Fort Siloso: Other Batteries & Defences – Mount Imbiah
The No.5 Cartridge Recess
A Mark 10 9·2-Inch BL Gun somewhere in Singapore.
In 1887, the Local Defence Committee of the Straits Settlements wrote about the organisation of defence for Singapore:
“On the Island of Blakang Mati it would be necessary to construct a field redoubt on the hill designated as “Middle Hill” (Imbiah) for the purpose of resisting or denying a landing of the enemy on the south west coast of that island”.
An infantry redoubt was later constructed on Middle Hill, becoming the first military presence on Mount Imbiah.
In the list of Approved Armaments for Singapore dated August 1908, a new coast battery, Mount Imbiah, is listed as being approved. The armament is to be a single Mark X 9.2-Inch BL Gun on a Mark 5 Barbette
Mounting, a type shown above. The Battery would seem to have become operational in 1912, appearing in the Artillery Chain of Command for that year.
LEFT: Mount Imbiah 1922.
The Battery had a Mark 1 Depression Range Finder and three Position Finders, one of which is shown in the map.
Mount Imbiah assumed the role of Fire Command West, with Fort Siloso being in the Command. The Imbiah Battery remained in service until the 1930s, when the rebuilt Fort Connaught became operational. It was then abandoned.
LEFT & RIGHT: Mount Imbiah, 1950 Aerial Photographs
LEFT:The Entrance to the Battery. Stairs lead up to the Glacis. Ammunition lockers are in the wall.
RIGHT: The Gun Emplacement
Two rings of concrete bolts are in the centre of the emplacement. There are 44 of these bolts which are deeply embedded in the concrete floor .They were used to secure the gun’s pivot mounting.
LEFT: A Mark 10 9.2-Inch Gun at firing practice. This gun is believed to be one of the Mount Serapong 9.2-Inch Battery and would have been of the same type
as the Imbiah Gun.
The Gun and its Barbette Shield are above a steel floor with the pivot below. Shells would be stored below the steel floor and placed around the concrete wall of the emplacement. More shells and propellant cartridges would be in the underground magazine. A crane arm is seen curved over the gun. This would be used to hoist shells from under the steel floor.
The photos following, and on the next page were taken in widely separated years. This shows in the amount of vegetation in some photos.
LEFT: The Front Wall of the Emplacement.
RIGHT: The Right-hand Wall of the Emplacement.
A low shelf runs round the front wall of the Emplacement. Shells would have been stood vertically on this shelf. In front of the shelf is the Accumulator Pit. This held a large battery, which in those days were called ‘accumulators’, which could be used to power the gun in the main power was lost.
The Ammunition Hoist from the underground Magazine is hidden behind the foliage left of centre in the right-hand photograph.
LEFT & RIGHT: The Entrance to the underground areas and the Magazine.
ABOVE: A Room in the Magazine. Note the Lantern Recesses in the walls.
Mount Imbiah on Google Earth