Ft Drum access to main deck

[Deleted]

Question:

When Ft. Drum was active, how did the crew access the main deck from inside the fort ? I know there were emergency hatches inside the turrets. Was there a stairway inside the sally port ?

Also, How did they get ammunition from the magazines to the 3 inch AA guns ? Were there scuttles or lifts ?

Any help would be welcome.

[okla]

Hey Cat....I was perusing the Osphrey publication "American Defenses of Corregidor and Manila Bay-1898-1945" and saw no indication of an access to the main deck indicated in the cutaway view of Fort Drum. Surely, the emergency hatches inside the turrets were not the only such passages,etc. Hatches below the wooden barracks, I think, would be improbable.The Sally Port is hidden from view in the cutaway drawing. One would think that some type of entry to top side would be located in this area. I am sure you must have seen this rendition of Fort Drum. As usual, I am of absolutely no help in furnishing any pertinent info to a query from a viewer.

[fortman]

Hi Cat,
This is an interesting question which Batteryboy could probably answer in his sleep. What I found out from consulting Francis J Allen's "The Concrete Battleship" is that there are/were two emergency exits in the "deck", more or less in line with the 6-inch batteries. These exits were used by the US forces in 1945 to pump oil and fuel into the fort to drive out the Japs. The engineering drawings in the book show a shaft leading from the sally port to the various levels in the fort. There is also sign of an adjacent smaller shaft between the floors, so access could have been in this area via catladders. Over to Bats.

[The Phantom]

I'm also looking at the book "THE CONCRETE BATTLESHIP" BY FRANCIS ALLEN.

I'm looking at the photo's of the construction phase of the fort, bottom photo on page 13 in particular.

Caption reads;
"Close up of the stern of Fort Drum. Entrance to the fort can be clearly made out."

There is a large opening on the south side on a dock area which is high above the water line.
This entrance appears open with no doors at this time. ( As in later completed photo's.)

Above this doorway/entrance into the fort from the dock area, is constructed a 4 story building,( the buildings design make it look like it was made hastily and haphazardly of G.I. sheets and may be a construction building.)

Next to this building is long set of concrete steps up to the Drum's top deck with steel railings making this set of steps look permanent.

Later pictures of the rear of a completed Drum show this area, where the building and steps appear, flush with the rest of the top surface.
The receiving area and dock are still there but now the steps to the top are where?
Inside the new concrete walls and ceiling?

So there you go........lots of talk, no real answer.

Like the old saying, " Just remember..... wherever you go....... there you are!"
So it doesn't matter how you got there?

[fireball]

There was an access points - stairs and then ladder for the last 6ft or so - on both the 6inch batteries. Unfortunately, as my visit was very fast due to marginal weather I did not look over the stern end of the top so can not give any info on possible access points to the rear of the 6inch batteries.

But, just as you enter the inner passage (heading directly to the 'bow') there was a room to the right which had light coming in from the outer wall / ceiling:



It looks to me as if it is the same room identified as a 'loading room battery marshall" (p.60 of the Allen book). If it is a loading room it is unlikely to be for Battery Marshall, rather for the relocated Battery Hoyle 3inch gun. But, on the plans (Fort Drum Barracks, Form 7 sheet 2, p.25 Allen book) it is (I think) the room marked '23 KW sets', suggesting perhaps it was a radio (due to its location) or generator equipment room (p. 21 Allen) and the tables are platforms for such equipment. Of course it might have had a variety of uses over time and changing needs.

As Fortman notes, there was also a shaft going vertically from the lower decks up to the level of the entry passage. This had the remains of the metal ladder but as far as I remember did not extend to the outside top. Looking up from the engine deck (balcony):



The Sally Port is also open within the walls and so in peacetime no doubt a wooden stairs could have been installed for ease of access:



(this photo was taken on my first unsuccessful trip to the Fort when the boat from Ternate, Cavite refused to land me - although for nearby Fort Frank there was no problem)

[Karl Welteke]

This reply should answer some of the questions. Let the pictures do the talking:

Most people come this way (per helicopter is another way). This was a super calm day but this old overweight man still needed help. Even if it is little rough, this operation becomes risky with these outrigger boats. These boats jump up and down like a feather and can’t kept alongside without wrecking them.


Fort Drum. 2009-08-14 Starboard Side ( Stbd) 6IN, Btry. McCrea, looking forward. The deck over the battery blew away in 1945 and this is where they poured in the oil. And this is where today’s visitors reach topside.


The first square hole is where we climb out and back in. There are pieces of concrete down there where you can step on to make it easier. There was some kind of hatch here and so this was one way the crew could get topside. In the sully athwartship passageway there may have been steps or vertical ladders. In this hole there must have been a vertical ladder.


Now on the other side, the port side (port) is an identical hole (shaft) coming from Btry Roberts. The vertical ladder rungs aren’t there anymore but with help one could exit here also.


One could certainly exit or enter here also, thru those horizontal slits where the gun trains forward or aft., although that would not be the normal way. I’m also sure that they tied up the boats alongside sometime and rigged a Jacobs ladder (rope ladder). They did that most likely forward where the deck is lower.


This is how one can enter the turrets today. I’m sure you all wanted to see how fots2’s legs look like!!! But inside the turrets almost everything is rusted away that one can’t climb up or down in the turrets anymore, less one uses lines or Jacobs ladders.


The next two openings in the next 2 images are located at the Stbd Quarter Topside (At the rear on the right side if you look to the front). Both of these openings must have had something to do with the machinery below in the 3 Stbd Quarter machinery spaces. And maybe the light came thru one of these holes which fireball showed in his reply #3.
s74.photobucket.com/albums/i265/PI-Sailor/Z1%20images%20direct%20linked/?action=view¤t=g090814b47venttostbdentrancegenerator.jpg




This last picture looks aft, Stbd, from somewhere forward. What we see is some holes in a row which at one time where vent intakes, the old fashion way. Like the ones seen on ships before air conditioning and one could twist them into the direction of the wind. They don’t go straight down and now are filled with debris.

[okla]

Hey Karl...Good stuff, as per usual. Gotta comment on Fots' legs. Betty Grable's they ain't. Also, the steel grate with the two "warped" or curved bars has me puzzled. Is this the result of some "scrapper activity",etc. They are curved in an identical fashion so maybe they were manufactured to appear this way. I just can't feature for what purpose. No big deal, but this kind of thing will "bug" me for awhile. Cheers. Postscript....Is there anybody on this forum who is ancient enough to even know who Betty Grable was??? Maybe I should have used Jennifer Anniston as my example.

[Karl Welteke]

Hello Okla, I always assumed a shell or bomb went in there and did or didn’t explode.

[fortman]

Hi Okla,

I know who Betty Grable was!

Regards

Fortman

[fots2]

Hey okla,

I am relieved to know that "they ain't'.

Happy New Year buddy.