GIBRALTAR’S  9.2" COASTAL DEFENCE GUNS   

 

 Although breech-loading (BL) guns have been around for centuries, for much of that time they have suffered from the difficulty of achieving an adequate breech-seal which could stand the explosive force of a discharge. Consequently muzzle-loaders were still preferred for larger weapons until the middle of the 19th century.

Then, with the introduction of rifling, breech-loaders came back into favour in many countries. Britain however soon abandoned them, following the path of bigger and better muzzle-loading weapons, culminating in the development of the 100 ton gun which was a 17.72” rifled muzzle-loader. Although these rifled muzzle-loaders (RMLs) were capable of delivering long-range accurate fire, they had two significant disadvantages; a slow rate of fire and poor protection for the crew serving them. Eventually, towards the end of the century, HMG returned to breech-loading guns, but with revised specifications.

The 9.2” BL (breech loading) coast defence gun became the standard armament for long range defence, alongside the 6"quick-firing gun for closer defence and the 12 pounder for inshore work. These three were to become the backbone of British coastal defences at Mediterranean stations up until WW2.

O'Hara's Mk X 9.2 inch (233mm) gun could fire its 380lb shell up to 29,000 yards. The Upper Battery; comprising O’Hara’s, Lord Airey’s and Spur, could manage this maximum range, because of the height above sea level and could effectively close the Strait.  Each shell was 3 feet (just under 1 metre) long and was propelled by 2 half-charges of 62lbs (28Kg) of cordite.

Introduced in 1891, cordite was manufactured in little sticks, called cords, between 1/10^th and 1/20^th of an inch in diameter and up to several inches long – hence cordite.  The sticks and particularly their cross-sectional shape were important as the surface area dictated the speed of burning and so the rate of gas production.

The bags of cordite and the shells arrived via different hydraulic lifts, were loaded separately and only met in the gun when rammed home just before the breech was closed. Then a Tube, Vent, Percussion, (filled with gunpowder) would be fitted in the lock and the gun was ready for firing. In early models the tube was struck by a firing pin that formed part of the lock and was operated by a lanyard.

 

Breech open showing Welin interrupted-screw block and closed showing Asbury Mechanism which closed and rotated the screw block in one movement, at O'Hara's gun.    

The gun’s barrel, weighing some 28 tons, had full rifling into which the copper driving band of each shell would engage to impart spin. Because the cordite was bagged – BL for breech loader later came to be known as bag loader – it was commonplace for burning embers of the charge bag cloth to remain after a shot. That made it important to swab out between shots and consequently the typical rate of fire was around two rounds per minute.

That 28 tons of ordnance required a robust support so the guns were placed on Barbette mountings which included an 11ft deep concrete pit 35ft in diameter holding a massive steel pedestal in its centre, on top of which the gun-mount revolved on a roller race, driven either by hand (Marks V & VI) or by hydraulic power (Mark VII onwards). The pedestal area was covered by a massive steel roof called the shell-pit shield which acted as a working platform for part of the gun detachment. Beneath the floor was the pit, with expense magazines for ammunition storage and the rest of the detachment who passed ammunition up  on one side of the pit and the cartridges on the other.

                                                      High Explosive (HE) shells at O’Hara’s.

The shells were usually high explosive (HE) though most batteries also carried base-ejection (BE) shells for stars or smoke. In late Victorian times the HE was Lyddite, essentially picric acid – discovered in 1886 – which was widely used through WW1 even though TNT had been invented in 1899. TNT was less powerful but more stable and less sensitive than Lyddite but was itself displaced by the derivative Amatol; a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT.

 

       In Gibraltar a total of 14 x 9.2” guns were mounted:     

  1. O'Hara's Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  still in place.

 2. Lord Airey's Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . still in place.

 3. Spur Battery . . . . . . . u/s 1979 . . . . removed to I.W.M.

 4. Levant Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  removed.

 5. Buffadero Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  removed.

 6. Jew's Gate Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . removed end WW2.

 7. West Battery (Windmill Hill) 2 guns mounted . . . removed.

 8. Rooke Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . replaced by 6” naval piece.

 9. Breakneck Battery. . . . . . . . . . . . . .  removed.

 10. Edward VII Battery (Windmill Hill) 2 guns... removed.

              11. Governor's Lookout Battery. . . . .  removed.

              12. Rock Gun Battery. . . barrel still in place but no longer visitable.

 

1. O’Hara’s Battery:                                                                                          

 At 1361' (near the highest point of The Rock) it is named after General Charles O'Hara, who was governor from 1795-1802, and is often referred to as the Cock-of-the-Rock, not least for the attention he paid to the wives of garrison officers.

He was of the opinion that if he could raise a tower on this south summit of The Rock, he would be able to observe the comings and goings of the enemy at Cadiz harbour, over sixty miles away. His tower was built but proved unsuccessful and was named O'Hara's Folly by the garrison. It survived until 1888 when discussion about its imminent demolition led to it becoming the subject of a wager between garrison artillery officers and the gunnery officers of HMS Wasp. The end result was that Wasp, using spars and rigging to enable her guns to bear at a high enough elevation, commenced blasting away at the tower. The first shot struck the rock 100 feet below the tower, the third cracked it from top to bottom and the sixth demolished it.... and off they sailed, honour satisfied. Sadly, HMS Wasp was never to return, she was lost in the China Seas with all hands.

The first 6” (BL) gun was mounted at O’Hara’s in 1890, at a cost of £996 installed. In 1897 work began on closing the straits by gunfire and some £2,316 later, in March 1900, a Mk IX BL 9.2” with a range of 14,000 yards had been installed. In 1935 the Mk IX was modernised to a Mk X gun, on MK VII mounting, giving a range of 29,000 yards. The gun was last fired in 1976... and it is unlikely to be fired again.

It has been said that if this gun and Lord Airey's had ever been subjected to sustained firing it is possible that they would have dismounted themselves, as the ridge of rock they stand on is insufficient to absorb the tremendous shock-loads imposed by these weapons in continuous use. That might have been true of earlier weapons, but the sophisticated recoil mechanism of 9.2s allowed hardly any shock wave to escape beyond the mount.

             

         

                

2. Lord Airey's Battery:                                                                                       

Is just a few yards north of O'Hara's and they both brought their gun's to bear on the Vichy-French fleet escaping to Oran during WW2. Since the French Navy were not immediately prepared to throw-in with the allies, the War Cabinet had them all sunk at Mers el K’Bir by the Royal Navy.... as a safety precaution. They could have been more easily dispatched by these two batteries, had the cabinet been more decisive.

Lord Airey's is 1,358 feet above MSL and named after Governor General Richard Lord Airey, who had been Raglan's quartermaster in the Crimea and involved in launching the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade, at Balaclava.  He was exonerated in what looks a lot like an army cover-up.

These guns were very accurate, using a state of the art mechanical computer (still on site) and well trained gun layers. This gun was first mounted in 1900 and up-dated to a MK X in 1936. It remains in situ today and with O'Hara's, is opened regularly.

                      

                                                                                                                                                    

3. Spur Battery:                                       

Named for its position high on St George's Spur - below O'Hara's - the original Mk IX 9.2 was mounted in March 1905. That gun was replaced by a new Mk X, on a Mk VII mounting in 1934. Together with O’Hara’s and Lord Airey’s, Spur completed the Upper Battery and remained in service until April 1976 when they were fired for the last time. It was then shipped out complete to the Imperial War Museum, who display it at Duxford Aerodrome, Cambridgeshire.

 4.  Levant Battery:

Named for retaining a clear field of view, when higher altitude batteries were obscured by Levanter cloud, this 9.2 was mounted in 1905 and first fired in anger on New Year’s Eve 1915 when two rounds were discharged at an enemy submarine. In 1934 the barrel had to be replaced after a shell burst in the bore during practice firing. This gun was still in place in the seventies, but has since been scrapped. The barrel and mounting have remained in a Gibraltar scrap yard until quite recently when a project to recover the gun and mount it at Europa Point got underway.

                   

5. Buffadero Battery:                                                                                         

 Named for a bufidá (a snort, an expression of anger) the 9.2 mounted here on the edge of Windmill Hill replaced a 6” gun first mounted in 1890. It enjoyed a wide arc of fire from 10'to 290’ operating throughout WW2 eventually being scrapped in 1950. The backfilled gun pit, concreted over, can still be seen on the edge of Windmill Hill.

 6. Jew's Gate Battery:

This battery, named for the old Jewish Burial Ground immediately to its East, received its original MK VI 9.2 in 1891. Between 1904/06 the battery was upgraded to take a Mk X gun, then in 1928 it was demounted and scrapped. A Mk VI gun had 10,000 yard range and the Mk X reached about 14,000 yards.

Local folklore tells us that the Jewish Burial Ground dates from the early days of British Gibraltar and the article of Utrecht states “that no Jew or Moor shall be permitted to reside within... etc” Since Jewish traders supplied Gibraltar's needs from Moorish wholesalers, many of both were here. Hence the need for a discreet  site, when they passed-on, so as not to inflame Spanish sensibilities. Well, local folklore is only partly right; the site was designated by an obtuse governor after  disagreement with the Jewish community. The cemetery was in use from 1746 until 1848. The site is fascinating and contains the grave of a Ha'am a revered local Holy Man to whom miracles have been attributed. 

The site lies directly behind the GONHS field station. After the gun was scrapped, the gun pit was decked over becoming a guard post for the Gibraltar Security Police. It is now a store. 

    

                   The site today                                             Jews Gate Battery 9.2” Mk X in 1906.

                    

7. West Battery:                                                                                                                                   

Situated on the west edge of Windmill Hill on a site originally called Furze House. In 1886 it received 2x 9.2 Mk V guns and together with Buffadero and Jews Gate formed the three principal batteries of Windmill Hill. During the 2^nd WW the Mk Vs were updated to Mk Xs, but then replaced with 3x 5.25” guns in 1950.

 8. Rooke Battery:

This battery is just below the Queen's Lookout point at the start of Cave Branch Road. (Royal Anglian Way) It was named after Admiral Sir George Rooke 1650 - ­1709, who took Gibraltar in 1704. By 1907 it had a MK X 9.2 which was removed some time after 1928. In WW2 it served as Fire Command Headquarters supporting an electric searchlight. The last gun mounted there was a 6”naval piece, parts of which are still on site. All that remains are some surface buildings.

 9. Breakneck Battery:

This name was suggested by Major General Slade RA, CRA, in 1901, who apparently disliked the original name for the area, Mount Misery, which is still in use locally, today. The new name was derived from the Breakneck Steps which start from the nearby Spyglass Battery and run part way down the Eastern side of The Rock. The single MK X 9.2 was first mounted in 1906 and had a shell store and shelter for the crew excavated in the rock below it. It was abandoned in 1953.

       

         

 10. Edward VII Battery:                                                                                   

Originally equipped with an 80 pdr (pounder) in 1880, this battery was named after HRH Edward VII and was located on Windmill Hill in the area of Furze House Battery near to West Battery. Its 9.2 Mk Xs, completed in 1901, faced due west and fired over an arc of about 170'. The guns were mounted in almost circular concrete aprons some 160 feet  apart, between which lay two sets of underground shell and cartridge stores. Each gun stood on a fixed mounting built into a thick concrete base which had been poured into a circular hole previously cut into the natural rock. Each gun rested on a ring of rollers, allowing it to be traversed. The shells were too heavy to lift by hand and were stored in expense magazines in the gun pits from where they were raised on hydraulic lifts, driven from an hydraulic accumulator which in turn was charged by the recoil action of the guns. Seen here in 1904.

      

11. Governor's Lookout Battery:

This battery, in the area of Willis’ Gate, is thought to have been Gen. Eliott's OP during the Great Siege of 1779 - 83 from which he watched the Spanish forces. Indeed the nearby Pocá-Rocá cave was equipped as a residence for his occupancy during operations. It first became a battery in 1886 when a 9” RML was mounted there. The MK X 9.2 that was mounted there in 1904 saw service until 1940 when it was dismantled. The site retains its concrete mounting and underground barracks and shell stores but is in use today by the scouts for weekend camps and adventure training. It is pictured here in 1906.

 

 

12. Rock (Gun) Battery:

Rock Gun is at the northern apex of The Rock, where the RAF fly the Union Flag and should not be confused with the 'Rock-Buster' which is a nickname for the 100 ton gun at Napier of Magdala Battery. It was originally named Rock Guard when the first cannon was hauled up there, by hand, in 1779 to see service in the Great Siege. By 1851 it mounted six guns and by 1890 a 6” breech loader.

 In 1904 its single MK IX 9.2 arrived and was mounted at 1360 feet it's purpose being to support the other 9.2s at O'Hara's, Lord Airey's and Breakneck and in turn be supported by the 9.2 at Governor’s Lookout. It could prevent enemy activity on the mainland and enemy ships from anchoring to the northeast (out of range of other guns) to bombard the town over Willis’ Plateau. The gun was at this time called ‘Rock Gun’ and is in fact still in place. It was not removed when the RAF built the radar station on the site and part of its barrel still protrudes from the foundation. It is however commemorated in the mini-museum that the RAF maintain, for those lucky enough to be invited to see it.

Interestingly, when the Levanter closes in on Rock Gun, the apes of the wild Queen's Road pack, also close in, to throw stones at the RAF personnel. 'They know that they can't be seen...' said one contract painter to me. They also know that when the Levant cloud has cleared, the boot will be firmly back on the other foot. 

              

Footnote : What turned out to be the final firing practice for any 9.2 took place in 1976 when the charges in the practice-rounds were sufficiently violent to break all the windows in Naval Hospital Hill and to physically move the fabric of Penny House (above Vineyards Estate) on its foundation.

                                                                                                                                     

 

 Prepared for the Gibraltar Tourist Board 1990s & revisited more recently. Paul Hodkinson.