View of rocket stores from South

Description View of rocket stores from South

Catalogue Number SC 666290

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 21536 CN

Scope and Content World War II Z battery, Roan Head, Golta, Flotta, Orkney Islands In World War II the famous Scapa anti-aircraft 'box barrage' was made up of 25 Heavy Anti-Aircraft batteries, supported by numerous Light Anti-Aircraft posts and rocket sites, all manned by the Army. The three-inch (80mm) rockets or 'unrotated projectiles' (UPs) as they were known, were fired up to a height of 22,000 feet (6,706m) from single or multiple launcher sites, the latter being known as Z batteries. On the ridge of the northernmost headland on Flotta, forming a final eastern curtain of anti-aircraft fire in the defence of the Lyness naval base, is the most complete surviving Z battery in Britain, comprising a regular grid of 64 rocket launchers and 128 magazines with the outlying remains of four personnel shelters and a command post. This view shows how the ammunition shelters are arranged in regular lines as seen from each direction. Most of the huts remain structurally intact but in the post-war period an abortive attempt was made to dismantle and destroy the huts, hence the collapsed condition of some of those in the foreground. 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/666290

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap