The mouth of the Columbia River was defended during World War II by three Army forts: Fort Stevens on the Oregon side and Forts Canby and Columbia on the Washington side.On the night of June 21-June 22, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-25 under Commander Tagami surfaced near the mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon, using a screen of fishing boats to avoid minefields, and shelled the U.S. Army's Fort Stevens coastal defenses on the Oregon side of the mouth of the Columbia River. Seventeen 140mm rounds were launched with its 5.5 inch deck gun.
The U.S. batteries did not return fire and there was no serious damage. The I-25's shells fell harmlessly in the sand and scrub around Battery Russell, one damaging the baseball field’s backstop. Around midnight, firing ceased and the sub departed to the west, then north.
The Fort Stevens Museum, north of Battery Russell, has a display in the back room showing a large photograph of the submarine, the I-25, with a sea plane on its hull, detailed plans of the I-25 which were donated by Richard Thompson, and several other pertinent exhibits including "Statistics on the Imperial Japanese Navy Submarine I-25".
Photo caption: Soldiers and Japanese shell crater, Fort Stevens, Oregon, June 1942. Courtesy National Archives, (ARC 299678). Photos of entrance sign and Battery Russell by Rose Red. Newspaper article: The Oregonian, Wednesday, June 20, 2007.
Instructions for logging waymark: A photograph is required of you (or your GPS receiver, if you are waymarking solo) and Battery Russell.