Date: 1956                                          

Visible Markings:

Material:  Steel                                            

Mounting: Mk 5/1 AA Mounting

Remarks: Princess Anne’s Battery contains four of the seven dual-purpose 5.25-Inch HAA Mk 5 and Mk 1b guns installed in Gibraltar between 1953 and 1956. The other three all Mk 1B guns had previously been installed in West Battery in 1953.

The 5.25-Inch HAA guns had first been sought for the dual anti-aircraft/coast defence role for the defence of Gibraltar in early 1942 but none could be spared at the time.

Fitted with the standard army Machine Fuze Setter No. 10 these guns had a rate of fire of 10 rds/min and a maximum height of 50,000 ft, firing an 80 lb projectile with an effective height of 43,000 ft using a No. 10 Predictor. The AA version as used in Princess Anne’s Battery was in an enclosed shield but this was only of mild steel.

However, at West Battery the Mk 1B armoured turret for AA/Coastal Defence use was installed.

When the last RA Regiment, 54 AA Regiment, left the Rock in 1958, these and other guns were left as memorials to the part played by the Royal Artillery in the defence of Gibraltar. Princess Anne’s Battery remained manned by the Gibraltar Regiment (now Royal Gibraltar Regiment) well into the early 1980’s, after which it was decommissioned.

Unfortunately, the 5.25-inch guns at West Battery were removed and sold as scrap by the early 1960’s. Today, the surviving 5.25-inch guns at Princess Anne’s Battery is considered as the best-preserved, and only intact, 5.25 inch anti-aircraft battery of this type in the World.

In recent times, two restoration projects undertaken as part of the annual exercise Marble Tor has led to the refurbishment of the battery. The restoration of gun No. 3 at Princess Anne's Battery was performed in two phases, in July 2006 and September 2007. The 2006 refurbishment was undertaken by members of the 106 (Yeomanry) Regiment of the Royal Artillery during exercise Marble Tor 5. The 2007 restoration was performed by the 101 Battalion of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Volunteers) during exercise Marble Tor 6.

5.25-Inch HAA Mk 5 Princess Anne's Battery.