Fort Ruckman Fort Ruckman was a U . S . Coast Artillery fort located in Nahant , Massachusetts . Originally called the Nahant Military Reservation , the fort was laid out in 1904 - 1907 and covered an area of about 45 acres just northwest of Bass Point , on the southwest side of the Nahant peninsula . During the 1920s , this area was renamed in honor of Maj . Gen . John Wilson Ruckman , a former Colonel in the Coast Artillery . The fort was decommissioned after WW2 and the property was sold to the town and to private owners beginning in about 1947 . The fire control tower indicated on the map was used as part of the Army / Lincoln Labs Nike program - related radar research and development during the late 1940s and early 1950s and at one point had a large radar antenna on its roof . A Nike target tracking radar was also erected on Bayley ' s Hill ( the eastern edge of the fort ) during the 1950s . During WW2 , Fort Ruckman housed the Group Command post for the northern district of the harbor defense artillery and Battery Gardner , two 12 " guns in east - facing casemates of reinforced concrete . These casemates were built just before WW2 over the open ( surface ) gun positions originally completed in 1923 . The 12 - inch guns were likely the 12 - inch M1895 , on Model 1917 barbette carriages . When they were installed , these were the largest caliber guns in the harbor defenses . Each gun a total weight of 151 tons and had a maximum range of about 29 , 300 yards ( about 16 . 6 miles ) . This would enable the guns , for example , to cover an arc extending from Gloucester in the north to North Sictuate in the south . The centers of the two gun positions are roughly 425 ft . apart . Today , most of the area within the fort ' s WW2 boundaries has been converted into residential real estate , recreation , or park land for the Town of Nahant . The extensive concrete galleries between the north and south firing positions which housed fire control activities , ammunition storage , and crew quarters , have been buried under 20 or so feet of earth during the casemate construction process . These subterranean galleries are still accessible and are used by the Town for storage . On the surface of the buried galleries are a series of large and smaller concrete chimneys that ventilate the galleries below . A geodetic marker , MY0039 — RUCKMAN RESET ( see photo at left ) , was emplaced in 1943 , likely as a point of reference for aiming the 12 " guns . About 800 ft . NNW of the northernmost gun position of Battery Gardner lay the center of a 3 - gun battery of antiaircraft guns known as Location 130 - 2C , or the Boston Harbor No . 4 AAA Battery . The three guns were surface - mounted , standard barbette carriage 3 " guns , Model 1917 - A2 . The gun centers formed a roughly equilateral triangle 150 ft . on a side . The gun positions were constructed in 1934 , but were not armed until 1942 . Final construction on the battery commenced on May 5 , 1942 , and was completed in less than a month . Today , the battery positions appear ( from Google maps ) to have been destroyed , but the center point of the battery would fall roughly at the left field foul pole of the first baseball field southeast of the corner of Castle and Flash Roads .