This
build is based on the OKB GRIGOROV 1:700 scale resin kit which was on
sale last year, and has been featured in WARSHIP NEWS in Scale
Military Modeller international magazine. I had started building the kit
straight away, and out of the box but like all builds these days it needs
reference back up, and so I bought the soft back book by F J Allen called “The
Concrete Battleship” ISBN 0-929521-06-4. It says that work started in
April 1909., and it was proposed to level El Fraile Island to a height that was
suitable to take a reinforced structure to carry 2 x turrets with 2 x 14inch
guns. By these means, the channel between leading into
Manila
Bay
could be better protected and would have better surveillance. The
“battleship” comparison also includes lower decks, secondary armament, and a
cage tower lookout. To finish the analogy, there is a bow and stern, and crane
with boats to complete the ship similarity.
The
fortification was never put to the test as it was meant to do, however as the
slow passage of time left all the equipment out of date by the time the Japanese
came to invade in 1941. The fort was left for a time while the Japanese
concentrated on the mainland and it was in March 1942 that they brought up 10 x
240mm howitzers firing 3000 rounds to try and make an impact on the structure as
nothing else had any success against the defenders. With the eventual fall of
the islands, it was on the 6th May 1942, Col. Kirkpatrick finally
surrendered
Fort
Drum
. A small Japanese garrison took over the fort after that, and it can be said
that the state of hibernation came back once again that is until the final
battle in early 1945. An LCM of marines assaulted the fort with the plan to fill
it with 3000 gallons of gasoline and set fire to it. The fire ignited the 6”
shell magazine, and the fire lasted for several days.
Today,
Fort
Drum
looks very much like other Second World War gun emplacements but still has its
rusting main armament on deck but nothing else. The decks have been taken apart
for scrap and so there is little left to see. I originally showed my
Fort
Drum
build at the Lancing model show, and I was approached by someone interested in
the build who said they had been to the site, and had some still images on DVD
if I wished to see them, This is Guy Hall of Lewes and he kindly sent me
the DVD record for my use. From this I was able to fill in some of the missing
detail, and out the build into a time frame. This included the boat
arrangements, and the tents on the top deck together with some of the outhouses,
and water tank. It was important to show these tents and facilities as being
inside a concrete structure in the tropics was very uncomfortable with
temperatures reaching 100 degrees F.
Peter Fulgoney
England
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
