Whilst on holiday in Menorca, we visited “La Mola” – a huge fort on a small island defending the main port/city. It is now a tourist attraction, but I’m including it here as it may be of interest.
The Fortress of Isabel II was built between 1848 and 1875 after a lot of pressure by the British, who were threatening to return to the island in order to use it as a base in their defensive operations against the French. These two powers were disputing naval control of the Mediterranean.
Before the Fortress was even finished it became out-dated. In the 1860s there was an important evolution in artillery technology. Instead of the old-fashioned muzzle-loading cannons (front loaders), powerful breech loading cannons (rear loaders) were designed, which had rifle boring (a series of helical grooves in the interior of the barrel) which made the projectiles fire with more spin, improving their accuracy.
This meant that the island’s defence system had to be reconsidered. Instead of mounting all the cannon emplacements within the fortress, a second development phase was initiated (1896); a series of coastal batteries were set up away from the walled fortification. These batteries took care of the remote defence of Minorca’s coastline, with their powerful projectiles capable of detaining all types of enemy battleships.
More info can be found on the La Mola website.
The scale of La Mola is beyond comprehension. It fills an island which is about a miles wide (a small van drives around to take you to some of the more remote parts, to avoid walking in the blistering heat!)
Fronts 9-10
More info about the Fronts and underground areas can be found here and here.
Hornworks
More info about the Hornworks can be found here
Prison
The prison is the most derelict part of the island, but sadly inaccessible to people. More details here.
15inch (381mm) Vickers Battery
This gun is massive – inside the guidebook there is a photo of a man inside the cannon! More details can be found here.
Twitter
RSS feed