# Fort Skansin - The Guns.



## Seahorse (Sep 5, 2012)

I've been wanting to visit the Faroes for years, and although I didn't have time to check out what little remains of the British occupation, I did at least get a chance to pop up to Fort Skansin beside Tórshavn harbour.

A brief history of the fort can be condensed to say,


> Fort Skansin was was built in 1580 by Magnus Heinason to protect against pirate raids of the town, after he himself was nearly caught up in one such raid. The fort was expanded considerably in 1780 and went through a series of rebuilds for many years afterwards. During the Second World War the fort served Britain as a military base. Two guns date from the British occupation.


 (Plagiarised from Wiki) 

The fort itself isn't much to look at, so I'll dispense with pics of what's left. Suffice to say, a squint on Google Maps shows it to be somewhat star shaped, and reminiscent of Napoleonic forts. Certainly you get a better idea of the place from satellite imagery than you do from the ground. Anyway, the guns were what I wanted to see. So...

The guns themselves (I believe there were originally 4) were removed from HMS Furious during a refit in 1939, and are Breech Loading 5.5 inch Mk I's, of which a total of 81 were made, having originally been developed by Coventry Ordnance Works in 1913 for 2 ships of the Greek Navy. An example is on display at the Imperial War Museum, and is the gun manned by Boy Seaman First Class Jack Cornwell, VC. He was posthumously awarded the medal for his action on HMS Chester during the Battle of Jutland in May 1916....







Muzzle view




(Both pics Wikimedia Commons)

I understand that the only 2 other extant examples of this gun are on Ascension Island.

I got a bit snap happy, so please excuse what may seem like excessive pictorial content for just a couple of lumps of abandoned rusty aul' metal. 









































(Apologies for the graininess, but it was getting dark, and I'd no tripod.)


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## flyboys90 (Sep 5, 2012)

Superb report,amazing guns.


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## paymaster (Sep 5, 2012)

Good photos.
Is it too much for the owners/guardians to give the guns an occasional wipe down with old engine oil?


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## Jet48 (Sep 5, 2012)

Like the photos and thanks for the history to. Must have took a fair bit of heaving to get them there.


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## shane.c (Sep 5, 2012)

Great photos,


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## Seahorse (Sep 6, 2012)

paymaster said:


> Good photos.
> Is it too much for the owners/guardians to give the guns an occasional wipe down with old engine oil?



A wee bit late for that I think. Decaying gracefully. And slowly.


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## Winch It In (Sep 8, 2012)

Fab set of photo's Seahorse.


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