Editing Fort Hamilton (section)

===World War I===
The [[American entry into World War I]] brought many changes to Fort Hamilton, as at most other coast defense installations. Numerous temporary buildings were constructed to house the influx of new recruits, draftees, and units in training prior to deployment overseas. As the Coast Artillery was one of the Army's few sources of trained personnel, the branch was chosen to operate almost all US-manned heavy and [[railway artillery]] in that war, most of which was French- or British-made. Most personnel at the forts were transferred to new heavy artillery regiments. Also, several of Fort Hamilton's guns were dismounted for potential service on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]; however, very few Army Coast Artillery weapons were actually used in that war, due to shipping priorities and extensive training. Battery Spear's three 10-inch guns were dismounted for potential use as railway artillery. The eight 6-inch guns of Batteries Burke and Mendenhall were dismounted for potential use on field carriages. Two of these guns, along with four of Battery Piper's 12-inch mortars, were used as the first batteries of [[Fort Tilden]] in nearby [[Far Rockaway, Queens]]. The removal of half of the mortars was also part of a forcewide program to improve the rate of fire of the remaining mortars. None of the weapons removed from Fort Hamilton in World War I were returned to the fort.<ref name=FWiki1/><ref name=Berhow209/>