Explore an Abandoned Futuristic Fort

[@carsonmarie2962]

I actually happened upon this by accident following a beaten path, let me tell you what it was the coolest feeling. Peaks is so much fun.

[@Cthippo1]

The coast defense batteries of the WW2 era were far more public relations exercises than practical defensive fortifications. Battery Steele contained only 2 16" guns, and a nearby battery on another island held 2 more 10 inch guns. This may sound impressive until you remember that a single battleship of the era would carry as many as 9 sixteen inch guns as it's main armament. The ww2 fortifications were more a response to the public demand that the government "do something" after Pearl Harbor. None of the forts on either coast were large enough to reasonably expect to repel a determined invasion force.

[@FalbertForester]

They weren't meant to hold off invasion forces, but rather to give raiders - submarines and surface ships - something to think about. A single 16" shell wouldn't be too devastating to a similarly-armed battleship, but Germany was unlikely to commit battleships to raid the American coast - too far from fuel sources. One 16" shell, though, could ruin the day of a fairly slow and unarmored merchant raider, cruiser, or submarine, though.

[@BigRed999]

played there as a kid during my summers.

[@ultimatesquidgaming4782]

Awesome video, you're so lucky to have been able to explore them! If you're ever in the UK, visit the German-made war tunnels on Guernsey and Jersey!

[@eugefederico1178]

Oh I love these videos so much 😍 thank you ❤

[@dmitrii7661]

Such pristine videos!

[@twstf8905]

We have an equally enigmatic WWII remnant coastal defenses installation here, near where I live in Washington State, as well. It's called; "Fort Casey." The entire campus is multiple acres, along a nondescript length of the coastline of Whidbey Island facing out towards the inlet of the Puget Sound from the direction of the Pacific Ocean. The Army Corps of Engineers has disassembled as much of it as they could, since it was active just following the 1940's, but there are still quite significant portions of concrete and steel remaining to this day, along with two massive Ocean facing disappearing guns that were left in place, one peeking up over the grassy knoll in firing position and the other retracted and hidden away down lower in loading position. It's definitely worth checking out, even if just by a Google image search, for anybody even remotely interested in that sort of thing lol but if you ever find yourself anywhere North of Seattle on the western side of Washington State, do yourself a favor and try to find and visit Ft. Casey for yourself! It's a wonderful afternoon destination, with amazing views out over the Olympic Peninsula, the Puget Sound waterway and Pacific Ocean inlet beyond, especially during sunset hours. And is an extremely interesting example of American Military History, still left scattered across the mainland landscape all these years later, when even it became obsolete essentially immediately after the War. And, being located within a few miles of an Army Air Force Installation in Oak Harbor, also on Whidbey Island, it's been able to receive whatever ongoing fundamental maintenance ever since closing for good, so the surrounding landscape is continuously manicured, the remaining buildings and hardware left in place is maintained, and it's managed to stay free of any graffiti, despite the obvious talent some, (particularly local,) artists certainly deserve credit for of their own. The immediate surrounding area is a protected wetland environment, for native plants and animals, and there's an R/V park and campground within walking distance, down the coastal bluffs below the fort next to the ferry terminal to Port Townsend, (which is on the Olympic Peninsula on the opposite shore, facing back at Whidbey Island.) Its original purpose no longer deemed appropriate for the kinds of warfare America would be fighting either today or tomorrow. 👍 Fort Casey is very similar to the installation in this video, except it's managed to enjoy far more upkeep in the intervening years. But, there's something quite undeniably special about a place all seemingly forgotten, abandoned and hidden away in the woods, left to the ravages of Nature and the occasional Graffiti artist. Some of whom deserve their talent displayed in a much more populated manner, clearly. 👍

[@RobertBolduc]

These were built to give a message to German Submarines offshore. Armed US Navy & US Coast Guard Personnel patrolled & rode horses on the beaches from Maine to Texas. German Submarines did insert German agents on the Maine & New Hampshire Coasts, & those Subs sank tankers & freighters offshore from Maine to Texas, too. Rhode Island tore their's down, but North Hampton Beach, New Hampshire has a former Observation Post turned into a mansion, with the former tower still visible poking up beside the main house.

[@tomkoclohsama930]

Very nice video thank you! It's impressive to watch those ancient War ruins and to imagine what would it be to actually using it.

[@charlesdavidson4815]

Fort Miles at Cape Henlopen DE is a coastal defense fort of the same period. It was obsolete by the time it was finished. Battery Smith’s 12 inch guns were fired once and never again, since the cracked the battery’s foundations.

[@anonjag]

The Tolman heights observation tower once was had some young islanders take it over and use it as their own, on a clear day you could see Mt Washington standing on its roof, yes, there is a hole in it from antennas that were once installed. The graffiti in Battery Steele owes a large portion of it to the "Sacred and Profane" celebration that use's it once a year

[@ogivecrush]

Very similar to the batteries scattered throughout the former Canal Zone in Panamá. It's difficult now to comprehend how many resources were devoted to the war, and how most of these installations that were deemed to be so necessary immediately fell into disuse.

[@debbieomi]

I need to put a list together and start going!

[@gus473]

👍How about a trip to the Trinity Site in New Mexico? 🤔

[@atlasobscura]

Oh, we'll let our team know! It looks like you can only visit twice a year, and one of those dates is coming up in April. Here's our entry if you haven't seen it already: www.atlasobscura.com/places/trinity-atomic-bomb-site

[@konoha1993]

fascinating!

[@georgedietrichii6475]

Subscribed. Great channel

[@kymberlyp4056]

Gettysburg battle fields in Pennsylvania. 😁

[@atlasobscura]

We'll pass it on! Have you seen the Cyclorama in Gettysburg? It depicts a scene from the Civil War in 360 degree view. www.atlasobscura.com/places/gettysburg-cyclorama

[@BreakAcorns]

Reminds me of Fort Worden and Fort Casey in Washington state, built in the same era at the entrance of Puget Sound.

[@atlasobscura]

Fort Worden's great! Also supposedly haunted.

[@Cthippo1]

Worden and Casey are older Endicott period forts built before WW1. In addition to the two you mentioned, there is also Fort Flagler, and together the three forts made up the "Triangle of Fire which protected Puget Sound. A lesser known fort, Fort Whitman, is totally abandoned and overgrown on Goat Island, south of La Conner. There were a few WW2 era forts on Puget Sound, notably Fort Ebey, just north of Fort Casey and Camp Hayden, near port Angeles, which also had a pair of 16" guns.

[@HartyLowkDust]

It’s too bad that the watch tower in rotting, it’s becoming a lot harder to go up because of that

[@TheGallivantingGinger]

I know where I'm Gallivanting next 😁

[@atlasobscura]

Bring a flashlight! And dress warm.

[@davidonfim2381]

"as small as fish swimming by" Could you possibly be more vague? a whale shark could be 12m long and a weigh 21 tons. A baby fish, on the other hand, could be so small as to be practically microscopic.

[@hannah4042]

Not exactly ruins anymore as they've made part of it into a museum, but there's the cold war Diefenbunker near Ottawa.

[@atlasobscura]

Oh, yes! This one? www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-diefenbunker-ottawa-ontario

[@carlscottamos6501]

Hard to find for those people that don't have Google Maps.

[@atlasobscura]

It's definitely tricky! Jess mentioned that she'd been a couple times, but even with the hindsight of knowing where it is, it was still pretty tough to spot.

[@quantumlevelparticleswithm322]

PEAKS ISLAND IS JUST CAKE

[@ericnorteman5341]

Battery march peaks island

[@MARC2649]

cupule years ago i was with a big group waik down walked there was a thing you went in for some resean it had yellow balloons all kust pop with mudic not the spot for it lobe my gruop one day

[@Serveck]

"Imagine what it looks like from the top of the observation tower" hehe passing around a bottle of tequila on the top after scaling 3 floors of a sketchy rope ladder by candle light. Battery steele is not even the coolest battery on the coast of maine...

[@hakimnuraldin7897]

Too much vocal fry at the ends of sentences.