Positioned on what was known as St George’s Spur, this is just below O’Hara’s Battery. Original plans were for two 9.2-inch Mark X guns but in the end only one gun was installed on a Mark V mount. Work commenced in 1901 and the battery was completed in March 1905. Signage in the battery shows the date 1903.
In 1934 the gun was replaced by a new 9.2-inch on a Mark VII (or X) mounting. Other work entailed increasing the armour and modernising the control system, and resulted in improvements in loading, elevation, and traverse. The specifications of the weapon included a combined weight for the gun and its mounting of 204 tons, with the weight of the barrel 28 tons. Each shell weighed 380 lbs; individual charges were 109 lbs. The 9.2-inch gun had a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/sec and fired 2–3 rounds a minute. The range of the gun was 29,600 yds.
Together with Lord Airey’s and O’Hara’s Battery it was know collectively as the Upper Battery.
The gun from this battery can now be seen at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford.
In 1904 some crew shelters were built to the rear of the battery which included an officer’s shelter and two shelters for men.
The Battery site remains in reasonable condition with the BCP immediately to the rear of the gun pit.
The other 9.2-inch Batteries in Gibraltar are:
UK Nation Archives references
- WO 78/3875
- WO 32/6373