FORTRESS STUDY GROUP

Casemate 76

Alan Bailey.

Illustrations by Charles Blackwood unless labeled otherwise.

Introduction.


This 11 day tour was organized by Terry McGovern for the Coast Defense Study Group USA, and attended by members from 9 countries. The trip spent three days in Northern Spain in the province of Galicia, based in La Coruña (hotel Melia Maria Pita), and five days based in southern Spain by Tarifa (hotel Dos Mares) with two of those days visiting Gibraltar.



General location map.

Local transport in Spain was hired cars (rather than an FSG coach) which can make keeping together in urban rush hour traffic, dark nights and pouring rain interesting, but did enable us to get right to batteries in the hills up some very rough tracks. Spain is one of the few countries to still maintain coast defence guns. There is probably nowhere else in the world where it is possible to see such a collection, in either working or good order, nearly all Vickers, built in the UK or under licence in Spain. Coast Defense batteries complete with guns in situ were the key objective and highlight of the tour; 6-in, 12-in, 15-in guns, singles and twins, many maintained by the military and fully operational. In so many of the places we usually visit you can see only empty concrete emplacements, while the guns exist only in your imagination. Many here are on active military reservations, which has no doubt saved them from the fate of most. This was an opportunity not to be missed; it is extremely unlikely that the military will continue to maintain their guns for much longer. Many batteries, 15-in and 6-in, have already been dismantled, their guns chopped up and machinery scrapped; Monte San Pedro is complete but unused and deteriorating through leaks and lack of care.



Vigo and La Coruña.


When in 1726 King Carlos III of Spain formally designated Ferrol, Cartagena, Mahón and Cádiz as naval bases, they needed to be defended appropriately; at this period this meant bastioned fortifications and cannon. Over the next two hundred years these were updated, with new forts and batteries built with breech loading guns. By 1900 the rapid development of naval technology meant that the defences had to be extended far from the bases themselves. In 1926 the modernization of the artillery defenses of Ferrol, Mahón and Cartagena was approved. For Ferrol the defences were to mount eight 15 inch guns, twenty 6 inch guns and twenty 10.5cm anti-aircraft guns, in four groups. These were the Campelo, Prior, Prioriño and San Pedro positions, running north to south along the Galician coast from Ferrol to La Coruña.



In Galicia we were led by Juán Vásquez García (co-author of Los Cañones de La Coruña, La Costa Inexpugnable and FSG member) whose expertise and very valuable military connections ensured access and a warm welcome on military establishments and very well informed visits.


On our first day we went south to see the defences of Vigo, surrounding the Rías Baixas. We went to the El Grove battery of four 6-in Vickers guns (3 in 1936, fourth post-war) on military lands. When we arrived at the camp an infantry company was going on exercise. We walked towards the battery position and entered a tunnel with a light railway for ammunition transport and storerooms and climbed steps to an observation bunker. Back along the tunnel and out to the guns - they were in an L-shaped line a hundred or so meters apart, in concrete emplacements with overhead protection.



The guns were no longer in use but were in a good state of preservation. After coffee in the barracks there was a Powerpoint presentation on Spanish coast defences (we were given a CD of it on leaving), after which we headed for Bayona for lunch in a very swish hotel in the Castillo de Montereal, a C14th castle surrounded by fortifications.




A walk around the walls took us to some C17th batteries with cannon and a superb view over the bay to Cape Silleiro, our next stop, to visit another 6-in Vickers battery. This is set on a steep hill overlooking the sea, the 4 guns (2 in 1941, 1 in 1942, 4th post-war) in a line stepped one above the other. A defended barracks and stores was set in a hollow behind the hill, giving underground tunnel access to the fire control tower and all four gun positions.




The guns had been sealed in their emplacements with concrete so all one could see from the outside was the barrels sticking out of a grey wall. These emplacements were excavated in the rock, with concrete bunkers for overhead protection, and ammunition storage behind each gun. Some of the most intrepid explorers found their way up into all gun positions.


Off next to the hill top of Monteferro, a popular picnic stop, and a scramble down the steep hillside to see the rusting remains of two Munáiz guns (2x1936, 1x1940 ex Hercules Tower, La Coruña), one in the open and one en barbette in its pit, all that remains of the original 3 guns.
The 15cm Munáiz gun was in service from 1903 till the 1930's. The shell weight was 50kg, muzzle velocity 747 m/sec, maximum range 13,300m and rate of fire four rounds per minute.
We returned to La Coruña, a long haul in the dark and the rain, and had dinner out.



The following day was spent visiting the defences of La Coruña itself. Firstly to Fort San Antón built on a rocky island, linked by a causeway to the mainland, 200m from the shore; a C16th fort built in the reign of Philip II, with construction of the upper level completed in the C18th. It was armed with 30 guns, 18 and 24-pdrs, which covered 1500m around the fort. It was built to defend the harbour of La Coruña, a major trading port with the Indies, which later served as a prison and was restored and converted into a museum in 1968.



A walk along the remains of the old town walls took us to a 6-in gun on a terrace in a garden, then a quick look at a military museum with a selection of guns and some large shells.



Next we drove to Monte San Pedro park, some 425ft asl, and the site of two preserved 15-in (38.1cm) guns in turrets, (1929-32) surrounded by flower beds and well cut grass. The guns formed the southern flank of the La Coruña defenses. The 15-in Vickers was the most powerful gun installed in the Spanish coastal defenses, derived from the excellent British 15-in/L42 naval gun, initially installed in the Queen Elizabeth class dreadnoughts. The Spanish guns weighed 86 tons, with a barrel length 57.7ft with a shell weight of 1760-1870 lbs, and maximum range 38,000 yards. Armour piercing shell could penetrate 22 inches of armour at 9842 yards. The gun was protected with by a 0.28-in shield.




Underneath the gun was a well with underground magazines for shells and powder charges on opposite sides. A passageway with a double-armored door gave access to the machinery room. Slowly deteriorating, the machinery is complete, including hoists and carriages for shells and cartridges. Back above ground we walked around these guns and the door in the back of the turret was opened so we could see the breech and mechanisms.



Then back underground to the fire control facilities. Each battery had a fire direction system with one or two 30ft Barr-Stroud or Lopez-Paloma rangefinders, and we found the underground fire control room which contained the battery plotting table and the electro-mechanical gun computer. On the wall there was a diagram of range against penetration of armour and listed at the side were the names of British WWII battleships. The guns were actually fired locally from the gun itself. There was also a co-located monobloc anti-aircraft site, of four 10.5cm Vickers guns.



At Monticaño, a lunch of very large sandwiches in a café was followed by a walk up the hill to the Monticaño battery. This was another 6-in Vickers battery. Only one gun was complete with the remains of one more and two anti-aircraft guns.
There was also the restored battery command post which sadly had been vandalized.


Returning to La Coruña we visited the Hercules Tower on the seafront. Buried in the base are the accessible remains of the Roman pharos, the first building on the site. Some of the group climbed to the top a couple of hundred steps while Terry and I took the sea air.
We finished the day at Fort Santa Cruz, a small C18th battery reached by a causeway, and walked around the outside, returning to La Coruña for dinner.



Next day we visited the defences of Ría de Ferrol, starting in the morning on the Montefaro area on the south side of the Ria. This peninsula had six batteries, three at the seaward end of the peninsula - Segano, Salgueira and Sudova - and three on the top, Bailadora, Fuenteseca and Faro. The upper batteries each had six 24cm Ordóñez steel howitzers in concrete emplacements. These entered service in 1916, had a maximum range of 12,400 yards, muzzle velocity 690 to 1,180 ft/sec and shell weight was 440lbs.


We visited first the howitzer batteries of Bailadora, and then Fuenteseca, with an AA position nearby; 4x10.5cm Vickers from 1940 in separate pits connected by tunnels, with crude drawings on the walls of several British airplanes.




From there we dropped down to Segaño battery on the coast, mounting two 26cm Krupp guns in large D-shaped barbette emplacements, empty but for the steel cones of the pivots. There was a building to house a searchlight and rails to move it on.



The nearby batteries of Salgueira (visited) and Sudova had six 15cm Munáiz guns; only the concrete emplacements and support buildings remain.



Heading for the northern defences of the Ría, via Ferrol for lunch, we had a photostop at the very impressive Fort La Palma - a large C19th granite-built fort at water level, with casemated batteries and positions for two Krupp 26cm steel guns mounted en barbette on the roof and in service in 1884.



Then to Fort San Felipe on the other side of the estuary - a large C18th fort with powerful batteries on several levels facing over the water towards La Palma and down the Ría, and a hornwork and small ravelin defending the land approach. Here in 1800 the Spanish beat off a determined British attack on Ferrol, the fort being the last barrier. We spent ninety minutes going round this fascinating mixture of a fort, with its later secondary batteries, barbettes, casemates and a C19th guntower.



On to the Cape Prior and Cape Prioriño positions to see the remains of the two-gun 15-in batteries and the four 6-in batteries. Each position also had an AA battery of four 10.5 cm Vickers guns in a monolithic concrete structure. These batteries had all the guns removed and were in a vandalized state. The 15-in guns had unfenced wells, and one could enter them by going down steps or slopes to see the wreckage of the magazines and machine rooms; a sad sight - the guns were only cut up and dismantled in 1997. The 6-in battery positions were below the 15-in batteries, in line in a monobloc arrangement as usual, with ammunition storage below the guns. Darkness, rain and time meant we did not reach the Campelo position before returning to La Coruña for the last time for dinner and to pack for traveling to Southern Spain next day.






Tarifa.


We flew from La Coruña to Jerez la Fronterra via Madrid, collected more hire cars and drove some 100km to Tarifa, on the Spanish coast on the most southern point of the Iberian Peninsula, further south than Gibraltar. It is at the southern end of a beach, with our hotel just a few miles up the road at the north end. The Dos Mares hotel is right on the beach, decorated in a Moorish style with separate bungalows for the guests.



On 18 October we left our hotel to drive to the Spanish Army MACTAE (Coast Defence) Headquarters in Paloma. Here we were joined by César Garcia, who had made all the arrangements and accompanied us for the next five days; whose military connections were invaluable, and who opened many doors for us. We could not have visited most of the military sites without his work on our behalf. Welcomed by the commanding officer, we had light refreshments before walking down to the day's first battery, Paloma Baja, fully operational, with four 152.4 mm /50 (6-in) Vickers 'W'guns. They were in one line in concrete emplacements. Three of them came from La Mola coast battery, Mahón in 1942, and the fourth came from Reinosa Enterprise (Spanish gun manufacturers) in 1952. The gun uses a 45.30 kg shell with a charge of 16kg, having a maximum range of 21,600m. They had a Barr & Stroud range finder later replaced by gun laying radar; nearby was a fire control centre on several levels.



Paloma Baja; gun crew and 6-in Vickers.

The Spanish Artillery crew gave an excellent demonstration of loading one of the guns.


From here we drove on military roads to Paloma Alta battery to see one of the 38.1mm/L45 (15-in) guns. The battery comprises three of these guns (one Vickers Ltd and two Vickers-Armstrong 1926 model); two were brought from Campelo Alto and their emplacement was completed in October 1941. During the proof firing, a premature explosion of the second gun destroyed it. Two more guns were brought from Favarix battery (Menorca) and were ready in January 1944. They had two Barr-Stroud range finders, 9.14m base, replaced with Lopez Palomo range finders and in 1972 an RX-80E radar set. The guns use an 885kg shell and a charge of 197kg, with a maximum range of 35,100m. We entered the underground area walking down a large tunnel - there we saw the power room, shell and propellant storage areas. The gun crew demonstrated the hydraulic equipment for moving shells and cartridges to the breech of the gun above us.





La Paloma Alta Battery of 3x15-in guns. Shell and cartridge stores, and rammer.

A walk back through the tunnel and up a steep slope took us to the actual gun position. To me this was one high point of the tour, not only to see a truly massive 15-in gun, but one in full working order, and see it operated by the crew.



La Paloma Alta battery; the figure on left gives an idea of the size of the 15-in gun and turret.

The turret was opened for us and we were able to examine the interior while the barrel was elevated and the turret rotated. A group photograph just had to be taken in front of the gun. Finally the gun barrel was lowered and placed below a canvas cover to conceal it.
(This works well; it is usually the shadow of the barrel that gives away a gun's position from the air - the guns at La Coruña are easy to find on the satellite images of Google Earth, much more difficult at La Paloma Alta. Ed).
It was a great pity we had missed the firing of this gun on the previous day while we were traveling to Tarifa. We were each given a coloured photograph of the gun being fired, with much flame and smoke, after which we lunched in the mess.


Afternoon saw us parked by a cemetery outside Tarifa and walking over fields past some field fortifications towards the two gun positions of the El Canteruelas battery, empty concrete 'D's which used to have two 260mm /35 (10-in) calibre Krupp model 1880s.



Canteruelas position for 2 Krupp 260mm, as at Segaño. Here the conical steel mounts have gone.

We finished the day exploring Tarifa, the Moorish castle and the town walls. Connected to Tarifa by a causeway, which we walked across, is a large fortified island; used for detainees from North Africa, we were unable to get inside it. On the seafront there was another small castle surrounded by Spanish pillboxes with domed roofs. Afterwards came a splendid dinner in the MACTAE Military Residence in Tarifa.


The next day was spent visiting batteries still in use by the Spanish Army. We saw several twin 6-in Vickers batteries situated at sea level and two twin 12-in batteries no longer in use, higher into the hills. The first was Punta Camorro Bajo, where we walked down a winding track from the cliff top to the battery. This battery had two 152.4/50mm Vickers 'V' in one turret, with gun performance the same as at Paloma Alta. These guns came from the Spanish cruiser Miguel de Cervantes and were installed in 1941. There is a fire control position directly behind the guns and an excellent view of Morocco across the Straits.



A short distance above, Vigia battery had two 305 mm /50 Vickers-Armstrong guns in one turret. It was built on a large concrete area with all the support facilities underneath, but these could not be visited. These guns came from the forward turret of the battleship Jaime I and were installed in 1941. They could fire armor piercing, semi-armor piercing and grapeshot shells, weighing 385.55 kg, with a charge of 127.70kg and maximum range of 22,000m.



After lunch we drove up into the hills to find El Cascabel battery, another single turret with a pair of 305/50mm guns. These two came from the same battleship, but from the stern turret, and were also installed in 1941.



On next to Punta Palmera to visit another twin 6-in Vickers battery. These guns were from the cruiser Almierante Cervera and were installed in 1972. They are maintained in excellent condition and full working order.



While some of the party returned to our hotel, a small group went to visit Punta Carnero Alto battery, a stiff climb to the top of the hill overlooking Algeciras bay and giving us our first view of Gibraltar. This battery used to have four 120mm Vickers guns in a four position monobloc, with concrete covered magazines and storage an intrinsic part of the battery; it is rapidly becoming overgrown.



Cadiz.


On our final day of Spanish sites we drove up to Cadiz, some 100 km north of Tarifa, visiting on the way Le Marquina, on a military site at the Punta Camorro position. This was a single-gun turret 305mm/50 (12-in) Vickers model 12 from the battleship España, one of three such batteries in the area.



There were the usual underground support facilities, reached by a sloping hairpin tunnel. Below were rooms containing generators, an electro-mechanical computer and a splendid scale model of the battery, which enabled an easier grasp of the unusual magazine layout; a series of compartments arranged in a circle around the turret stem.



Crossing the isthmus to enter Cádiz we passed a large concrete blockhouse on our right, and then went through the old bastioned front and turned into Fuerte de la Cortadura.



Through the building for retired military personnel was the La Cortadura battery. This battery had four 15cm Munáiz guns in a line on plinths, in good condition, to cover the bay, and mounted on top of the old fortified sea wall.



We drove on into Cadiz and explored independently before joining together to be admitted into Castillo de San Sebastián. On the sea front there was the small C18th fort of Santa Catalina which had been restored as a cultural centre and museum.



It had an exhibition on the battle of Trafalgar off Cape St Vincent not far from Cádiz and there was a wonderful exhibition of the original plans of the fortifications of Cádiz over several hundred years. Further round the corner is the Bastion of Candelaria, a C19th half-moon battery with a defended gorge, not open at the time of passing.
We found two large bookshops but had no success for fortification books.



Buried in a little side street (most of old Cádiz is pretty well car free) is the Museo de las Cortez de Cádiz which contains a magnificent model of the Cadiz fortifications made in wood and ivory in 1769 and filling a large room. Be sure to see it if you get the opportunity.



For much of our time in Cadiz it rained, but luckily cleared out for the walk across the causeway to meet our guide to visit the fort of Castillo de San Sebastián, built out in the bay. The fortress is large, consisting of an C18th fort on the first rocky island, separated by a ditch from the larger C19th fortifications.



Composite photo of 18th century Castillo de San Sebastian.




Castillo de San Sebastian; C18th fort to right, C19th to left. The four 6-in Vickers guns are visible on top of the casemated walls, and the fire control tower is in the centre.

A single row of casemated gun positions pierces its high walls, now topped with a battery of four single 6-in Vickers guns in shields, covering the bay. There is a huge fire control tower in the centre of the fort.



Returning late to Tarifa we enjoyed another excellent dinner in the Military Residence.



Gibraltar.



Arrangements for transport and access on the Rock were made by Darren Fa, Deputy Director of the Gibraltar Museum and FSG member. He ensured that all went smoothly and led two most successful days. We were also joined by Simon Evans of Defence Estates, who maintain the military establishments of the Rock, and who had applied preservative paint to the Breakneck gun. On both Gibraltar days we drove from Tarifa to La Línea, left the cars, walked over the frontier to Gibraltar to meet our coaches, on the first day driving to the top of the Rock.
The three 9.2-in gun batteries of Breakneck, Lord Airey's and O'Hara's kept us entertained for the next several hours.




O'Hara's Battery.

The 9.2-in Mark X was the largest of the four standard coast defense types chosen by the British Army at the turn of C19th and it became the main counter bombardment gun from then until the end of WWII. It appeared in two main configurations, the earlier being the '9.2 inch, Wire Mark X on Carriage Garrison Barbette Mk V'. This had a maximum elevation of 15 degrees giving the 380 lb shell a maximum range of 17,400 yards (Breakneck Battery). Of the later mountings, the Mk VII gave a greatest range of 36,700 yards at an elevation of 35 degrees (Lord Airey's and O'Hara's batteries).



At Breakneck Battery we saw the ammunition handling area beneath the gun, including the hydraulic system for the shells and the hydraulic accumulator. The gun has a U-shaped open-top gun shield to which a gun house has been added to give overhead protection from airbursts. No Mk V survives in the UK, although three survive in Bermuda in a neglected state.
The two Mk VII mountings have a much more sophisticated system for the rammer, shell and cartridge hoists; for example the interlocks in the hydraulic system, the large hydraulic valve block in the centre at the back of the platform. It was activated by the rammer being swung over into the ram position where it would push down on the valve on the top of the block and complete the hydraulic circuit to allow the rammer to operate.
After a box lunch, we visited the recently discovered Stay Behind tunnels, which consisted of a number of rooms cut into the rock so that if the Germans had invaded, a number of personnel could seal themselves inside the rock. They would observe the Germans through several tiny concealed observation holes and report back by radio. There was even a working tap inside one room, and the remains of cork sound insulation tiles on the floor.


Returning to the coaches we went down to Devil's Gap battery, a good example of a 6-in Mk VII battery and almost unique in having both guns in place. The guns were in a reasonable condition; the breeches had been removed and plated over. The hand wheels had been removed but the rest of the elevating and traversing gear and the buffer and recuperators were in place. Like the 9.2, the 6-in had a sheet steel gun house welded on to the top to provide overhead protection. The Siege Tunnels of 1779 came next. Hewn from the rock so that cannon could fire on the Spanish and the French siege trenches advancing across the isthmus, the tunnels are a complete tourist attraction but well worth visiting as they contain several cannon pointing from the rock.



This completed a full day and we returned to Tarifa for the night.


We returned to Gibraltar for our last day. Our coach delivered us to the Foss Way, one of the main tunnels that lie beneath the rock, literally miles of them built in WWII to house thousands of troops. At 34 miles, there are reckoned to be more miles of road underground than in the open. Our leader was Peter Jackson of the Gibraltar Regiment, an expert and entertaining guide and a fount of knowledge and anecdotes. Currently the tunnels are used to train British troops in cave fighting, using special bullets that do not ricochet off the rock. We walked east for half a mile along the Great North Road tunnel that runs under much of the Rock and then went through an old area which included a wartime hospital and air raid shelters (torches essential) and a generator room with its two huge engines still in place.



We then joined some tunnels that been tidied up for the general public; concrete floors, modern lighting etc, followed by an excellent view from a balcony half way up the rock. Everywhere are blast traps consisting of several right angled turns. Next we briefly exited the tunnels to see Princess Anne's Battery. The 5.25-in Mk 1B gun represents the final generation of British Coastal Defense artillery. By the 1940s, it was recognized that it was necessary for coast defense guns to be dual purpose anti-aircraft and coastal defense. The gun was derived from the naval 5.25-in ordnance, incorporated into a purpose designed power operated turret, resulting in only a few being deployed; we saw four of them in one battery. It was a pity to see all openings had been welded shut but perhaps that is the best way to preserve them from vandalism.



Then it was back into the tunnels, down the several hundred steps of Thomson's Raise, with chicanes and gun loops covering the stairs, and out at William's Way to sea level. The steps were an experience, unevenly lit and slippery with bits of debris strewn about; all part of 'forting'.



In the North Face galleries we came across a 4-in gun and nearby there was a rusty 6-pdr anti-tank gun. This was the 6-pdr 6 cwt wheeled infantry AT weapon without its trails and wheels, welded onto a crude angle iron structure atop an unidentified plinth. Presumably it was to cover the isthmus and any tank assault that may come across. Where we exited from the tunnels there was a large overhead canopy to give protection from falling rock on the cliff face.


After a box lunch our coaches took us on to Napier of Magdala Battery. The 100-ton gun was the largest rifled muzzle loader built for the British, as usual part of the arms race. The Italians built two battleships with two of these guns each so the British installed two in Malta and two in Gibraltar. The 17.72 inch 100-ton RML, 35ft long on a barbette mounting was installed in 1884. The gun had a maximum range of 7000 yards, muzzle velocity 1,550 feet per second and could penetrate up to 20 inches of armour. The charge was 450 pounds of black prism gunpowder wrapped in silk to make four cartridges. There were four types of shell - common shell, armour piercing, shrapnel and case shot. The rate of fire was supposed to be one round every 4 minutes but they got it down to one round every 1 1/2 minutes. The gun is painted black and looms over everything; it shows the skills of the Victorian builders and the Royal Engineers/Artillery men who installed and manned it. It was in use till about 1905 when the 9.2 inch guns took over. During the last war the battery was the site of four 3.7-in AA guns one of which is still there.



We then parted company, some to get a beer, others to walk round the corner to Parsons Lodge Battery (it should be noted that Gibraltar's bookshops are not open on Saturday).
This battery is one of the most impressive in Gibraltar, rising from the rocky cliff of Rosia Bay. It was originally equipped with cannon; in 1884 three 10-in 18-ton RML's were installed in casemates, one is in position. During WWII the casemates were given reinforced concrete canopies. Under the casemates there were tunnels that had machine guns and 6-pdr AT guns installed.



On the way out, Darren Fa very kindly opened the museum for us, allowing a viewing of the magnificent 1865 model of the rock and it fortifications, built to help give Fortress Commanders a better conception of the Rock's defences.




Detail of model: Top; N Bastion and Grand Battery. Middle; Montagu Cavalier, Bastion & Counterguard. Bottom; Orange Bastion & Counterguard.

Across the runway and back into Spain, we found several typically domed pillboxes in the lines at La Línea.



Next day we left our hotel in Tarifa very early to catch a flight to Madrid and thence to our homes.



It was an excellent tour and we owe a large vote of thanks to all the people who arranged the tour for us and made it such a success; especially to Terry who organized the tour from the USA and made the arrangements, to those who were our leaders in Spain and Gibraltar - Juan, César and Darren, and to our various drivers, who had to abstain while the rest of us enjoyed our wine.


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(With thanks to John Wood for extra information on the British guns. Ed).