Fire command post, view from South.

Description Fire command post, 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 673033

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 73222 CN

Scope and Content World War II Fire Command 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 long, low building which stands on the southern edge of the battery is the Fire Command Post, from which operations at all seven batteries under the Kirkwall Fire Command were directed. Like the Battery Observation Post it has been designed to have good, all-round visibility, though in this case the windows have been partly boarded up. 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/673033

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap