Spur Battery is an

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 fac ...

in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. It is located in the Upper Battery area of the southern end of the

Upper Rock Nature Reserve The Gibraltar Nature Reserve (formerly the Upper Rock Nature Reserve) is a protected nature reserve in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar that covers over 40% of the country's land area. It was established as the Upper Rock Nature Rese ...

, just southwest of

O'Hara's Battery O'Hara's Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located at the highest point of the Rock of Gibraltar, near the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, in close proximity to Lord Airey's B ...

. A 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun was mounted on the

emplacement Emplacement may refer to: * A place where something is located * Fortification ** Artillery battery ** Casemate, fortified gun emplacement ** Redoubt, enclosed defense emplacement * The geological process of pluton emplacement See also * * * P ...

in 1902, with improvements made to the battery after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1981 the 9.2-inch gun at Spur Battery was dismantled and transferred to the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

Duxford Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, about south of Cambridge. It is part of the Hundred Parishes area. History The village formed on the banks of the River Cam, a little below its emergence from the hills of north Essex. One of the ...

, England, for preservation. The operation was known as

Project Vitello Project Vitello was a military operation that transferred the 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun at Spur Battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, England. Project Vitello I, t ...

Early history

Spur Battery is in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. The artillery battery is located near the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, in the Upper Battery area, which also includes O'Hara's Battery and

Lord Airey's Battery Lord Airey's Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located near the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, just north of O'Hara's Battery. It was named after the Governor of Gibraltar, Gener ...

. It is positioned at the southern terminus of Spur Battery Road, just southwest of O'Hara's Battery, at an elevation of 1,130 ft above sea level. Its name was based on its location on St. George's Spur. The mounting of 9.2-inch guns on Gibraltar's artillery batteries began in the 1890s. By 1914, Gibraltar boasted fourteen of those guns on twelve batteries. The 9.2-inch Mark X breech-loading gun at Spur Battery was installed in 1902. It was used in World War I on 31 December 1915, when German submarines were positioned off the coast of Gibraltar. Three rounds were fired from the gun, with another ten rounds fired from other 9.2-inch guns of the South Fire Command. The outcome was recorded in a journal as: "Result of action. One target disappeared, and a large explosion took place at another." The gun barrel at Spur Battery was upgraded after World War I. In addition, its mount was changed from a Mark V to a Mark VII in 1935. This entailed increasing the armour and modernising the control system, and resulted in improvement of loading, elevation, and traverse. The specifications of the weapon included a combined weight for the gun and its mounting of 204 tons, with the weight of the barrel 28 tons. Each shell weighed 380 lbs; individual charges were 109 lbs. The 9.2-inch gun had a muzzle velocity of 2,700 ft/sec and fired 2–3 rounds/minute. The range of the gun was 29,600 yds. This easily covered both the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

and the

Bay of Gibraltar The Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeciras), is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait ...

, the distances across those bodies of water measuring 25,500 yds and 9,000 yds, respectively.

Recent history

In the 1970s, the

Royal Gibraltar Regiment The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is ...

fired the coastal defence gun at Spur Battery for the last time. The 9.2-inch gun fired 29 rounds at a towed target that day, and made its mark several times. The other guns of the Upper Battery area also fired for the last time then. In 1981, the gun at Spur Battery on the Upper Rock Nature Reserve was dismantled and transported to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, England for preservation. The operation was entitled Project Vitello, and it was undertaken in two phases. The first phase was referred to as Project Vitello 1 and entailed the dismantling of the gun at Spur Battery and its transfer to the Gibraltar dockyard. This was performed in early 1981. The second phase, Project Vitello 2, started in August 1981, when the 9.2-inch gun arrived in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. The transfer to Duxford was accomplished in eleven loads. The construction necessary at the museum began in September 1981 and was completed in early 1982. The

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

were responsible for completing both phases of Project Vitello. The gun was replaced with

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

systems. Following removal of its 9.2-inch gun, Spur Battery sustained vandalism. The magazine and other chambers of the lower level have been emptied of equipment or sealed off. Not only the gun was removed, but also the gun mount enclosure. Subsequently, the cartridge storage areas are now exposed and have undergone corrosion.

Gallery

File:Spur Battery plaque, Gibraltar.JPG, Plaque at Spur Battery indicates date of 1903 File:Spur Battery, Gibraltar 32.JPG, Buildings at entrance to Spur Battery File:Gun Mount supports at Spur Battery.jpg, Former site of gun, with shell trolley tracks File:Storage Facilities at Spur Battery.jpg, Storage Facilities at Spur Battery File:Spur Battery cartridge storage.png, Spur Battery cartridge storage areas File:Spur Battery, Upper Rock, Gibraltar.jpg, Inside the doors lead off File:Spur Battery upper level.png, Spur Battery upper level, evidence of electrical

References

External links

Google map of Spur Battery

Maps of gun batteries in Gibraltar, including photos of gun from Spur Battery, transferred to Imperial War Museum

{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Collection of the Imperial War Museum Batteries in Gibraltar Coastal artillery