WI: Fort Wint not abandoned.

During WW2, Fort Wint was part of the U.S. coastal defenses of the Philippines Islands. Grande Island, where Ft. Wint was located, guarded the entrance to Subic Bay and protected the Olongapo Navy Yard, the smaller of the two U.S. naval bases in the Philippines. In 1941, Fort Wint controlled mine-fields in the passages into Subic Bay. Fort Wint consisted of one battery of two 10-inch guns on disappearing mounts and two batteries of two 6-inch guns on disappearing mounts and two batteries of two 3-inch guns covered the minefields. There were also two 155mm GPF and two 75mm “beach defense” guns emplaced at Fort Wint.

It’s a big mystery why Fort Wint was ordered evacuated on December 23, 1941. If Fort Wint had not been imprudently abandoned, what would and could have been the impact on the fighting in the Philippines in 1941 and 1942?
 

Cook

Banned
Its purpose was to defend Olongapo from assault from the sea, just as Corregidor was mean to defend Manila Bay from the sea; but with both cities taken by overland assault the coastal defences became redundant. And from the moment that US and Philippine forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula without sufficient supplies the final outcome became inevitable.

It's continued occupation would have had negligible impact if any; the attempt to bypass the I Corps defence line with an amphibious assault would have been launched from somewhere other than Olongapo, or would simply not have taken place; it was not a decisive action, so its cancellation would not have altered things greatly.

The most that could be expected is that Fort Wint would be remembered as another Corregidor.
 
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