Fort Siloso is a decommissioned coastal

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

Sentosa Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly ''Pulau Belakang Mati'', is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island. The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the K ...

, Singapore. It consists of 12 such batteries which made up "Fortress

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

" at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and saw action during the

Battle of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...

. The fort is now a military museum open to the public. The Surrender Chambers in Fort Siloso reopened in June 2017 with a refreshed exhibition and free admission.

History

Construction

The word "Siloso" of the fort's name is derived from a Malayan word meaning "rock". There was a huge rock at the mouth of Singapore's harbour which imposed a hazard to passing shipping. With trade ever flourishing in Singapore since the opening of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

in 1869, it became necessary to protect Singapore's port. Based on the report by Major Edward Lake of the British Royal Engineers, a fort was decided to be built on Pulau Blakang Mati (Sentosa) in 1874 to protect Keppel Harbour. As part of the planned fortifications, Mount Siloso's top was blown off to flatten it for the installation of coastal-artillery gun platforms. By the 1880s, several gun batteries were located on Mount Siloso and Mount Serapong (facing north towards mainland Singapore on Sentosa's northern coast) on Pulau Blakang Mati, becoming a stronghold of British naval defences in Singapore. Fort Siloso was built in 1878.

Armament

By the 1880s, Fort Siloso possessed 7-inch guns and two 64-pounder guns. In the 1890s, five 10-inch guns were also installed. These guns were operated automatically and powered from an underground electric-powerhouse. In the 1930s, twin

6-pounder 6-pounder gun or 6-pdr, usually denotes a gun firing a projectile weighing approximately . Guns of this type include: *QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss, a 57 mm naval gun of the 1880s; a similar weapon was designed by Driggs-Schroeder for the US Navy ...

guns, Quick-Firing anti-torpedo-boat guns, five large

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely luminosity, bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a part ...

s, an Operational Tower (for overall command and control), two machine-gun nests and two twin- Lewis anti-aircraft machine guns were added due to reports of an impending war (rising from an ever military-ambitious Imperial Japan). The fort was manned by both the British

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and the locally formed Singapore Artillery Corps. Siloso12pounder

World War II

The forts were designed and built to defend Singapore against an invasion by sea from the south. However, during the

in February 1942, the guns were instead turned 180 degrees inland to fire at rapidly-advancing Japanese forces approaching Singapore from the north (via

British Malaya The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. ...

). The fort's guns were fired at encroaching Japanese positions and troops who were pushing towards the city-area northwest from

Tengah Airfield The Tengah Air Base is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) located in the Western Water Catchment, in the western part of Singapore. The air base is the most important airfield of the RSAF as it houses the majo ...

. The British and local troops who were retreating from the overrun Pasir Laba Battery (in Singapore's northwest) and heading back to friendly British lines via the sea were mistaken for Japanese troops and fired upon, with at least major casualties sustained. The building at the entrance of Fort Siloso is now known as the Surrender Chambers and has a vivid portrayal of the scenes of the British and Japanese surrenders in WWII with actual footage of the war being played interactively. This is on the upper storey, with the ground floor having been turned into a souvenir shop. During the

Japanese occupation of Singapore , officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II. Japanese military forces occupied it afte ...

from 1942 to 1945, the fort was used as a small

prisoner-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

camp.

Post-World War II

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

occupied the fort in 1946 and its guns were manned by the 1st Malay Coast Battery and

. Gurkha detachments from British India took over manning the guns when the British gunners were withdrawn and the 1st Malay Coast Battery was disbanded sometime later in 1946. During the Konfrontasi period between Sukarno's Indonesia and the Malaysian Federation from 1963 to 1965, Fort Siloso was manned by the

10th Gurkha Rifles The 10th Princess Mary's Own Gurkha Rifles, (abbreviated to 10 GR), was originally a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was formed in 1890, taking its lineage from a police unit and over the course of its existence it had a ...

to prevent Indonesian military-trained saboteurs from landing on Sentosa and

Keppel Harbour Keppel Harbour (; ms, Pelabuhan Keppel), also called the Keppel Channel and formerly New Harbour, is a stretch of water in Singapore between the mainland and the southern islands of Pulau Brani and Sentosa (formerly Pulau Blakang Mati). Its nat ...

slightly inland. Fort Siloso became a Catholic retreat for locally based British forces until Sentosa was handed over to the Singapore government following the British military withdrawal starting in 1967. The

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...

(SAF) then took control over the fort. Fort Siloso was then converted into a military museum in 1974, displaying its history and various naval guns. Other coastal guns (both British and Japanese) from different parts of Singapore, such as a pair of Japanese naval cannons discovered and brought over from

Mandai Mandai is a planning area located in the North Region of Singapore, famously known for being the access point of the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. The Mandai Crematorium and Columbarium, the largest crematorium and columbarium in Singapore, ...

, were put here for display. It had previously held the display of the British surrender of Singapore in February 1942 until its relocation to the former Ford Motor Factory (the actual site of the British surrender) in

Bukit Timah Bukit Timah, often abbreviated as Bt Timah, is a planning area and residential estate located in the westernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. Bukit Timah lies roughly from the Central Business District, bordering the Central Wat ...

in February 2006. Plans for the gazetting of Fort Siloso into a national monument began in June 2016 as it is also a wartime museum, and also a military museum dedicated to

Republic of Singapore Navy The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is the naval service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for defending the country against any sea-borne threats, and the protection of its sea lines of communications, that would comp ...

. Fort Siloso was gazetted on 15 February 2022. * *

References

External links

Page on Fort Siloso
{{Authority control Coastal fortifications Siloso Military of Singapore under British rule Military and war museums in Singapore Sentosa World War II museums World War II sites in Singapore British rule in Singapore 1874 establishments in the British Empire 1965 disestablishments in the British Empire Military installations of Singapore Japanese occupation of Singapore Military history of Japan during World War II World War II prisoner of war camps in Singapore National monuments of Singapore