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Fort Wool | military, fortification, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places

USA / Virginia / Hampton /
 military, fortification, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places
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Fort construction began here in 1826 on a series of shoals called the "Rip-Raps."

The work was designed to be a three-tiered elliptical shape, similar to Fort McRee in Pensacola, however the entire structure began to noticeably sink as work began on the second tier, so construction slowed while the foundation was shored up.

The work was originally named Fort Calhoun, but the idea of naming a fort after a leader of the Southern seccessionist movement struck the army as distasteful, so the fort was renamed Fort Wool in 1863 in honor of Maj. Gen. John Ellis Wool, US Army, a distinguished commander in the War with Mexico.

This fort was designed to operate in concert with Fort Monroe to close the main shipping channel of Hampton Roads. It was built as part of the Third System of fortifications.

As of 1851, it was intended to be armed with fifty-four 42-pounder seacoast guns, fifty-four 32-pounder seacoast guns, eighty-eight 24-pounder guns, eight flank howitzers and twenty 8-inch heavy seacoast howitzers, for a total of 224 guns.

Searchlights, concealed radar, and one end of an anti-submarine net were installed here during the 20th century.
www.northamericanforts.com/East/Virginia/Fort_Wool/inde...
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Coordinates:   36°59'11"N   76°18'4"W
This article was last modified 9 years ago