Posted on 01/17/2023 1:22:16 PM PST by nickcarraway
A portion of the ruins at Fort Funston in San Francisco slid down a rain-soaked bluff onto the beach below, authorities said Monday.
A concrete structure, which had been jutting out and partially buried in the sand dunes, tumbled onto Funston Beach, according to a social media post by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The post said the structure had been undermined by the saturated soil.
No injuries were reported, but visitors were urged to follow posted trail signs and be attentive to their surroundings.
The concrete structure, possibly an old lookout post or base end station, was part of a series of buildings and installations at Fort Funston, which was established as a military base in 1900, with the first structures built there beginning in 1917.
The structure was about 1,000 feet north of the Battery Davis gun emplacement at the former army post. Built in 1936, Battery Davis was one of a series of harbor defenses built north and south of the strategic Golden Gate. The two 16" guns could fire a one-ton shell some 25 miles out into the Pacific Ocean, although the San Francisco harbor defense guns were only fired in training and never in combat.
By the end of the war, the gun emplacements were deemed obsolete because of advances in air power and nuclear power. Metal from the batteries was turned into scrap, with the hulking concrete structures and support buildings left behind as visible reminders of the era.
During the Cold War, Fort Funston was also one of the Bay Area's 12 missile defense installations. The fort was deactivated in the 60s and turned over to the National Park Service.
it’s a SIGN!!
I can hardly wait for the whole state to fall into the sea.
It’s a start!!!
16" gun installation...
6" gun transported through San Francisco...
You can still see one gun barrel at Battery Townsley...
Not so Funston anymore....eh?
I know exactly where that is...
hey now...
Lot’s us live here....
I’ve been there.
Nice hikes there, huh?
We had three of those big tubes stored at Pearl. When the New Jersey went to Veetnam we pulled them out of storage, cleaned them up, then sent them to Subic Bay. The Navy guys planned on wearing out the Jersey’s guns shooting at NVeets. And I guess they did since we didn’t get them back.
Interesting. Thanks. I forgot they were used in VN. Weren’t they put on a big battlewagon?
Love it
The wind is incredible.
There is a deer sanctuary below that and before you get to that spot.
If you continue walking in the direction the gun is oriented you will come to two batteries.
Continue north and you end up in open hills that are heavily wind driven, which is fine by me as I tend to work up a sweat.
The mountain in the distance is iconic for it’s view of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco.
You can view from Battery Spencer, or the beach below known as Kirby Beach.
For a more expansive view you can take it all in from Hawk View.
Oh, almost forgot.
There is a Nike Missile Silo that is open to the public, 1st Saturday of every month.
Once you are done hiking you can go into Sausalito and take in the views of the bay while sipping on a few Bloody Mary’s and eating a hamburger with frys.
The Nike-Hercules missile launch site on the north side is impressive. Sobering to realize each anti-air missile warhead had a nuclear bomb.
Indeed. That was the final breakthrough defense system after all else failed. Imagine Nike Ajax taking out Russkie nuke bombers up to 70,000 feet and only 30 miles offshore with nukes! That would give you quite a light show in nearby cities.
Beginning in 1953, Ajax missiles were installed in some 200 fixed launcher sites in cities and military sites throughout the United States.
In 1958 the larger Nike Hercules began to replace the Ajax. Its two-stage, solid-propellant engines could carry either a high-explosive or a nuclear warhead at more than three times the speed of sound to targets as high up as 150,000 feet and more than 75 miles away. Hercules was designed for defense against attacks by massed formations of bombers, but a more sophisticated radar system enabled improved versions to intercept short-range ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.
Is that by Molly Stone?
It looks familiar
It’s a mile from Molly Stone’s on Bridgeway. Molly Stone’s is closer to 101.
Bar Bocce is kind of hidden and you have to be looking for it. Check it out — ice spot!
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