{"id":29734,"date":"2026-06-14T15:23:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T20:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/dover-turret-1886\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T15:23:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T20:23:57","slug":"dover-turret-1886","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/dover-turret-1886\/","title":{"rendered":"Dover Turret 1886"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mejs-video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"autoplay\" width=\"580\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7klpSGdVhcg?controls=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Two 16-inch rifled muzzle loaded guns were installed in an armoured turret on the Admiralty pier of Dover Harbour in 1886.  Great Britain had become alarmed at the militancy of some European powers in the late 1870\u2019s and feared invasion.  In those times, a successful invasion could only be made by capturing a port so that troops, armaments, artillery and supplies could be swiftly landed.  Dover harbour, on the south coast of England was a primary target, so the fort was built to repel an attacking maritime force.  The largest guns available at the time were the 80 ton 16-inch RML that were capable of defeating 20 inch armour plate at 1,000 yards.  4 of these 16-inch guns were also installed in HMS Inflexible, 1881.<\/p>\n<p>The guns were installed in an armoured turret which, with the guns and armour plate, weighed 895 tons.  Steam engines were used to rotate the turret, load and manage the guns. A reload time of five minutes has been quoted.  The mechanics of the installation illustrated, perhaps, the peak of Victorian engineering design.  However due to the rapid development of metallurgy, smokeless powder and gun design, they were effectively obsolete by the 1900\u2019s.  The guns were never fired in anger, and rarely, if ever, fired for practice.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the turret still exists, but all that remains of the weapons are the two massive 80-ton guns.  All the other equipment has long ago gone for scrap\/recycling.  The lower levels are flooded and access prohibited for health and safety reasons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/buymeacoffee.com\/vbbsmyt\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/buymeacoffee.com\/vbbsmyt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Dover turrets are a fascinating Victorian-era engineering masterpiece.  With the aid of original documentation and drawings, I have tried to show in this animation how they worked.  Much has been left out as the documentation was incomplete, for example, there are no drawings of the actual steam engines fitted, or their layout, so I have shown examples of contemporary engines from other original sources.  The complex interlocks for managing the massive guns on their carriages have been left out, as I have no idea how they worked, and life is just too short.  The electric lighting has been left out, as has the air ventilation system necessary, especially down to the magazine.<\/p>\n<p>It is possible that I could create a follow-up animation covering the detail of how the gun captain controlled the operation using electric signals, and voice pipes, but this is not currently a high priority.<\/p>\n<p>If you liked this animation, please buy me a coffee &#8211; I would appreciate the feedback<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/buymeacoffee.com\/vbbsmyt\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/buymeacoffee.com\/vbbsmyt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>or sponsor me through Patreon:  www.patreon.com\/vbbsmyt <\/p>\n<p>References:<\/p>\n<p>Handbook for the 16-Inch Rifled Muzzle-Loading gun of 80 Tons, Land Service, 1891<br \/>(the primary source, includes drawing of the mechanics, and instructions for operating)<\/p>\n<p>Dover Defences &#8211; Admiralty Pier Fort, Plans of the Fort, updated to 1896.  WO 78\/5106<\/p>\n<p>The Dover Turret &#8211; Admiralty Pier Fort &#8211; David Burridge, 1987.  ISBN 0-948305-02-9<br \/>(an essential read, descrbing how the Dover turret was conceived, assembled, tested and gently decayed in later years)<\/p>\n<p>Photos copyright of Graham Whittington<\/p>\n<p>Music:<br \/>Aakash Gandi:<br \/>   A Tale of vengeance<br \/>   Jungle<br \/>   Forest of Fear<br \/>   Chariots of War2<\/p>\n<p>My thanks for the assistance from<br \/>Royal Artillery Museum<br \/>Duncan Williams, and Palmerston Forts Society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two 16-inch rifled muzzle loaded guns were installed in an armoured turret on the Admiralty pier of Dover Harbour in 1886. Great Britain had become alarmed at the militancy of some European powers in the late 1870\u2019s and feared invasion. In those times, a successful invasion could only be made by capturing a port so&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/dover-turret-1886\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dover Turret 1886<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":29735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surplused.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}