Fort Sherman

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Ft. Sherman, Panama in 1986

Fort Sherman is a former United States Army base located on Toro Point at the Atlantic (northern) end of the Panama Canal, on the western bank of the Canal directly opposite Colón (which is on the eastern bank). It was the primary defensive base for the Altantic sector of the Canal, and was also the center for US jungle warfare training for some time. Its Pacific-side partner was Fort Amador. Both bases were turned over to Panama in 1999.

Ruins of Coastal Defence Artillery, Battery Mower, at Ft. Sherman

Concurrent with the Canal construction a number of defensive locations were developed to protect it, both with coastal defense guns, as well as military bases to defend against a direct infantry assault. Fort Sherman was the primary Atlantic-side infantry base, while Fort Amador protected the Pacific side. Construction of Fort Sherman began in January 1912 as a phase of the original 1910 defensive plans. Fort Sherman was named by War Department General Order No. 153 dated November 24, 1911, in honor of General William Tecumseh Sherman.

Ft. Sherman Dock, Panama in 2008, now Shelter Bay Marina

The Fort included 23,100 acres of land, about half of which was covered by jungle. The developed areas included housing, barracks for 300, a small airstrip and various recreational areas. Sherman was the site of the US's first operationally deployed early warning radar when an SCR-270 was installed there in 1941.

The forested area was used by the United States Army South (USARSO) Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC). JOTC was founded in 1951 to train both US and allied Central American forces in jungle warfare, with an enrollment of about 9,000 a year. The JOTC also taught a 10-day Air Crew Survival Course, open to all branches of service, and a four-week Engineer Jungle Warfare Course.

Between 1966 and 1979 1160 sounding rockets with maximum flight altitudes of 99 kilometres were launched at Fort Sherman [1]

The dock at Fort Sherman is now a marina, Shelter Bay Marina, and much of the base is now reclaimed by the rain forest.

Fort Sherman was recently used in the filming of the James Bond film Quantum of Solace .

Abandoned Barracks in Ft. Sherman, March 2008