enemy battleship at the same time. By 1918, during World War I, it had become clear that these massive weapons were more accurate than expected, and two mortars were removed from each of its two pits. Battery Alexander remained a four-mortar operation until 1943, when the new era of aerial attack rendered it obsolete.

Photo: National Park Service

Photo: Barry Swackhamer