Battery observation post and No.1 gun emplacement with crew shelter, view from South.

Description Battery observation post and No.1 gun emplacement with crew shelter, view from South.

Date 24/5/1996

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

Catalogue Number SC 673011

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 73208 CN

Scope and Content World War II Battery Observation Post and gun emplacements, 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 view shows the Battery Observation Post (BOP) in relation to one of the two six-inch gun emplacements and associated crew shelter. In the left background can be seen one of the two battery searchlights. The lower floor of the BOP housed a generator and the operations room on the upper floor was reached by an internal timber ladder-stair. 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/673011

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap