Blunts Point Battery
Template:Use mdy dates Template:Short descriptionScript error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The Blunts Point Battery, also known as Blunts Point Naval Gun or Matautu Ridge Gun Site, is a gun battery on Matautu Ridge near Pago Pago, American Samoa. It was part of the fortification of the Samoan Islands which took place after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and is a rare example of a World War II Pacific coastal gun which remains in relatively pristine condition. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.[1][2]
On August 28, 1941, the two guns shot sixteen rounds at a target floating in Pago Pago Harbor. The guns’ discharge could be heard for miles away. Approximately one week after the guns were tested, ten rounds were shot from each of the two recently placed guns at Breakers Point.[3]
Description and history
Blunts Point is a projection on the west side of the mouth of Pago Pago Harbor, on the south side of the island of Tutuila, southeast of the village of Utulei.Template:Efn Two Script error: No such module "convert". naval guns are mounted at a point about Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level, at this point, which has a commanding view of the harbor entrance. The guns are mounted in circular concrete structures with a parapet about Script error: No such module "convert". high around the outside. A short way below the emplacement is a magazine which is built into the hillside.[2] The battery has recentlyScript error: No such module "Unsubst". been restored and is in good condition.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". It is accessible to the public via a moderately difficult hiking trail.
The tensions of World War II prompted the United States government to begin fortifying American Samoa in 1940. United States Marines installed the two guns at Blunts Point, and another two on the east side of the harbor at Breakers Point. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the capture of Guam shortly thereafter, American Samoa became of critical importance as the only major American base in the western Pacific, and it was further fortified in anticipation of attack. Although no attack ever came, American Samoa was a critical supply and training point for American military actions in the Pacific.[2]
See also
- Breakers Point Naval Guns, across the harbor
- List of United States National Historic Landmarks in United States commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states
- National Register of Historic Places listings in American Samoa
- Naval Base Samoa
References
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- ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". and Template:NHLS url (32 KB)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- ↑ Shaffer, Robert J. (2000). American Samoa: 100 Years Under the United States Flag. Island Heritage. Page 169. Template:ISBN.
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External links
- Kennedy, Joseph. "Great Guns: Archaeologists uncover traces of a Pacific island’s wartime preparations." Natural History Magazine. Vol. 120 Issue 10. December 2012.
Template:National Register of Historic Places listings in American Samoa Script error: No such module "navbox". Script error: No such module "Navbox".
- Pages with script errors
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- National Historic Landmarks in American Samoa
- Pago Pago
- Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in American Samoa
- United States Marine Corps installations
- Military installations closed in the 1940s
- World War II on the National Register of Historic Places
- 1942 establishments in American Samoa