The Needles Battery

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The Needles Battery was a military Battery built on the cliff top above the stacks in 1861–63 to guard the West end of the Solent. Its field of fire was from approximately West South West clockwise to Northeast^[1], and it was designed to defend against enemy ships.

1 Old Battery
2 New Battery
- 2.1 Gallery
3 See also
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Old Battery

It was initially equipped with six 7" Armstrong Rifled Breech Loaders. These were replaced by four 7" and two 9" Rifled Muzzle Loaders in 1872, and six 9" Rifled Muzzle Loaders in 1893. The 9" guns took a team of 9 men to load and fire. These guns fired projectiles weighing 256 lbs.^[2] The 9" guns remained in place until 1903 when they were discarded by throwing them over the side of the cliff. These were later recovered and two are on display presently at the Old Battery.^[3]

A deep ditch with a retractable bridge was dug into the chalk to protect the facility from ground attack from the island side. In 1885 a tunnel was dug towards the cliff face from the parade grounds. An elevator down to the beach was completed in 1887. Early searchlight experiments were conducted at the site^[4] between 1889 and 1892.^[3] The present observation post housing a searchlight was built in 1899.^[5]

[edit] New Battery

Unfortunately, there were subsidence problems and concerns that the concussion from firing the guns was causing the cliffs to crumble. This was solved by building the New Battery higher up the cliff, at a height of 120 meters above sea level. The New Battery was completed in 1895.

Three 9.2" breech-loading guns were installed at the New Battery. A crew of 11 was required to fire one of these guns. Each shell weighed 380 lbs.^[6] The New Battery guns remained in place until 1954, when they were scrapped.^[6]

The Old and New Batteries were manned during the World Wars. German U boats sunk 2 ships off The Needles during World War I.^[7] During World War I early trials of anti-aircraft guns were conducted at this facility.^[3]

In World War II, anti-aircraft guns were used to defend the Isle of Wight against air attacks. Repeated German air attacks led to improvements in the fortifications at the site. German torpedo boats attempting night landings were fired on by the guns at the Batteries. The neighboring cliffs were used to train troops for the D-Day landing. After the war, the batteries were deactivated.^[7]