Spy Glass Battery on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Spy Glass Battery or Spyglass Battery was originally a high angle
The six RML 10 inch 18 ton guns here were seen as the culmination of the idea of "retired batteries". Originally most of Gibraltar's guns were on the coast but Major General Sir John Jones realised that setting them higher up the Rock gave them more range and made them more difficult to hit. The six guns here and at the other ridge batteries were as high as guns could be placed.
This battery however was different in that this was a high angle battery. There was a growing realisation that the thickness of the armour carried by battleships at the end of the nineteenth century meant that they were almost impossible to penetrate with even the largest gun. A new gun was devised this was the Mark 6 RML gun and it was intended to fire high in the air such that it would hit the decks and not the armoured sides of the battleship. These batteries would have been unusual with the guns and crews hidden from view because they were so far below the surface that only specially placed observers could see the horizon. This meant that the crews were very well protected from incoming fire. These high angle guns were the antithesis of the famous gun carriage created by George Koehler which were designed to fire at a depressed angle down the side of the rock of Gibraltar and made a major contribution to the Great Siege of Gibraltar. Here the guns fired up.
The advantage of height that the Spyglass battery enabled the guns here to have increased range. The battery here has the date of 1898 on its signage today. The guns have unusual cloud cover caused by the
Listening-post at Spyglass, Gibraltar
Leslie Cole, Imperial War Museum, accessed 27 June 2013 Listening posts were the best early warning of approaching aircraft before the invention of
File:Magazine Entrance Spy Glass Battery.jpg, Magazine Entrance
File:Spy Glass Battery Gibraltar.jpg, The battery in 2013
File:Spyglass high-angle battery Gibraltar.jpg, Spyglass high-angle battery
File:Spy Glass Battery Upper.jpg, Plaque at entrance
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 fa ...
in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.
The battery is mounted high on the rock to give extra range and protection. The battery was still in use during the Second World War
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 ...
as a listening post and site for a Bofors Gun.
Description
The six RML 10 inch 18 ton guns here were seen as the culmination of the idea of "retired batteries". Originally most of Gibraltar's guns were on the coast but Major General Sir John Jones realised that setting them higher up the Rock gave them more range and made them more difficult to hit. The six guns here and at the other ridge batteries were as high as guns could be placed.
This battery however was different in that this was a high angle battery. There was a growing realisation that the thickness of the armour carried by battleships at the end of the nineteenth century meant that they were almost impossible to penetrate with even the largest gun. A new gun was devised this was the Mark 6 RML gun and it was intended to fire high in the air such that it would hit the decks and not the armoured sides of the battleship. These batteries would have been unusual with the guns and crews hidden from view because they were so far below the surface that only specially placed observers could see the horizon. This meant that the crews were very well protected from incoming fire. These high angle guns were the antithesis of the famous gun carriage created by George Koehler which were designed to fire at a depressed angle down the side of the rock of Gibraltar and made a major contribution to the Great Siege of Gibraltar. Here the guns fired up.
The advantage of height that the Spyglass battery enabled the guns here to have increased range. The battery here has the date of 1898 on its signage today. The guns have unusual cloud cover caused by the Levant
The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...
wind which forms clouds as warm air meets the cool rock of Gibraltar.
Second World War
During theSecond World War
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 ...
, there was a Bofors anti-aircraft gun here. Leslie Cole who was a War Artist recorded the listening equipment that was being used from this battery.Leslie Cole, Imperial War Museum, accessed 27 June 2013 Listening posts were the best early warning of approaching aircraft before the invention of
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
. The parabolic shapes directed the smallest of noises to a microphone which would give an early warning. In Britain 30 foot concrete dishes were constructed to carry out the same task.
Today the remains of the battery (like Breakneck Battery) are still under the control of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The site can be visited only with special permission and there are no routine guided tours.
Gallery
References
{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Batteries in Gibraltar