Apostle Battery was originally an Emergency Battery built in 1940 with 6-inch Mark XIX field guns. Two of these were mounted adjacent to what is now the Number 2-gun position. These two mounts are semi-circular and similar in some respects to a Panama Mount.
Completion the 9.2-inch spluttered along for the next couple of years, apparently because of a shortage of guns.
The H1 9.2-inch gun was a Mark X gun on a Mark V mount. This Mark V mount was replaced by a Mark IX mounting in December 1944.
The second 9.2-inch gun to be mounted at Apostle Battery was a Mark X gun on a Mark IX which arrived from overseas in August 1943.
The third 9.2-inch gun was a Mark X on Mark IX mounting did not arrive until October 1945 and was operational in January 1946.
The three 9.2-inch guns were located on the ends of ridges, H1 at 491 metres, H2 at 471 metres and H3at 572 metres. The guns had maximum effective range of 32,5000 yard at 35 degrees elevation with a supercharge.
The Battery site also contained numerous other structures including:
- Battery Command Post (BCP) on the ridge above the Number 1 gun
- Radar Room adjacent to the BCP. Believed to have mounted a CA No.1 Mark 2X
- Command Bunker
- Underground Plotting Room
- Barracks, Mess facilities, offices and engine room
- Pillbox for land defence
Apostle Battery is very similar in layout to Scala Battery in Simon’s Town. Although ‘out of period’, Apostle Battery is highlighted because it an excellent surviving example of a later pattern 9.2-inch Battery.
A Fortress Observation Post (FOP) was located a East Hout Bay Battery. Other FOP were located at Blaauwberg, Robben Island, Ridge, Oudenkraal and Slangkop. The Fire Command Post was situated on Signal Hill.