The War Powers Act of 1935 authorized Congress to fund development of
America's defenses on a massive scale, so there was no concern over how Hitler,
Mussolini or anyone else reacted. Almost immediately, a delegation of Congressmen
arrived in San Diego to test fire the old 1898 10-inch rifle Battey Wilkeson,
12-inch mortars at Batteries White and Whistler, and a sample of the mobile 155
mm Howitzers. The news media made quite a to do about those test firings.
That delegation concluded the open batteries would be vulnerable to aerial
bombing and returned to Congress to authorize funding of two new batteries to be
concealed under camoflauge. Congress also funded the War Department to design a
series of enormous rifled 16-inch artillery batteries that were electrically
targeted for anti-shipping and to be encased in thick concrete subterranean
batteries (ala the "Guns of Navarone"). Via the National Recovery Act, Works
Progress Administration, and Civilian Conservation Corps, the United States
Quartermaster received manpower and materials to refurbish all the barracks,
officer's quarters, mess halls, admin buildings, and recreation buildings at Fort
Rosecrans that were not demolished as a result of the ill-conceived Washington
Naval Treaty of 1922. From 1936 to 1940, Fort Rosecrans was a beehive of work
crews and construction of a new hospital in 1940, cobblestone-lined drainage
facilities, cobblestone-revetted tennis court, and new furnishings of all
buildings were obvious for all to see. At least one Japanese spy visited Fort
Rosecrans as a tourist and shipped detailed maps and notes back to the Emporer. The
Army Corps of Engineers dredged San Diego Bay to enable deep-draft ships to
enter the harbor; piling the spoil on Fort Rosecrans' shore to create an enormous
building pad for the Lower Cantonment of barracks in 1940. Newspaper accounts,
Quartermaster records, and other records abound for a very public
refurbishing of the post. However, the only troops present were National Guard, troops
near retirement age, and retirees who visited the post to ride horses and play
at the pool and tennis courts. When war broke out in December of 1941, Fort
Rosecrans had Batteries Strong and Woodward completed and stocked with artillery
shells for war. Hundreds of water and air-cooled machine guns were available
in the armory for deployment out to sandbaged trenches and emplacements all
around Point Loma. Also, enormous excavations were underway for two large 16-inch
rifled artillery batteries that were completed in 1943.

So, no Ned, no one was making it a secret from Hitler that America was
preparing for war in San Diego.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.