Scanned image of view of two World War I gun emplacements from roof of magazine to East

Description Scanned image of view of two World War I gun emplacements from roof of magazine to East

Date 26/5/1996

Catalogue Number SC 673979

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 73038

Scope and Content World War I four-inch gun emplacements, Hoxa Battery, Hoxa Head, South Ronaldsay, 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, the latter covered by the coast batteries on Stanger Head on Flotta and here on Hoxa Head on South Ronaldsay. This view of one of a pair of four-inch gun emplacements or barbettes is taken from the top of the shared magazine or ammunition store, the roof ventilator of which is visible in the foreground. The guns were positioned in the centres of each emplacement, firing over the low parapet across Hoxa Sound. Operations were directed from a Battery Observation Post, a wooden hut which occupied a central commanding position slightly forward of this viewpoint and which was reached by a sunken track. 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/673979

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap