World War I brought further changes to Fort Andrews' armament. In February 1917 Battery Rice's two 5-inch guns were transferred to Fort Story at Cape Henry, Virginia for an emergency battery. The 5-inch gun was withdrawn from Coast Artillery service shortly after the war, and these guns were never replaced. In August 1917, Battery McCook's two 6-inch guns were ordered dismounted for potential service on field carriages on the Western Front. It appears these guns never left the fort, and they were remounted in 1920. As part of a forcewide re-alignment, almost half of Fort Andrews' mortars were removed in early 1918. It was determined that attempting to simultaneously reload four mortars per pit was inefficient, and that a similar rate of fire could be obtained with only two mortars per pit. Also, many 12-inch mortars were needed as railway artillery for potential service on the Western Front. None of these mortars were shipped to France before the Armistice, but many were retained as railway mortars through World War II. The result at Fort Andrews was that Battery Cushing was reduced to four mortars and Battery Whitman was reduced to six mortars. For some reason, Pit A of Battery Whitman retained its four M1908 mortars. By the 1920s, Fort Andrews consisted of some 30 structures (see map at left), ranging from large brick barracks buildings that housed over 100 soldiers each to elegant officers' quarters and a 50-bed hospital. The fort even had a radio transmitting station, one of the Army's earliest.