Visit to Keystone

Last Sunday was one of those crisp and clear autumn days that was too good to waste with work in the boat. We wanted to go to Poulsbo but unfortunately the bus did not run on Sundays. Brenda got the bright idea of a ferry ride and soon we were on the ferry to Keystone, on Whidbey Island, directly across Admiralty inlet.

At Keystone we soon saw that there was little for a pedestrian. Fortunately there was one cafe and we had a couple of fish chowders for lunch. The cafe is at the edge of a large estuary-like lagoon which gave Brenda an opportunity to do some bird watching. There is a historic old town named Coupeville that was worth a visit but it meant a 3-mile walk which we were not inclined to make along a busy highway.

Fortunately at the ferry terminal we found a brochure on Fort Casey State Park which was on the bluff next to the terminal and we spent two pleasant hours in the sunshine (and some in dark tunnels) exploring the fort.

Work on Fort Casey began in 1897 to interact with Forts Worden and Flagger on the Port Townsend side of Admiralty inlet to provide a "triangle of fire" to protect the U.S. navy shipyard at Bremerton and the cities along Puget Sound from sea borne attack. For all of the concrete infrastructure the fort had what seemed to me very light artillery: seven 10-inch rifled guns, twelve additional guns of varied size, and sixteen 12-inch mortars. At its peak between 1907 and 1917 there were approximately 400 men assigned to the fort.

The advancements in naval artillery during WWI produced ships that out-gunned the armaments of the fort in bore, range, and mobility. This and the rise of air power rendered the fort obsolete and it was placed in caretaker status in 1919. As I explored the fort I marveled at all of that work and effort for something that was to be useful for only 22 years. C'est la guerre!

Sadly, by 1942 most of the guns of Fort Casey had been melted down after being deployed to European and Pacific theaters of war. Today there are two 10-inch guns at the fort, battle-scarred veterans transported from the Philippines.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Casey

The top photo shows the beach at the base of Fort Casey showing plenty of logs on the beach, which is typical in this part of the world. The second photo shows a large group of motorcycles entering the ferry at Keystone. The ferry is relatively small, accommodating about 50 cars.

The next photos show the 10-inch guns in down and up positions.

There is a photo looking across Admiralty inlet with the smoke of the Port Townsend paper mill on the left and a ship approaching from the right. Fort Worden is directly across.