Battery Pensacola at Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida

See the Military Forts and Batteries web page for an interactive location map.

Battery Pensacola is located inside the walls of Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore. Masonry forts like Pickens became obsolete after the Civil War due to the development of rifled artillery that shot bullet-shaped shells spinning like footballs, providing increased velocity and accuracy. The new shells could easily penetrate the brick walls of the 1800s-era forts. Some of the old forts were turned into military offices and training grounds. Others, such as Fort Pickens and Fort Sumter, had reinforced concrete batteries constructed on their parade grounds. The new batteries could withstand the rifled shells, and by utilizing the most modern guns, they did not need to be outfitted with hundreds of cannon like the old forts.

Construction on Battery Pensacola began in 1898, and it was operational the next year. It was armed with two 12-inch disappearing guns that could fire a 1,070 pound shell nearly eight miles. The guns were mounted on carriages that could be lowered below the battery walls for loading, then raised up over the walls for firing. The recoil from the blast sent the carriages back down to the loading position. An actual disappearing gun is still on exhibit at Battery Cooper just down the road near the Fort Pickens Campground.