This is my first proper post so sorry if it’s not to good.
Had a good old explore today from st Margret deep shelter to ROC station near fan bay, but on the Google map I saw something interesting.
This is copied from national trust.
September 1941, construction began at Wanstone Farm, between St Margaret’s and Dover, for two, 15-inch guns. These would use spare barrels originally designed for the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, that were produced from 1914 until 1947. Although of an older design, these guns were faster to load and aim, and the visual fall of shot calibration was replaced by radar.
With barrels weighing over 100 tons (102 tonnes), the mounting around 70 tons (71 tonnes), and set in approximately 2800 tons (2850 tonnes) of reinforced concrete set deep into the chalk, these guns were the largest, breech-loaded, longest-range weapons to have ever been installed on the British mainland. Not only could these guns be used against shipping – they were capable of attacking targets on the French coast and for several miles inland, though this was not in the original plan.
Throughout the cold winter of 1941/2, concrete (mixed on site in large batching plants) was laid, the heavily protected magazines constructed, and other infrastructure put in place. Commissioning of the first gun, dubbed ‘Jane’ after 'Just Jane', the raunchy Norman Pett cartoon character that appeared in the Daily Mirror from 1932 to 1959, took place on 20 April 1942. Approximately 400 metres away, work had already started on the sister gun, named ‘Clem’ after Clement Atlee, the deputy Prime Minister. Commissioning of Clem took place on 22nd May 1942.
Had a good old explore today from st Margret deep shelter to ROC station near fan bay, but on the Google map I saw something interesting.
This is copied from national trust.
September 1941, construction began at Wanstone Farm, between St Margaret’s and Dover, for two, 15-inch guns. These would use spare barrels originally designed for the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, that were produced from 1914 until 1947. Although of an older design, these guns were faster to load and aim, and the visual fall of shot calibration was replaced by radar.
With barrels weighing over 100 tons (102 tonnes), the mounting around 70 tons (71 tonnes), and set in approximately 2800 tons (2850 tonnes) of reinforced concrete set deep into the chalk, these guns were the largest, breech-loaded, longest-range weapons to have ever been installed on the British mainland. Not only could these guns be used against shipping – they were capable of attacking targets on the French coast and for several miles inland, though this was not in the original plan.
Throughout the cold winter of 1941/2, concrete (mixed on site in large batching plants) was laid, the heavily protected magazines constructed, and other infrastructure put in place. Commissioning of the first gun, dubbed ‘Jane’ after 'Just Jane', the raunchy Norman Pett cartoon character that appeared in the Daily Mirror from 1932 to 1959, took place on 20 April 1942. Approximately 400 metres away, work had already started on the sister gun, named ‘Clem’ after Clement Atlee, the deputy Prime Minister. Commissioning of Clem took place on 22nd May 1942.
