The Attack on Fort Stevens

[@Mwahaha105]

Actually the US mainland was attacked in 1918 when a uboat attacked the town of Orleans in Massachusetts.

[@TheLocalLt]

The video said “first attack on a US mainland *military base* since the War of 1812” which is correct - the U-Boat in 1918 attacked residential areas in Orleans, MA (and only by accident, it was trying to hit ships and planes offshore), and it did not attack any military bases.

[@MrJeep75]

They should of fired back

[@megamonkeyblaster3627]

There wasn't any reason to fire back. It quickly became apparent the Japanese submarine commander was not certain of Ft Stevens' location. His shells weren't landing in areas where damage to barracks, gun batteries, or other facilities were at risk. Also, the sub was likely out of range of the 10 inch guns. So firing at the sub would only have served to give away their actual positions. It was for this reason the battery gunners were instructed to hold their fire.

[@MrJeep75]

@@megamonkeyblaster3627 they new fort Stevens was there, it's on road map and it was opened to the public between the wars, no the sub wasn't out of range

[@hickory45acp31]

@@megamonkeyblaster3627 That is so incorrect. The 10in disappearing rifles were More than capable of hitting the I-25 from that range. The only gun fortifications that were out of range were the 8 12in Mortars at Battery Clark and the two 6in disappearing rifles at Battery Pratt which aimed inwards of the Columbia River towards my hometown. I talked to Vernon Greig when he came to Fort Stevens on the anniversary when the 249th living history group and he, like many other enlisted coast artillerymen, were absolutely fuming because these men have been training and shooting countlessly on those rifles for years to the point where they could hit a dingy 3 mils away, just barely visible from their azimuth scopes on Fire control hill also known as "squirrelville". They knew the rifles better than those desk jockeys and they would have sank those tojos for good. Not to mention there was destruction to property, like that with the back stop of a baseball field so it was definitely close to where people convened. Also, the tojos already knew about the position of the fort and it was simply done to find their defenses but luckily they had drifted south of the fort enough to where their guns were no longer on target. There was also no reason to NOT fire back either. The one submarine would not have been able to have gotten off that message accurately relayed in time before the two rifles destroyed the I-25. They might be obsolete but that no where means ineffective. 4 600+lbs of metal per minute times two, there is no submarine that could survive that especially with the pinpoint accuracy that of the men in the 18th CA, the 249th CA and the 33rd CA all stationed at Fort Stevens.

[@megamonkeyblaster3627]

@@hickory45acp31 that's very interesting. I'd received my information about the 10 inch guns, and where the sub was, from park personnel. I wish I could have met the gentleman you spoke with. Having been there and done that, I'm sure his story was accurate!