(1) Primary armament. The primary armament
of Fort Drum consisted of four 14-inch (Naval
rifles), two guns to the turret. The forward turret
was mounted on the lower forward portion of the top
deck and was 9 feet below the upper level. The rear
turret was mounted immediately in the rear of the
forward turret, but on the top deck; this made it
possible for the two turrets to be fired in a
forward position simultaneously, the rear guns
firing over the forward guns. The forward turret
was limited to 230°, while the rear turret had a
360° traverse.
The turrets were
14-inch gun turrets, Model 1909 for 14-inch guns,
Model 1909. The faces of the turrets were 16-inch
armor plate, while the sides and rear were 14 inches
in thickness. The flat top was from 4-½ to 6 inches
in thickness. The turrets had no external openings
for either vents or gunports and this proved to be
very important later on. The entire turret was
Barbette mounted and the water shed armor was on the
outside of the turret and very thin, less than 1
inch. This presented a sizeable vulnerable area,
exposed to enemy fire, on the top deck. As this
ring was about the turret wells, it exposed portions
of our powder as well as our personnel who were
below decks, to any hits which might rupture this
thin armor above. The interior of each turret was
divided into two compartments, one for each gun; and
in the rear of the turret, sealed off completely,
was the turret captain's booth. Observation from
the turrets was had by 3 periscopes, one for each
gun and one for the turret captain's booth. The
periscopes extended above the top of the turret for
about 8 inches and were covered with a very thin
armor head in the rear, about ¾ inch in thickness.
This was a point we were to regret later as the top
of the turrets was hit many times and damage was
done to some of the instruments.
These turrets were
completely electrically controlled. The ammunition
hoists brought the projectiles and powder from
below. The turrets were traversed and the guns were
elevated by electrical gears. It was practically
impossible to operate the turrets without power as
the traversing of the turrets by hand was extremely
slow, in fact, it took about six hours to traverse
the turrets 180° manually. The lowering was
accomplished by electric rammers and the guns were
blown with compressed air.
The elevation of the
14-inch guns was limited to 15° which limited our
maximum range from that height of site with normal
ballistic conditions, to 19,200 yards.
(2) Secondary
armament. The secondary armament of Fort Drum
consisted of four 6-inch Naval rifles, two each in
two casemates. Two of these guns, one above the
other, were on the starboard, or north side, and two
of them were on the port, or south side. Each of
these batteries had one gun above the other on
separate levels with a separate casemate for each
gun. The deck, or floor, between the guns of each
battery was steel about 3 or 4 inches thick.
The two 6-inch guns
on the starboard (north side) were called Battery
McCray, belonging to Group III with its' CP on the
south side of Corregidor. Group III was made up of
secondary armament with the mission of guarding the
south channel. The two 6-inch port guns (south
side) were called Battery Roberts. They were not
part of any group, but came strictly under the Fort
Drum Commander.
These casement
blisters were constructed of 6-inch armor plate,
recessed about six feet in the side of the concrete
hull. The fields of fire for both batteries was
limited to about 120° of traverse. Originally the
elevation of these guns had been limited to 12°.
This was governed by two factors in construction,
the site of the port through which the guns fired in
the armor plate and the fact that at 12° elevation,
the breech was almost down to the floor of the
concrete. The fort record book and the emplacement
records kept before the war, indicated that the 12°
elevation had proved to be unsatisfactory due to two
factors. First the loading operation with the
breech so near the floor hampered smooth loading and
ramming. Second, the guns were sluggish on going
from recoil to battery. These things had hampered
target practice and after many reports and much
correspondence, steps had been taken to limit the
guns to 10° elevation.
