Mount Siloso 7 Inch RML Gun
The Mount Siloso 7 Inch RML Gun emplacement was one of the three original emplacements constructed at Fort Siloso. This emplacement faces to the south-east and is on the highest part of Mount Siloso. Just beyond the gun emplacement the ground slopes away steeply thus giving the gunners at this emplacement a good view and field of fire. This replica 7 Inch Rifled Muzzle Loading Gun is mounted as a real one would have been in the 1880s, on a Garrison Sliding Carriage.
RIGHT: three views of the Mount Siloso 7 Inch RML Gun Emplacement.
At the top are the the ammunition storage facilities to the left of the Gun Emplacement.
In the middle is a replica 7 Inch RML Gun run out for firing. The left-hand ammunition storage is beyond the emplacement. The replica is equipped with sound effects and a commentary which describes the loading and firing the gun.
At the bottom is the ammunition storage facility at the right of the emplacement. Shells will have been kept in one of the stores and propellant charges in the other.
The ammunition storage facilities would have been vulnerable to incoming fire from the south-west.
The 7 Inch RML guns at Fort Siloso were manufactured in England in 1886. This type of gun was originally used as a naval gun from 1875, and some time later was modified for service on land. They acquired their nickname “bottle gun” from their distinctive shape which resembled soda pop bottles of the period.
RIGHT: The view from the top of the 7 Inch Emplacement.
The small islands on the right of the photograph are man made, and were build as part of the development of the island for the tourism and leisure industry. The building at the bottom is the Shangri-La Rasa Hotel. This is built on reclaimed land.
Video Clips
This 1993 video shows the 7 Inch RML Emplacement and right-hand storage rooms before they were restored. Damage caused by a Japanese bomb in February 1942 is still visible at the edge of the concrete base of the emplacement and the concrete floor of the emplacement is cracked. Leaflets about the Fort available at the time of the picture call it ‘the bomb crater’.
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Video length = 16 seconds.