No.1 Gun emplacement and battery observation post, view from North East.

Description No.1 Gun emplacement and battery observation post, 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 SC 673022

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 73212 CN

Scope and Content World War II gun emplacement and Battery Observation Post, 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 on the left. The guns mounted here in 1941 were six-inch 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. The gun houses were canopied as a protection against aerial attack. 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/673022

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap