This tower was built to house a sophisticated system for aiming the guns of Fort Miles. From Fire Control Towers along the coast, soldiers would determine the exact location of an enemy ship using the geometric principle of triangulation. Each of these towers had at least two azimuths, which were binocular-like instruments that gave the precise angle between the ship and a base line. When the target was spotted, a bell would ring at regular intervals, enabling the reader and plotter working the instrument to predict the location of the ship a few seconds in advance. This coordinate was used to aim the guns at the battery on the beach. For larger guns, it could take as long as fifty-three seconds for a shell to travel twenty-six miles to its target.

This tower was one of 15 fire control towers that were built for Fort Miles, 11 on the Delaware side and 4 here in New Jersey. It is the only New Jersey tower that has survived intact. The towers in North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest have been demolished, while the one in Cape May City has been engulfed by the Grand Hotel (where you can still see its top sticking above the roofline).

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Show me all markers in:  Cape May, NJ  |  Cape May County  |  08204  |  New Jersey  |  United States of America

History of Coastal Defenses
Construction of Fire Control Tower No. 23
The Top of the Fire Tower
The abrupt end of Fort Miles
Landscape
Cape May during World War II
The Construction of Fort Miles
S.S. Atlantus
Ens. Harry V. Groome, Jr.
St. Peter's by the Sea

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