The picture reminded me of the odd 'slipways' (I recall two) at Cliffe Fort, that I saw, without understanding, as a boy when I rambled across the North Kent marshes . Years later I saw, in the Royal Engineers' museum, in what used to be known, locally, as 'The Kremlin', a preserved example of one of the wire propelled torpedoes that those slipways had been built for and readily understood the purpose of the slipways that were more like dry docks.
The Kremlin is still there, and the torpedo is mentioned in detail on a nearby (large) wall plaque at Gillingham. The Royal Engineers Museum now occupies that building, although I knew it as the School of Military Engineering. I think the torpedoes were wire guided, rather than 'propelled' - but you may have it right. It's certainly worthwhile taking a stroll around the old Naval Dockyard nearby which has been superbly preserved and which has some very interesting (and large) exhibits.
Unsworth: they were driven by a wire which was unwound from a spool on the torpedo connected by shaft to the propeller. They were launched from rails mounted on tapered concrete pillars that stood about 2' 6" tall, as I recall, in the 'docks', which where about 6' wide, 3' deep and perhaps 15' long.
17 comments:
Fort DeSoto Park - Tampa Bay, FL
Maybe a coastal Mortar?
Either Verdun, Eben Emael or an old US Coastal Battery...
Looks like palm trees in the upper left, so maybe it's a former Brit colony down the Carribbean way.
Retread
Coastal mortars, Ft Desoto Florida
I got the wrong end of the stick. I thought you were asking 'what to use them on, and where to do it'. I have already written 5,000 words ....
It is Corregidor. And, they are coast defense mortars.
Phillipines? Corrigidor?
No, I'm wrong. It's Ft. DeSoto. Corregidor does have two mortars like that, though.
Damn, you guys are good. Fort DeSoto.
http://www.fortdesoto.com/index.php has another picture of the two mortars.
How bout Fort Warden State park, WA?
Interesting.
The picture reminded me of the odd 'slipways' (I recall two) at Cliffe Fort, that I saw, without understanding, as a boy when I rambled across the North Kent marshes . Years later I saw, in the Royal Engineers' museum, in what used to be known, locally, as 'The Kremlin', a preserved example of one of the wire propelled torpedoes that those slipways had been built for and readily understood the purpose of the slipways that were more like dry docks.
My Backyard
Looks a little like Ft. Miley (California) but I didn't think there was any iron left there.
I'm sure "coastal mortars somewhere" is right.
[I see that while I was fighting with captcha, somebody got it right. Oh, well.]
The Kremlin is still there, and the torpedo is mentioned in detail on a nearby (large) wall plaque at Gillingham. The Royal Engineers Museum now occupies that building, although I knew it as the School of Military Engineering. I think the torpedoes were wire guided, rather than 'propelled' - but you may have it right. It's certainly worthwhile taking a stroll around the old Naval Dockyard nearby which has been superbly preserved and which has some very interesting (and large) exhibits.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCC&cp=27.615036~-82.734647&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=11488261&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1
Unsworth: they were driven by a wire which was unwound from a spool on the torpedo connected by shaft to the propeller. They were launched from rails mounted on tapered concrete pillars that stood about 2' 6" tall, as I recall, in the 'docks', which where about 6' wide, 3' deep and perhaps 15' long.
I'm acquainted with the dockyard.
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