Crusty old Joe's

Kodiak Alaska Military History

The official web site of the Kodiak Military History Museum

The Museum

Kodiak Military History Museum
at Miller Point
Fort Abercrombie

Hours

The museum is open anytime for vets or groups by appointment. Call us at (907) 486-7015 8:30 to 12:00 and 1:00 to 4:30 Alaska time weekdays. The road may not be open for the last half mile in winter because of no snow plow. May through September regular open hours are 1:00 to 4:00 PM Saturdays and Sundays. Open Memorial Day, May 26 2008 1-4 PM. (Subject to change. Verified correct April 17, 2008.) Contact us.

Getting there

The museum is located at N57.8366 W152.3536 which can be pasted into the search box in Google Earth. (This is accurate for Google Earth, not GPS.)

It is about 5.5 miles westbound on Rezanof Drive from the cruise ship docks to the park entrance then another half mile into the park. Turn off Rezanof Drive at Abercrombie Drive where there are signs for the park and the museum.

Google Earth image showing the docks at the lower left and the museum at the top. Closer view of the Abercrombie area.

The building

The Kodiak Military History Museum is located in the Ready Ammunition bunker at Miller Point in Fort Abercrombie. This building is several feet thick concrete and is covered with soil. It was completed on 30 December 1943 by Navy SeaBees of CB-43. Located adjacent to the building are remains of two eight inch gun mounts. Portions of the gun barrels are displayed. Some parts of the guns are to be found quite some distance from the original positions as they were destroyed by explosive charge around Thanksgiving 1948 when the Army caretakers left the area.

Several years ago, the State Park Service restored the bunker. It was excavated, waterproofed, and reburied. New exterior doors that almost perfectly match the originals were constructed. The interior was repainted in original colors, after many years of grafiti was sandblasted off.

Recently the interior doors were restored using original doors salvaged from the similar bunker at Chiniak.

According to the Harbor Defenses of Kodiak, 1944, this was gun battery No. 6, listed as number three in importance. Castle Bluffs on Long Island was number one, and St. Peters Head at Chiniak was number two.

The MKVI 3A2 eight-inch Naval guns on M1 mounts had a range of 35,300 yards, or about 20 statute miles. This gun installation was identical to the one at St. Peters Head at Chiniak except for some differences in the ready ammunition bunker.

This Ready Ammunition Bunker stored 600 type AP projectiles weighing 260 pound each. Also there were 300 type HE projectiles weighing 240 pounds each. The powder was stored in the central rectangular room and the projectiles were stored on the two 42 inch high shelves in the center of the "U" shaped corridor. A seperate smaller room was used for the fuzes. The gun battery was also supplied with some 40mm, .50 cal, and .30 cal guns and ammunition stored in two steel igloo magazines and another "concrete cottage".

The building originally had power, water, and sewer. The location of the floor drain and sewer outfalls has not been discovered, however, during September 1999 all drains were cleaned out on the inside of the bunker. The floor drains accepted over 400 gallons of water from a fire truck and it went away.

The building's coordinates are approximately 57 degrees, 50 minutes, 13 seconds North Latitude, 152 degrees, 21 minutes, 2 seconds West Longitude. MAP.

For more on this installation, the SeaBees, and much more, see our Fort Abercrombie page.

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