Bombardment of Fort Stevens
Bombardment of Fort Stevens | |||||||
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Part of the American theater and the Pacific Theater of World War II | |||||||
American servicemen inspecting a shell crater after the Japanese attack on Fort Stevens. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Japan | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
unknown | Akiji Tagami | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Land: 2 artillery pieces 1 fort Air: 1 aircraft | 1 submarine | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Minor damage | None |
The Bombardment of Fort Stevens occurred in June 1942, in the
Bombardment
The Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-25, commanded by Akiji Tagami, had been assigned to sink enemy shipping and attack the enemy on land with its 14 cm deck gun. Transporting a Yokosuka E14Y seaplane, the submarine was manned by a crew of 97.[1] On 21 June 1942, I-25 had entered U.S. coastal waters, following fishing boats to avoid the mine fields in the area.
Late that night,
Tagami ordered the deck gun crew to open fire on Fort Stevens' Battery Russell. Surprisingly, his shots were harmless, in part because the fort's commander ordered an immediate blackout. The commander also refused to permit his men to return fire, which would have revealed their position. Spotting the enemy gun flashes with a
Most Japanese rounds landed in a nearby baseball field or a swamp, although one landed close to Battery Russell and another next to a concrete pillbox. One round damaged several large telephone cables, the only real damage that Tagami caused. A total of seventeen explosive shells were fired at the fort.[4]
United States Army Air Forces planes on a training mission spotted the I-25 and called in her location for an A-29 Hudson bomber to attack. The bomber found the target, but the I-25 successfully dodged the falling bombs and submerged undamaged.[5]
Aftermath
Even though there were no injuries and very little damage, the Japanese attack on Fort Stevens along with the
The Fort Stevens shelling marked the only time that a
See also
- World War I Bombardment of Madras
- World War I Bombardment of Orleans
- World War II German attacks on Nauru
- World War II Bombardment of Ellwood
- World War II "Battle of Los Angeles"
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Hackett, Bob, and Sander Kingsepp (2002). "IJN Submarine I-25: Tabular Record of Movement" (Web page). CombinedFleet.com. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Webber, Bert (1975). Retaliation: Japanese Attacks and Allied Countermeasures on the Pacific Coast in World War II. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press. ISBN 0-87071-076-1.
- Aviation History article Archived 20 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- Fort Stevens, The Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
- Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Retrieved 2019-05-15.