The Battery-Fortress of San José

In order to complement the defense of the Bocachica passage, a battery-fortress was added in front of San Fernando, making enemy access to the outer bay impenetrable. San José is a reconstruction and reinforcement of the former one built by […]

In order to complement the defense of the Bocachica passage, a battery-fortress was added in front of San Fernando, making enemy access to the outer bay impenetrable. San José is a reconstruction and reinforcement of the former one built by Juan de Herrera between 1714 and 1725, and destroyed by Vernon in 1741.

A new dispute between the engineers Sala and Mac Evan ended with the triumph of Sala, and the construction of some low batteries at sea level that would shoot in an oblique angle directly at the vessels’ waterline, leaving them at the mercy of the Fortress of San Fernando and the Battery of Santa Barbara.

Between 1759 and 1779 it was finished by Antonio de Arévalo, improving some of its structures and adding a breakwater that made the approach of vessels more difficult.

The Battery-Fortress of San José has seven explosion-proof vaults and an elevated platform in two lines formed by the Battery of Punta Abanico, with fourteen embrasures, and the Varadero Battery with seven cannons.