Fort Tilden (New York City)

A decommissioned Cold War-era military base. It had gun turrets and air defense positions in case of an attack on New York City.

More recently a small art gallery opened, showing exhibits of local Rockaway and New York City artists.

The military base was most active during world war II.

It was not intended nor was it really a Cold War base, decommissioned in the 70's it has since become a Gateway Recreational Park.

It was made I believe in the inter-war period and along with another fort in New Jersey called Fort Hancock. It was home to the largest cannon ever made (and shot) at the time. The 16" cement casings are still there. In essence, it was to protect New York Harbor.

Soon after the war in the 50s it became a test site for Nike Battery (missiles) and after that slowly became stagnant.

It was an US Army Reserve post during the 80's. 5/5 Field Artillery was the unit based there.

one fort defends new york? i dont think one fort would be enouhg or is there others

The fort dates to 1917. Among the first weapons emplaced were a battery of 12" seacoast mortars (I want to say M1890's). In 1921, a pair of barbette mounted 16" guns was emplaced at the fort to defend the approaches to NY harbor (Battery Harris). These were later casemated immediately prior to WW2. They, in conjuction with batteries at Ft. Hancock in NJ, protected the outer entrance to NY harbor. The guns were scrapped in 1949. Later, in the mid 1950's, a quadruple magazine Nike missile launch site (Nike site NY-49) and control radar site were sited at Ft. Tilden. Both Battery Harris and the Nike site are easily seen in aerial photos. The fort was closed in 1974 and transferred to the National Park Service.