The Hoods Tower Museum ( ta, குட் கோபுர நூதனசாலை, translit=Kuṭ Kōpura Nūtaṉacālai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය නාවික කෞතුකාගාරය ''Trikuṇāmalaya Nāvika Kautukāgāraya'') is a naval museum of the

Sri Lanka Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

. It is located at Ostenburg, in the Trincomalee peninsula on a high ridge overlooking the entrance to the inner harbor of Trincomalee within the

SLN Dockyard Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Dockyard is the largest naval base of the Sri Lanka Navy and a major shipyard located in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Established by the British as the Royal Naval Dockyard, Trincomalee, it was home to the East Indies Station of the ...

. The museum gains its name from the ''Hoods Tower'', an observation tower named after Vice-Admiral

Sir Samuel Hood Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) was an admiral in the Royal Navy. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of , he drove a French ship ashore in ...

, Commander of the

East Indies Station The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' was ...

Fort Ostenburg

The location derives its name from the ''Fort Ostenburg'', a small fort built at the entrance to the inner harbour of Trincomalee by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and later surrendered to the British 1795. It has been called "the most powerfully gunned fort in Ceylon" with strong batteries at sea level and many guns on the ridge above them. However little of it remains today, mainly due to the constriction of coastal artillery placements by the British since the 1920 in the Ostenburg ridge.

Coastal artillery

In 1920, the British began deploying

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form o ...

on the Ostenburg ridge to protect the entrance to the Trincomalee harbor which had become a major

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 ...

base in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

. Mounted on the ridge was a battery of three

BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun The BL 6-inch gun Mark VII (and the related Mk VIII) was a British naval gun dating from 1899, which was mounted on a heavy travelling carriage in 1915 for British Army service to become one of the main heavy field guns in the First World War, ...

s within

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" me ...

s and with individual underground ammunition stores. Two BL 9.2 inch Mk IX guns were also added.

Fire control tower A fire control tower is a structure located near the coastline, used to detect and locate enemy vessels offshore, direct fire upon them from coastal batteries, or adjust the aim of guns by spotting shell splashes. Fire control towers came into g ...

was constructed which commands a 360 degree view of the area and was used for directing artillery along with concrete quarters that were built for the gun crews. With the outbreak 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 ...

, the coastal batteries in Trincomalee manned by the 6th Coast Regiment,

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 2nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment,

Ceylon Garrison Artillery Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

was deployed for its protection. With the departure of the Royal Navy from Trincomalee in 1956, the operation of the guns were taken over by the 2nd (Volunteer) Coastal Artillery / Anti-Aircraft Regiment,

Ceylon Artillery The Sri Lanka Artillery (SLA) is the artillery arm of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of ten regular regiments and two volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda. The emblem of the SLA is modeled after tha ...

. The coastal artillery

batteries Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

were decommissioned in 1962.

Museum

Some of the guns are maintained in functional level for symbolic reasons by the

Sri Lanka Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...

. In the 1990s the navy developed the location into a naval museum with many artifacts. Much of the museum itself is housed in ground level and underground casements built during

. House here is a collection of weapons, equipment and weapon systems used by the navy. Prizes of war on display include captured

Sea Tiger The Sea Tigers (Tamil: கடற்புலிகள் ''Kaţaṛpulikaḷ'') was the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the Sri Lankan Civil War. It was founded in 1984. The Sea Tigers had a number of small but effecti ...

attack crafts, suicide crafts and

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

weapons, including an all terrain vehicle that was used by Charles Anthony.

References

External links

Trinco's spoils of war
{{coord missing, Sri Lanka British forts in Sri Lanka Cultural buildings in Trincomalee Coastal artillery Dutch forts in Sri Lanka Forts in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka Military and war museums Museums in Trincomalee District SLN Dockyard Naval museums

Fort Ostenburg

Coastal artillery

Museum

See also

References

External links