Coast Defenses of Puget Sound, 1916
The defenses of Puget Sound proper consist of Forts Worden, Flagler, and Casey.
From: Unknown To: 1916 C.E.
Location: Fort Worden, Washington, United States of America; Fort Flagler, Washington, United States of America; Fort Casey, Washington, United States of America
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Coast Defenses of Puget Sound” from Attack & Defense of Fortified Harbors by Arthur P. S. Hyde, 1916.
The defenses of Puget Sound proper consist of Forts Worden, Flagler, and Casey. Fort Worden is situated on the headland forming the northeast extremity of the Quimper Peninsula. Fort Casey is situated on Admiralty Head, Whidby Island, an island so large as to be, to all intents and purposes, a portion of the mainland. Fort Flagler occupies the northern end of Marrowstone Island, of sufficiently small area to come within the latest idea of coast fortification. Fort Worden has a very large land front to defend; so has Fort Casey. To defend either of these forts from the land side would require a considerable number of men and more or less permanent works. On the other hand, it would be a comparatively simple matter to prevent an invading army from landing on Marrowstone Island; therefore Fort Flagler is decidedly the easiest to defend against land attack.
Coast Defenses of Puget Sound. Image from book.
The situation might even be conceived to arise that Forts Worden and Casey would succumb to a combined land and naval attack; but in this event Fort Flagler would remain in action, and would present the original problem to the commander of the attacking force. Of course, there is this handicap that must be considered: it would be possible to turn some of the guns and certainly the mortars of Worden and Casey on Flagler, unless our gunners were able to destroy them before the evacuation of these forts.
Still, it is naturally within the range of possibility, or even of probability, that Flagler could hold out for an indefinite period after Worden and Casey had succumbed, and so the Sound would still be bottled up. This illustrates the great advantage of fortifications being situated on small islands—in fact, there are well-informed officers who believe that all of the Puget Sound coast defenses should be concentrated at Fort Flagler.
Hyde, Arthur P. S. Attack & Defense of Fortified Harbors. Franklin Hudson Publishing Co, 1916.
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