Who Here Knows he History of the Grande Isle Fort?

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Fort Livingston Wiki Page

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In the early 19th century, Grand Terre Island was the home to pirates under the command of Captain Jean Lafitte. These pirates were forced to leave the island in 1814 so the U.S. government could build a coastal defense fort. This fort was also designed to control the entrance to Barataria Pass, and thereby guard New Orleans against naval attacks from the south of the city. The U.S. Government bought a tract of land, where the fort now stands, from Etienne De Gruy on the west end of Grand Terre Island. Construction at the site began in 1834, but was suspended in July 1834. Construction resumed in 1840, and construction on the fort itself began in 1841[5] under the direction of Major P.G.T. Beauregard. A lighthouse was added near the fort in 1856.[6] Construction of the fort was halted with the start of the Civil War, and was never resumed. The fort was never fully completed. The fort was briefly occupied by Confederate forces during the American Civil War, but never saw combat.

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Was Grand Isle invaded in WWI?

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No, it wasn't, so we know the fort worked.

Grand Isle wasn't invaded in WWII or Vietnam either.
I'd say it's a damn good fort design.

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Grand Isle wasn't invaded in WWII

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What about the German U-boats that made it up Bayou Lafourche?

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A German U-boat sunk an American tanker off the coast of grand Isle in 1942

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U-boats sunk quite a few ships in the gulf in early '42. I saw a documentary a few weeks ago about this. An oil exploration team found a sunken U-boat several years ago and Robert Ballard (the guy who found the Titanic) investigated how it was sunk. There was a destroyer captain who claimed the kill but the Navy disputed the claim. Ballard took an ROV down to the wreck site and what they found was pretty amazing. The boat was in two pieces and the bow was completely shattered -- more damage than a depth charge could do. The conclusion they eventually came to is that a depth charge landed on the U-boats deck, right above the torpedo room. The boat was diving to escape the depth charges and when it got to the depth that the charge was set to go off at, it exploded, causing the torpedoes to go. They posthumously awarded the captain of the destroyer a medal.

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I saw a documentary a few weeks ago about this.

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Name?

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At the time of the hurricane approximately two-thirds of the millionaires in the U.S. lived in Louisiana, many of those being plantation owners, especially sugar growers.

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My, how times have changed....

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Name?

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It was an episode of Nova.
LINK

That Captain was escorting a steam ship when it spotted a torpedo heading towards the passenger ship. It then spotted the periscope and sailed straight towards that location and started dropping depth charges. Something about the tactics the captain used were deemed wrong by the Navy, but he actually dropped a depth charge on top of the U boat as it was diving. A Coast Guard plane dropped depth charges on another U boat at the mouth of the Miss. River a couple of days later. They spotted an oil slick & claimed a kill of a second U boat.

After the war, German records showed only one U boat operating in the Gulf was lost, so the Coast Guard plane was awarded for that kill. The Captain of the escort destroyer was sent back to school after the attack and career ended in shame. Years later, records were discovered that another U boat documented an attack by plane & damage, but was able to make it back to base. That was the U boat the plane attacked

The U boat found in the Gulf was close to the wreckage of the passenger ship it sank, and at the location where the destroyer Captain claimed a kill.

Someone from Houma spent years researching the wreck and was involved in the exploration of the wreckage.