U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii

Waikiki's beachfront resort image masks a surprising military footprint. According to Atlas Obscura, Fort DeRussy—a sprawling military reservation established in nineteen oh one—includes the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii. The museum occupies Battery Randolph, a coastal artillery bunker built before World War I, equipped with two fourteen-inch retractable guns capable of striking targets up to thirty miles away. When aircraft, rather than ships, attacked during the Pearl Harbor bombing, those guns became immediately obsolete. After the war, the military dismantled the batteries and eventually converted Battery Randolph into a museum that opened to the public in nineteen seventy-six. Today, visitors can tour galleries exploring Hawaii's military history, see vintage tanks and armaments, and stand where those massive coastal defense cannons once stood—a physical reminder of how rapidly military technology can become history.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton