This is the Vickers BL 9.2in Mk.X with the original Mk.V assembly that became ubiquitous in all the territories of the British Empire until 1956, from Ireland to Australia and even Canada or Hong Kong.This BL 9.2in Mk.X is in permanent exhibition in the I.W.M. Duxford and it is an impressive piece from any angle. The assembly has a total weight of around 157 tonnes and is a copy of its original Spur Battery’s assembly in Gibraltar. The pressure for the initial shot was provided by a hand pump and an accumulator activated by relays of men that filled a tank with hydraulic fluid. This fluid lifted the weight and storing energy for the first two or three shots. Then, the necessary pressure was generated by the gun’s recoil after each shot.This weapon could fire a 171kgs projectile almost 27km away and protected the major ports and the Straits, such as Dover, Gibraltar or Bermuda.A total of 284 BL 9.2in Mk.X were manufactured, all mounted on barbettes, except one that was operated on an unusual disappearing mount in Cape Town, South Africa, (not this image).
