A passion project details World War II defenses of the Delaware Bay

Author Terrance McGovern grew up in California visiting West Coast ghost towns with his father, who was a history buff. When the McGovern family moved to Connecticut, where ghost towns are few, McGovern and his father began exploring abandoned military posts. 

“He was curious to see what was there. I got interested in trying to figure out what were the structures, what was the purpose, why were they built,” McGovern said. 

McGovern, 67, has continued exploring and researching such historical sites for decades, and has published 12 books about coastal defenses and fortifications. One of them, “The Delaware Bay at War!,” is an 86-page detailed account of the Delaware Bay coastal defenses during World War II that was published in 2022. 

The story of such defenses is presented linearly, in a fact-driven and ultra-specific manner. McGovern is exact in his descriptions and often provides sketches and photographs to accompany the text.

Getting ready for war

Leading up to the 1930s, such defenses were in need of improvement if the East Coast was going to be better prepared for the impending war, so the U.S. military designed plans for new defenses in the Delaware Bay.

From 1941 until 1944 — in the midst of the war — defenses, including military fortifications, weapons, vehicles and more, were constructed and manned. 

Upgrades to existing structures were planned, built and operated through the Department of War and the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps. 

Harbor facilities used to defend against attacks included: Fort Miles on Cape Henlopen, Del.; Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River; Fort DuPont in Delaware City, Del.; and Fort Saulsbury near Slaughter Beach in Delaware.

Fort Miles was newly erected and was the most heavily fortified. The Cape May Military Reservation in Cape May, N.J., was also newly built for defense.

Batteries of coastal artillery consisting of guns and mines were used to defend the Delaware Bay in conjunction with fire control towers and soldiers. Twenty towers — five steel and 15 concrete — were built during the World War II era so that soldiers could monitor activity in and around the bay. 

Soldiers in the towers would practice spotting a moving enemy and inform those on the ground about the enemy’s coordinates. Calculations would be done to determine the coordinates to best hit the enemy. Then, those manning the weapons would fire. 

This was never used outside of practice, however.

Most of the defenses were abandoned by 1946 after seeing little action. The only real-life on-shore war-related activity the Delaware Bay saw was when a German U-boat surrendered at sea off the coast of Delaware in May 1945 after Germany had surrendered. The vessel was brought to Fort Miles for a transfer of its crew.

Off-shore, German U-boats, using torpedoes and mines, sank vessels and were engaged offshore in the Delaware Bay by Army and Navy aircraft and ships. 

The importance of preserving history

Many photographs and documents are included throughout McGovern’s book, showing the progression of defenses from the beginning stages of development to now. Since being abandoned, and some repurposed, many defenses at Delaware Capes are now preserved and protected. 

Remnants of batteries and fire control towers remain, but many are no longer standing.

Fort Delaware and Fort Miles are accessible to the public. They have been turned into a state park and historic military area within Cape Henlopen State Park, respectively. Fort DuPont was also turned into a state park. Fort Saulsbury has deteriorated over time but some of its remains are still visible.

Public awareness of history helps ensure that landmarks, like these fortifications, are conserved, according to McGovern, who said that unless the public is educated about the history of these sites, “they tend to get destroyed or buried.”

McGovern is a member of the Coast Defense Study Group, a non-profit corporation that promotes the study of coast defenses and fortifications. Throughout his membership, the author has conducted years of research and visited many U.S. harbor defense locations. 

“I got to the point where I said, ‘Well, I’m doing all this research. I have all this data. The goal here is not just for me to have it. I need to get this out to the public,’” McGovern said.

While researching, McGovern discovered that there are many historical works that contain factual errors — especially when it comes to dates of events. The author found it particularly interesting to ascertain the proper sequencing of what happened in the Delaware Bay during the 1930s and 1940s. 

“The enjoyable part is learning more than you already knew,” McGovern said.

History as a hobby

Although history has almost always been an interest of McGovern’s, it is merely a hobby. The author is a finance professional by trade, having served as a chief financial officer for numerous companies. He currently holds this position at a cybersecurity corporation.

McGovern attended Georgetown University, where he studied computer science and economics as an undergraduate. He then attended graduate school at Tulane University, where he earned an MBA in finance. 

Because McGovern works full time, “The Delaware Bay at War!” was conceived in his free time, as all of his books have been. The late Gary Wray, a founding member of the Fort Miles Historical Association, encouraged McGovern for years to write the book so that it could be sold in the Fort Miles Museum gift shop.

McGovern belongs to the Fort Miles Historical Association. He is also a member of the Fort Monroe Authority. These organizations, like the Coast Defense Study Group, are places for like-minded people to learn about and help in the preservation of history.  

The author’s goal has always been to deliver accurate information to his target audience — the people who are particularly interested in the technical details of the topics he writes about.

“It’s very much of a niche,” McGovern said. “But it’s to educate people about the Delaware Bay.”