7-inch Mk-IV RML
Bore: 7-inch (RML)
Range: 5,500
In service: 1885-1904 (some remained on site after this)
Number in Service: 11
Imported in 1878, these guns were purchased following a war scare. When the fuss had died down, the guns were put in storage rather then being emplaced. With a new war scare in 1885, they were quickly put into place. Two were allocated to Auckland, three to Dunedin, three to Lyttelton and three to Wellington. They were declared obsolete in 1904, but several remained in their gun pits into the 1930s. An example can be seen at Albert Park in Auckland, two more intact examples are on private land near Oamaru, and gun barrels can be found at Newmarket in Auckland and TS Cornwall at Redcliffs, Christchurch.
Click the images to enlarge.
Description: This is the right hand 7" RML emplacement at Fort Ballance, shortly after construction, circa 1886
Reference: Gun emplacement at Fort Ballance, Wellington. Williams, Edgar Richard, 1891-1983: Negatives, lantern slides, stereographs, colour transparencies, monochrome prints, photographic ephemera. Ref: 1/2-140344-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22917815
Copyright status: No known copyright
Description: Gun emplacement finished, 1880s
Reference: Hocken Library http://hockensnapshop.ac.nz/nodes/view/8579
Copyright status: No known copyright