La Mola, Fortaleza de Isabel II - Menorca, Spain - Spanish Heritage on Waymarking.com

The Fortress of Isabel II was built between 1848 and 1875 after a lot of pressure by the British, who were threatening to return to the island in order to use it as a base in their defensive operations against the French. These two powers were disputing naval control of the Mediterranean.

Mediterranean waters had never been peaceful after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, and since then the crossing of British and French shipping routes caused a lot of tension, especially after the establishment of the French in Algiers in 1830.

Before the Fortress was even finished it became out-dated. In the 1860s there was an important evolution in artillery technology. Instead of the old-fashioned muzzle-loading cannons (front loaders), powerful breech loading cannons (rear loaders) were designed, which had rifle boring (a series of helical grooves in the interior of the barrel) which made the projectiles fire with more spin, improving their accuracy.

This meant that the island’s defence system had to be reconsidered. Instead of mounting all the cannon emplacements within the fortress, a second development phase was initiated (1896); a series of coastal batteries were set up away from the walled fortification. These batteries took care of the remote defence of Minorca’s coastline, with their powerful projectiles capable of detaining all types of enemy battleships.

Adapted from fortalesalamola.com

Bien:: La Mola Comunidad Autónoma:: C.A. Islas Baleares Provincia:: Baleares Municipio:: Mahón Categoría:: Monumento Website with information about the BIC:: [Web Link]

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