Royal Armoury Portsmouth
- 9 April 2015 11:09280895Have just collected a very large cannon used at the battle of Waterloo and taken it to the new museum under construction there in readiness for the 200th anniversary of the battle. I noticed at Fort Nelson in Portsmouth a railway mounted gun and I was told that it was the one that was used in Dover during the 1939-1945 conflict. Apparently it was hidden in the Shepherdswell Tunnel between firings. Perhaps one of our local historians could enlighten me.
- Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
9 April 2015 18:20280919Do we still have a local historian on this forum?-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 9 April 2015 19:00280924There was a rail gun hidden in tunnel in Kent I remember reading about it. Not sure if there was two or maybe that was the Germans who had two.
- 9 April 2015 20:17280932There was a large gun based on the Shepherdswell - Eythorne railway, now operated by EKR, which was hidden in the tunnel at the Shepherdswell end of that line between its periods of being fired. Apparently, when it was in action it caused a great deal of vibration in houses in Eythorne causing plaster to be dislodged from internal walls and ceilings. At the end of WW2, the MoD paid for quite a bit of replastering, the house where I live now being just one beneficiary.
- 10 April 2015 03:45280953Some images from "Conflict across the Strait", "Kent at War" and "Objectif Douvres".
- 10 April 2015 08:01280955Wow, great photos Ed. Thank You.
Roger - 10 April 2015 08:50280957Good to have you back Ed.
- 11 April 2015 05:46281012Hi Paul. I have never been away but I mainly post nerdy ship stuff on the Sea News section which was split off from the main forum a year or two ago and probably gets very few hits as a result.
- 11 April 2015 07:00281013Ken Tranter wrote:Have just collected a very large cannon used at the battle of Waterloo and taken it to the new museum under construction there in readiness for the 200th anniversary of the battle. I noticed at Fort Nelson in Portsmouth a railway mounted gun and I was told that it was the one that was used in Dover during the 1939-1945 conflict. Apparently it was hidden in the Shepherdswell Tunnel between firings. Perhaps one of our local historians could enlighten me.
Cannot claim to be a local historian but think I have found the answer to Ken's intriguing question, see link below.
http://www.victorianforts.co.uk/art/sleigh.htm
There is a very interesting edition of "After the Battle" magazine (No.29 Cross-Channel Guns) which contains a lot of relevant info, summarised below.
In addition to some smaller rail mounted guns, four railway mounted guns from the First World War were deployed in Kent at the start of WW2 to combat the threat of German invasion. Had the Germans landed, then they would have fired on the invasion beaches and on road junctions from Ramsgate to Folkestone. Each consisted of a complete train consisting of the gun truck, ammunition trucks, accommodation coaches, etc, and was manned by a very large crew. Three of the rail mountings were fitted with 13.5 inch gun barrels from WW1 battleships and named Scene Shifter, Piece Maker and Gladiator. These were manned by the Royal Marines Siege Regiment.
It is the fourth WW1 railway gun that is the one in question. This was named Boche Buster and was mated with an 18 inch barrel, see bottom two photos above. It arrived at Bishopsbourne Tunnel in February 1941 and was manned by the 11th Super Heavy battery of the Royal Artillery. Fortunately, the invasion never transpired and it was never called upon to go into action. It did not have the range to fire across the channel so was never used against the German batteries on the French coast.
The mounting displayed at Fort Nelson is a railway proof sleigh used for test firings of gun barrels and is a much smaller animal than the railway mounted truck used for Boche Buster. The 18 inch barrel is one of four which were produced since barrels used to wear out after a few dozen shells had been fired. Whether it is the one which was actually installed on Boche Buster I am unsure. The proof sleigh certainly has a connection with Dover as it was used for test firings on the Isle of Grain of the barrel for the hyper velocity gun named "Bruce" which had an 8 inch barrel sleeved inside a 16 inch barrel with a breech enlarged to take a 13.5 inch cartridge giving it a range of seventy miles. Bruce was installed at St. Margarets and was used for test firings towards Shoeburyness but never used in action.. - Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
11 April 2015 09:25281030Since it split from this forum I seldom visit Sea News, sorry but I have little interest in endless pictures of visiting cruise ships which seemed to dominate.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 11 April 2015 23:05281095If nobody is really interested in the future of the forum then the fragmentation will continue unabated. All the evidence points to doing nothing, all rather sad.
- 12 April 2015 08:33281103I value this Forum Howard.
I don't visit the Sea News section very often, but I do occasionally; I also don't look in at the Channel Swimmers etc,. but it doesn't mean the Forum is not valued.
From comments made, this Forum is a pretty well-balanced one, so long may it continue.
Roger - 12 April 2015 10:43281115Thank you all for the information.
- Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
12 April 2015 19:34281149here is a link that might help.
http://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php
zoom in on to st margrets for details.
