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Plate 006 · Naval Gun · Industrial

Armstrong 100-ton Gun

A Victorian rifled muzzle-loader of monstrous proportions, defending Mediterranean fortresses.

Armstrong 100-ton Gun — Photograph by Frank Vincentz
Photograph by Frank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0View on Wikimedia Commons →

Historical Record

Provenance & Service

Designed by Sir William Armstrong and built at Elswick from 1877, the 100-ton gun armed the Italian ironclads Duilio and Dandolo, and coastal forts at Gibraltar and Malta. Its 450 mm rifled bore could send a 908 kg shell over six kilometers. Two surviving examples — Napier of Magdala Battery (Gibraltar) and Rinella Battery (Malta) — remain in their original mountings.