View from East of Westernmost searchlight emplacement

Description View from East of Westernmost searchlight emplacement

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

Catalogue Number SC 672958

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 17986

Scope and Content World War II searchlight, Gate and Neb Batteries, 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 Gate and Neb, was intended to provide. Three searchlights, of which this is the westernmost, swept the waters of Switha Sound from a series of cliff-top emplacements in front of the combined Gate and Neb Batteries. Here, in this side view, the access track leads down to the entrance from the right, partly protected by a retaining wall on the landward side, and in the canted or faceted front of the building, on the left, can be seen two out of the three narrow slits through which shone the fixed beams of the searchlight. 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/672958

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap