May be visited at Fort Rinella in Malta. Managed by the Malta Heritage Trust, Fort Rinella has one of the two remaining 100 ton Armstrong muzzle loading guns that defended the approach to Malta. With a bore of 17.2 inches, it fired a 907 kg shell an impressive 6,400 metres that could penetrate the thickest armor of its day. Fort Rinella had two loading turrets which gave it a rate of fire of one shot every three minutes. This was much faster than the four shots per minute achieveable by the Italian battleships armed with the same gun (they only had one loading turret per tube) and with two guns per turret, were slower and thought by the British to be inferior. Fired four times a year so as to give its crew practice, the barrel had a service life of about 120 rounds after which it would require relining at the factory. Declared obsolete in 1906, it was too large to move and was stripped of most of its gear. Whereas the Army ordered all old guns to be disposed of, that said order didn't apply to the Royal Navy was instrumental in the gun's survival. Fort Rinella wasn't used as a fort during WW II but did serve as a useful observation post and as a shelter for local farmers during air raids (and there was no shortage of the latter).
The Malta Heritage Trust puts on quite a show there and you can fire the world's surviving 8" Vickers gun for 5 Maltese lira/dollars ($15 U.S.). Reenactors dressed as period soldiers will demonstrate small arms defense of the fort, bayonet drill and musketry drill. You can even dine on biscuits and hardtack (the common soldier's fare) - which I passed on.
Fort Rinella
The other surviving Armstrong is at Gibraltar.
The Malta Heritage Trust puts on quite a show there and you can fire the world's surviving 8" Vickers gun for 5 Maltese lira/dollars ($15 U.S.). Reenactors dressed as period soldiers will demonstrate small arms defense of the fort, bayonet drill and musketry drill. You can even dine on biscuits and hardtack (the common soldier's fare) - which I passed on.
Fort Rinella
The other surviving Armstrong is at Gibraltar.
