Fort Rinella

A brief historical outline

Fort Rinelia is a 19th century coastal battery, built by the British at a time when Malta stood threatened by the supremacy of the Italian Navy. Rinella Battery was built at a time when British naval interests in the Mediterranean stood threatened by the ascending superiority of a junior European State that had hardly been in existence for more than a decade.

Italy was then building a new navy made from the most powerful warships afloat whose role was that of restoring national confidence in its navy and to guarantee the national integrity of the new Mediterranean state. But, however legitimate these roles may have been for the Italians, Britain could not for one moment, allow this to happen unnoticed. For their vital route to India was now at stake, this if threatened could disrupt the economic growth and political stability of the greatest of empires ~ the British Empire.

Malta and Gibraltar, being what they were, important naval stations guarding the Indian route, soon had their defences bolstered as a result of this alarm. Four new batteries for 100-ton guns were built in them in the late 1870s, to guard against the possibilities of bombardment or blockading of their ports by the Italians, who incidentally also had their navy armed with the same type of ordnance.

The new battery took longer to build than it actually remained in forefront use. In practice, it proved to be a seven-day wonder, as the 100-ton gun was soon superseded by newer technology that was coming into service. Nevertheless, the 100-ton gun still heralded a great leap forward in the science of artillery. It also marked the first instance where a land-based gun was worked and served totally by mechanical means.

It is in fact these special technical aspects, rather than the uneventful service life of the battery, which together with the gargantuan size of the 100-ton gun make its history as compelling and unique as it is.

The Gun

The main reason for its building had been that to accommodate in it a single 100 ton gun (which was so huge that no sufficient space could be found for it in any of the other existing forts).

The new gun was designed and built by Sir William G. Armstrong of Newcastle, and was by far the largest rifled muzzle-loading gun ever to be produced. 

It had an overall weight of 152 tons and a barrel about 32ft long. Its calibre was 17.72inch and could fire a 1 ton shell to a distance of about 3 miles, at which range it could pierce no less than 21 inches of ship's armour.

Fort Rinelia was built by the Royal Engineers, using local labour, between 1878 and 1886. It lasted in service until 1906, when all 100 ton guns in British use were abolished.

Salvage and preservation

In 1991, the government of Malta gave Rinella Battery in trust to Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna - National Heritage Foundation, with the aim of restoring it back to its former state and also to turn it into a Live Museum.

Since then, many thousands of hours have been spent by many volunteers in the pursuit of this ambition, the result of which can today be seen and enjoyed by all.

Visitors can ...

• Explore this intriguing building and experience how it may have looked when it was in active use.
• See where the soldiers washed, cooked and slept - even try out a hammock.
• Downstairs pass through the Shifting Lobby and the Loading Chambers and enter the magazines where 1 00 x 1 ton shells and 4501bs black powder cartridges were stored.
• Discover how the monstrous gun traversed, loaded and fired.
• Go down into the caponiers and counter-scarp gallery that defended the surrounding dry ditch.