Coastal Defense Gun in Bora Bora by junge1
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Description
Yours truly posing with a 7-inch Coastal defense guns on the slope of Mt. Otemanu, Bora Bora.
In early 1942, with the United States still shaken by the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, and much of the Pacific fleet out of commission, the Pentagon had to reappraise the perimeter that could be defended until a counter-offensive against Japan could be launched.
The arc 3,200km south of Hawaii to the Free French Society Islands (now French Polynesia) westward through Samoa and Fiji to New Zealand was believed to be defensible. Bora Bora, 6,400km along the direct route from Panama to New Caledonia and Australia was selected to be the first of a chain of refueling bases across the South Pacific. It was code-named 'Bobcat'.
'Bobcat' was a joint Army-Navy operation. It was composed of a 4,000-man army garrison force, made up of Army National Guard, a Navy seaplane squadron of eight OS2U single-engine float planes, a 250-man naval construction detachment (Sea bees) and a naval base command for harbour defence, waterborne services and fuel depot.
Several of the 7-inch guns were part of 'Bobcat'.
We reached this gun, overlooking the lagoon with the cruise ship 'Paul Gauguin"' visible in the middle distance, with a Land Rover, a real one. Not the fancy ones they sell in the US as status symbols.
It must have been incredibly difficult to haul these guns halfway up the mountain. The guns were never fired in earnest, since the Japanese never advanced this far south.
This picture was taken in April 2001 and later scanned.
Thanks for visiting,
Sig...
Comments (47)
Fantastic capture!
great foto and story.
Beautiful! That would have been good duty back in the day!!
wow !! very nice shot and great history sig...is that u on the pic??...:)
Amazing!
Next time you come up here we'll take you up to Fort Casey. Loads of history, and a couple of 10" guns. :) This is a wonderful image ... the patina on the gun is beautiful!
Wonderful shot Great background. I was at the other end and have toured the bunkers on Okinawa and knowing how much it was bombarded it was amazing how little damage it suffered.
Very beautiful colors and light on this excellent shot. Thanks for the informations too!
Uncredible gun. An exclusive photo.
Great history run down, Sig! Great shot.. Stunning view! Impressive, really impressive! Rob
Seven-inch seems a strange caliber. We fooled with them on some of the late predreadnought battleships, but I thought that was the end of it. Fascinating find.
splendid capture, that is really cool.. dig how that old weapon is still there.
Another most impressive capture!
love the history and that is one huge cannon
That would have made a great souvenir is you could have snuck it aboard the ship. Super POV for this shot. Dana
Coastal defense guns in WW2 often included guns originally intended for battleships and were up to 16" with five and six inch guns were used as secondary guns. Singapore was defended with 15" guns. The design of coastal fortifications often depended on a very low silhouette instead of overhead cover. The advent of carrier borne bombin aircraft rendered this whole concept useless. The German Atlantic War tried to place the guns under adequate cover, most of which were neutralized on D-Day.
Great shot of you with the coastal artillery. The composition shows why they placed this big guy on the hill.