Grande Island, ex Fort Wint in Subic Bay

Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 016. One of the 6-inch guns mounted on a disappearing carriage. Batteries Hall and Woodruff each had two of them. (1968 photo, source unknown)

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These pictures and texts are from a Corregidor Forum Webpage contributed mostly from John Moffitt (fots2). These pictures had to be replaced because they were water marked by Photobucket whose service was free before but no more. The pictures were saved and are now reposted.

As of this year 2026 the Grande Island Resort was closed by the Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ). More about that in the future!

The Corregidor Forum, John Moffitt Presentation, click here:

In 1905 the US Army acting under the authority of the 58th Congress purchased the 96-acre Grande Island at the mouth of Subic Bay and began to fortify it. The island divides the entrance of the bay into two channels. A main ship channel lies to the west of the island and is 3000 feet wide with a minimum depth of 60 feet. The other channel to the east is 2000 feet wide but has only a minimum depth of 12 feet making it passable only to small craft.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 001. Map of Subic Bay (herephilippines.co.uk/subicbaymaps.aspx)

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Due to the island’s limited size it was proposed to mount two 12-inch and four 6-inch disappearing guns. This was later changed to two 10-inch and four 6-inch disappearing guns and six 3-inch guns all mounted in five batteries. The fortifications were assigned the name Fort Wint in honor of Brigadier General Theodore J. Wint who had served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, Indian campaigns, the War with Spain and the Philippine Insurrection. Fort Wint’s batteries were assigned the name of Warwick, 10-inch; Woodruff and Hall, 6-inch, and Jewell and Flake, 3-inch.

The 10-inch disappearing guns as installed at Fort Wint were model 1895 guns manufactured in 1903 and 1906 by the Army’s Watervliet Arsenal in New York and were mounted on model 1901 carriages. The 6-inch guns were model 1905 while the 3-inch guns were model 1903. The 10-inch and 6-inch guns were never removed during the life of Fort Wint but four of the 3-inch guns were removed during the 1930s. Only one of these 3-inch guns was ever replaced and that was with a naval 3-inch gun. To properly operate these guns at Fort Wint and the proposed defensive mine field in front of Subic Bay, the Army in 1915 stated that Fort Wint’s wartime complement would be 22 officers and 448 men of whom 19 officers and 319 men would man the fort’s guns.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 002. 1921 map of Grande Island

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During the decades of the 1920s and thirties Fort Wint was maintained only on a caretaker basis. This was the result of a 1921 cut in personnel of the Philippine Coastal Defense from 3,600 to 800 men; but the force was later increased by 1,600 Philippine Scouts, native Filipinos serving in the U.S. Army. To train these men Fort Wint was reactivated in 1936 as a Coastal Defense School.

During these two decades no program of modernization was carried out at Fort Wint to update its defensive works in the face of the threat of airpower and improvements in warship construction. This failure was a result of the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 which forbade the updating of American outposts in the Pacific. (The above text is from Corregidor.org)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 003. 1935 map of Grande Island. When compared to the 1921 map, note fewer structures after years of deactivation.

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Post war to the present:

– After a brief period of abandonment the island transformed into an R&R location (fleet recreation area).

– In the 1960s, four 3-inch rapid fire pedestal mount guns and the two 10-inch disappearing guns were removed and reassembled in the US at two Washington State Parks.

– In May 1975, the aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CVA-19) unloaded her cargo of Vietnamese refugees on Grande Island. This temporary processing center was their first stop after the fall of Saigon.

– Today a portion of the island has been converted into a tourist resort.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 004. Aerial view of Grande Island during its R&R days. Note the two ball fields.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 005. Google satellite view of Grande Island. The ball fields are now a swimming pool (aqua) and a wave pool (green). In the photo, the resort covers the top beach part of the island including the dock. The batteries are all hidden by vegetation with the exception of the big 10-inch gun battery (Warwick) which appears near the bottom.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 006. (1940 or 1941, Paul Cornwallis photo)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 007. Fort Wint Dock (1940 or 1941, Paul Cornwallis photo)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 008. Engineer’s Quarters and Post Exchange (1940 or 1941, Paul Cornwallis photo)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 009. Post Hospital Dispensary (1940 or 1941, Paul Cornwallis photo)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 010. Battery Warwick 10-inch gun on a disappearing carriage

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 011. Loading one of Battery Warwick’s guns

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 012. Fort Wint’s 10-inch guns are now located at Fort Casey, Washington.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 013. Another view of Fort Casey.

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 014. A sample of the 3-inch Rapid Fire pedestal mount guns that were installed in Batteries Jewell and Flake. (photo not from Fort Wint)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 015. A sample of the 3-inch Rapid Fire pedestal mount guns that were installed in Batteries Jewell and Flake. (photo not from Fort Wint)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 016. One of the 6-inch guns mounted on a disappearing carriage. Batteries Hall and Woodruff each had two of them. (1968 photo, source unknown)

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Grande Island, ex Fort Wint, 017. One of the 6-inch guns mounted on a disappearing carriage. Batteries Hall and Woodruff each had two of them. (1968 photo, source unknown)

To visit Grande Island today requires a ride on a ferry operated by the resort. You can stay overnight if you wish or just book the day trip as I did.

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