Twin 6 pound gun emplacement. View of magazine from south West.

Description Twin 6 pound gun emplacement. View of magazine from south West.

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

Catalogue Number SC 672905

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 17978

Scope and Content World War II magazine, Neb Battery, Flotta, Orkney Islands In both World Wars coast batteries were built to protect the channels into Scapa Flow and Kirkwall Bay, where there was an important contraband control. The greatest concentrations of firepower were at the main north-western and southern entrances to the Flow, but the other southern approach through Switha Sound also required special protection which a series of batteries on the south-western headland of Flotta, including Neb, was intended to provide. This is a view from within walled precincts of Neb Battery, a twin six-pounder gun emplacement built in 1941 between the two existing 12-pounder guns of Gate Battery, which its rapid-firing anti-motor torpedo defences were intended to complement. Its machine gun-like rate of fire - alternating bursts of up to 72 rounds per minute meant that ready access to the magazine or ammunition store was essential for rapid re-loading, and in this view the short sunken passage on the right connects the rear of the gun house to the door of the magazine, the low building set within the loop-holed enclosure wall. The building with the wide door at the upper level is a store, and all the concrete walls bear clear evidence of the plank shuttering. 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/672905

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap