Seacoast defense in the United States
Coastal forts construction and maintenance in the U.S.
Seacoast defense was a major concern for the United States from its independence through World War II. Before airplanes, many of America's enemies could only reach it from the sea, making coastal forts an economical alternative to standing armies or a large navy. Substantial fortifications were built at key locations, especially protecting major harbors. Seacoast defense also included submarine minefields, nets and booms, ships, and, later, airplanes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played the central role in constructing fixed defenses, but all of the armed forces participated.
“Seacoast defense in the United States” enters the record as coastal forts construction and maintenance in the U.S. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Seacoast, defense and United can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Seacoast defense in the United States” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.