San Francisco Defense Area SF-88
(Fort Barry/Fort Chronkite)
A Nike Battery was constructed at Fort Barry
about 1957. The identification number of this site was San Francisco
Defense Area Site SF-88A for the cantonment area and SF-88L for
the nearby launch area that consisted of two underground magazines
and elevators. When the Army abandoned this site, it left behind
two non-operative Nikes, the only ones in the Bay Area. The control
area for this battery was located on top of Wolf Ridge and numbered
SF 88C. Two of the radar towers, some corrugated and concrete
block sheds, and a helicopter pad remained in 1979.
On Fort Cronkhite's Wolf Ridge was the
Control Area for Fort Barry's San Francisco Defense Area Site
88 (SF-88). This area was known as SF-88C. SF-88C was located
north of the Launcher Area (SF-88L) and allowed for 360-degree
"line-of-site" radar coverage by the Site's tracking
and search radar systems. The missile tracking radar would "lock-on"
to the missiles as they sat on the launcher and follow them from
launch to impact with the target. The Control Area was located
away from the Launcher Area because the high speed of the Nike
missiles would have destroyed the mechanisms of the missile tracking
radar (Morgan and Berhow 2002).
Today the Administrative Area is a YMCA
Conference Center, the Launcher Area has been restored as a museum
anf the Control Area remains unrestored on Fort Cronkhite's Wolf
Ridge.
Online Histories
What We Have We Will Defend:
An Interim History and Preservation Plan for Nike Site SF-88L,
Fort Barry, CA