Fort Tyler, 1898-1929
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
"The Ruins"
Historic photo of the fort during its years of operation as a coastal defense station.
Map location
Aerial View
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The military deployed to Cuba, the Philippines, and other Spanish-controlled islands but also feared a possible Spanish attack on New York City. As a result, fort Tyler was built as a coastal defense station with four to six batteries. Spain quickly surrendered and the United States never faced a credible threat of invasion, and Fort Tyler became used for training purposes.
In 1902, after the Spanish-American war was over, the fort was "seized" by United States Naval Forces in a "war game" between the United States Army and the United States Navy. In 1928 the fort was abandoned due to rising seas and the War Department used the area as a range for submarines as well as pilots and bombardiers.
The batteries of this fort held 8 inch guns that could battle the 8" guns of cruisers and battleships. Throughout World War II the fort was used for target practice, both from submarines and aircrafts. Today Fort Tyler is known as "The Ruins" due to this bombardment and their are no tours of this historic sight.