The Unsinkable Battleship

Fort Drum 

This is Fort Drum, a concrete battleship built in 1909 named after Brigadier General Richard C. Drum. Originally this was an islet called El Fraile until the Board Of Fortifications chaired by William H. Taft recommended that all key harbors of territories acquired after the Spanish-American War be fortified, which led to the construction of Fort Drum for the defense of Manila and Subic Bay.

In 1909, El Fraile Island was first leveled for a massive steel reinforced concrete fortress resembling that of a battleship to be erected. Fort Drum was 350 ft long, 144 ft wide with a top deck of 40 ft high above water at low tide. Over head protection was a 20 foot thick steel reinforced concrete deck with its exterior walls ranging approximately from 25 to 36 ft making it impregnable by enemy naval assault. The first proposal was to equip it with two twin twelve inch (305 mm) guns on top of the fortress but the US War Department decided to change it with fourteen inch (356 mm) guns mounted on twin armored turrets. These fourteen inch (356 mm) guns together with their two custom built M1909 turrets were called Batteries Marshall and Wilson. These were delivered and installed in 1916. Battery Marshall had a traverse of 230°, it was mounted at the forward position, 9 ft below the top deck. Battery Wilson at the rear has a traverse of 360°, with both turrets capable of 15° elevation giving them a range of 17,600 meters.

Secondary armaments were 6 inch (152 mm) guns mounted in armored casemates in either side of the structure, they were called Batteries Robert and McCrea. Also part of its firepower was two 3 inch (76 mm) mobile AA guns on spider mounts for anti aircraft defense. Searchlights, anti aircraft batteries and a lattice style control tower are all on the upper deck. Living quarters for 240 men, power generator, plotting rooms and ammunition magazines are well protected deep inside the fort.

With the overwhelming forces of the Japanese Imperial Army in the main island of Luzon, General Douglas MacArthur ordered all US and Filipino forces fall back in the peninsula of Bataan late December of 1941. This quickly brought the enemy land forces within range of the fort. The wooden barracks in front of Battery Wilson were dismantled to give it an unobstructed sight of fire. On January 2, the concrete fortress withstood heavy Japanese air bombardment. First attack from the land forces came in February 1942, Japanese 150 mm howitzer batteries located in the town of Ternate were firing at Fort Drum. By middle of March the Japanese moved in with bigger artillery, the 240 mm siege howitzer. It damaged Fort Drums 3 inch anti aircraft battery, one of the 6 inches guns and one of the armored casemates. Fort Drum surrendered to the enemy following the fall of Corregidor on May 6, 1942. No one was killed during the siege and only 5 US personnel were injured.

When the tide turned against the Japanese in 1945, the Americans gained access to the deck of the fort on April 13 after heavy aerial and naval bombardment. The troops pumped in gasoline and diesel into the air vent on the top deck and used timed fuse to ignite the fire. The fort kept on burning for several days annihilating all 65 Japanese.

Fort Drum today 

Like any man made structures, nothing can withstand the test of time specially the neglected ones. Today,  Fort Drum still stands tall but in ruins.

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