No.1 Gun emplacement, view from North East.

Description No.1 Gun emplacement, view from North East.

Date 24/5/1996

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number C 73210 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 673021

Scope and Content World War II gun emplacement, Rerwick Head Battery, Mainland, Orkney Islands In both World Wars coast batteries were built to protect the channels into Scapa Flow, the greatest concentrations of firepower being at the main north-western and southern entrances to the Flow. In World War II there were also seven coast batteries on the east coast of Orkney Mainland protecting the approaches to Kirkwall Bay, which served as an examination anchorage where foreign shipping was impounded and searched for contraband. These batteries formed the Kirkwall Fire Command centred on Rerwick Head Battery, which also included a shore station for a controlled minefield in Shapinsay Sound. This shows the low parapet and open front of one of the two six-inch gun emplacements with the Battery Observation Post in the left background. The gap between the side walls and the gun house canopy, mounted independently on steel posts, creates a vent for the dispersal of gun smoke. The six-inch guns mounted here in 1941 were breech-loading naval guns taken from the battleship, HMS Iron Duke, three of whose guns were also transferred to Wellington Battery in the Kirkwall Fire Command. At the heart of the Orkney archipelago, Scapa Flow was the main fleet anchorage for the Royal Navy during both World Wars. Its vital importance led to the creation of one of the most concentrated defence networks in Britain. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/476988