9 Inch RIFLED MUZZLE LOADING (RML) GUN
MIDDLE NORTH BATTERY SIMON’S TOWN
The gun was designed in 1865 as a broadside gun for ironclad ships and harbour seafront defence, with a total of 190 manufactured. It has 6 rifling grooves, the only gun in service with this particular number. It was last fired on 27 April 1903, struck off charge 19 September 1906 until firings commenced again on 16 March 2011.
This gun was first mounted in Halifax Nova Scotia until 1878, then at Bermuda until 1881 and then at Sheerness England until 1885. It was mounted at Middle North Battery Simon’s Town in 1896 where it still exists.
The gun, slide, carriage, and mounting were restored in the Gun Shop in the S.A. Naval Dockyard during 1983/84. Unfortunately, since then, this historic artifact has been heavily vandalised and stripped of several items. Further and quite significant, the gun was declared a National Monument ito Government Notice No 472 of 17 March 1989.
Three other 7 inch RML’s can be found at Fort Wynyard (next to the Cape Town Stadium), Lion Battery (Signal Hill) where the Noon Guns are hiding and at the Naval establishment of Silvermine, near Westlake).
Length: 12 feet 3 inches (3 m 740 mm) nominal length to smallest dominates of cascable. Total length to the end of the cascable is 13 feet (3 m 960 mm)
Ammunition: Consisted of Common shell, Palliser shell, and Boxer shrapnel (the aforementioned studded or studless) as well as Palliser shot and Case shot. (weight of projectiles averaged between 100 and 360 lbs)
Range: 3680 yards (3365 m) at 14 degrees or 5800 yards (5303 m) at 12 degrees.
Penetration: 9 inch (230 mm) Wrought Iron Armour Plate at 2000 yards (1828 m)
FIRING SCHEDULE
21 February – 12h00 (Armed forces Day)
27 April – 12h00 (Freedom Day)
16 June – 12h00 (Youth Day)
24 September – 12h00 (Heritage Day)
11 November – 11h00 (Armistice Day)
16 December – 12h00 (Day of Reconciliation)
