Embedded Files
Bore: 6-inch
Range: 8,000 yards
In service: 1885-1944
Number in Service: 13
Purchased in response to the 1885 war scare, the six inch disappearing gun was standard armament in the British Empire. Of the 13 ordered, four were emplaced in Auckland, four in Wellington, two in Lyttelton and three in Dunedin. The guns were abandoned in 1925, but two were reactivated for World War Two (one at Ripapa Island and one at Taiaroa Head).
Two guns are presently intact, one at Ripapa Island and one fully restored at Taiaroa Head. Pieces of a further four exist (from Fort Takapuna, Fort Kelburne and Ripapa Island), there are rumours of others having been buried on site at Fort Bastion and Fort Ballance.
Click the images to enlarge.
Description: Fort Bastion, 1940, showing disappearing gun
Reference: Auckland War Memorial Museum: Bastion Point - 6" disappearing gun, Unknown, photographer, PH-NEG-M423 (35-36)-C22606 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/record/am_library-photography-54140)
Copyright status: No known copyright
Description: Fort Bastion, 1940, showing gun pit with partially dismounted gun
Reference: Auckland War Memorial Museum: Bastion Point - gun emplacement, Unknown, photographer, PH-NEG-M423 (37-38)-C22609 (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/record/am_library-photography-54141)
Copyright status: No known copyright
Description: Fort Bastion, 1940, showing gun pit without barrel
Reference: Auckland War Memorial Museum: Bastion Point - gun emplacement, Unknown, photographer, PH-RES-4294, Investigate (https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/record/am_library-photography-65121)
Copyright status: No known copyright
Description: View of Ocean Beach with the Battery in the middle of the photo, circa 1906. One of the guns is in a firing position
Reference: Ocean Beach, Dunedin, circa 1906, Dunedin, by Muir & Moodie, maker unknown. Te Papa (C.012429)
Copyright status: No known copyright
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