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The 100-ton gun (also known as the Armstrong 100-ton gun) [6] was a british coastal defense gun and is the world's largest black powder cannon. It was a 17.72-inch (450 mm) rifled muzzle-loading (RML) gun made by Elswick Ordnance Company, the armaments division of the British manufacturing company Armstrong Whitworth, owned by William Armstrong.
In 2010 Gibraltar and Malta jointly issued a four-stamp set of stamps featuring the two countries' 100-ton guns. Two stamps show the gun at Napier of Magdala Battery, and two the gun at Fort Rinella. One of each pair is a view from 1882, and the other is a view from 2010.
It was not until March 1883 that the guns arrived at Gibraltar, aboard the SS Stanley, and it took from 12 July to 1 September to move the gun to the battery. The gun was finally mounted on its barbette on 12 September 1883. [2] The battery's design was similar to that of the 100 ton gun batteries on the British-ruled island of Malta.
In 2010 Malta and Gibraltar jointly issued a four-stamp set of stamps featuring the two jurisdictions' 100-ton guns. Two stamps show the gun at Fort Rinella, and two the gun at Napier of Magdala Battery. One of each pair is a view from 1882, and the other is a view from 2010.
The British installed a second pair of 100-ton guns to defend Gibraltar, mounting one each in Victoria Battery (1879) and Napier of Magdala Battery (1883), which did not have Cambridge or Rinella's self-defence capabilities. The gun at Cambridge was eventually scrapped, and today only two 100-ton guns survive, at Rinella and Napier of Magdala.
At Napier of Magdala Battery one of the two 100-ton RML 17.72 inch guns is still in situ and has been restored, along with a 3.7 inch quick-firing anti-aircraft gun. The site is now run by the Gibraltar Tourist Board in conjunction with the Nature Reserve. [83] Some of the 18th and 20th century tunnels can also be visited.
The former Victoria Battery is now the site of the headquarters of Gibraltar's City Fire Brigade. [21] Gibraltar's 100-ton gun is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. The defensive wall and batteries at the east side of Rosia Bay, including a pair of rifled muzzle loading guns, are also listed with the trust. [9]
These include O'Hara's Battery, the 100 ton gun at Napier of Magdala Battery, the Military Heritage Centre at Princess Caroline's Battery and the Parson's Lodge Battery. [6] In the late 1990s the trust arranged for the restoration of Parson's Lodge Battery, which in 1884 had three 10 inches (250 mm) muzzled loading rifled guns. [7]