page_title: Inchkeith
section_title: 19th century and World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Inchkeith / History / 19th century and World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: British battleship HMS BRITANNIA.
context_page_description: Inchkeith is an island in the Firth of Forth, Scotland, administratively part of the Fife council area.
  Inchkeith has had a colourful history as a result of its proximity to Edinburgh and strategic location for use as home for Inchkeith Lighthouse and for military purposes defending the Firth of Forth from attack from shipping, and more recently protecting the upstream Forth Bridge and Rosyth Dockyard. Inchkeith has, by some accounts, been inhabited for almost 1,800 years.
context_section_description: In 1803, construction was begun of Inchkeith Lighthouse, designed and built by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson. The lighthouse, standing 67 metres high, was first operational by 1804, and is now listed as a building of architectural and historic significance.
  Inchkeith, unlike some of the other islands, was not fortified in the Napoleonic Wars but, with Kinghorn, was the site of the first modern defences, manned from 1881 until 1956. In 1878, the Royal Engineers built batteries on the three corners of the island, designed as separate fortresses.
  Construction upon the island's "South Fort" began in spring of 1878, being completed in 1880. Construction on the West and East forts began in summer of 1878, being completed in 1880 and 1881 respectively. These forts were armed with four 10" rifled muzzle loader guns, with two in the South Fort and one each in the east and west. In 1891, the East and West guns were replaced with two 6" BL (breech loading) disappearing guns. A 9.2" Mk I gun, also on a disappearing mounting, was installed in 1893, in the southern part of the island.
  A controlled minefield was controlled from Inchkeith, and the 'test room' for the Submarine Miners was created in an artificial cave, closed off by a granite wall, on the north side of the island. This was later used as a Small Arms Ammunition store.
  In 1899, Inchkeith had a Compressed Air Foghorn installed, providing two 3.5 second blasts every 90 seconds during fog. This would remain in place until replaced after the second world war.
  From the 1890s until the early 1905, the fort at Inchkeith underwent a sequence of gun improvements and replacements. In 1893-95 two 4.7" MK1 quick-firing guns were installed. (These had been removed from Fort Paull on the north bank of the Humber (which was disarmed, being deemed to be too close to Hull)). In 1898 the two 10" rifled muzzle loaders in the south fort were dismounted, to be replaced by two 6" Mk VII guns. The two 4.7" guns were replaced by 9.2" BL Mk X guns. By 1905 the armament of the island comprised: 1 x 9.2" Mk I gun on a disappearing mounting; 2 x 9.2" Mk X guns on Central Pedestal mountings; 2 x 6-inch Mk VII guns at the north fort (replacing a single Mk VI 6" on a disappearing mounting); 2 x 6" Mk VII guns in the southern fort. 1906-7 all the 6" guns were removed, leaving only three 9.2" guns in place. By 1911 the shore was being covered in Barbed Wire and by the end of the First World War a series of pillboxes had been built on the beaches round the island. By the end of the First World War the island was armed with three 9.2" Mk X guns and six 6" Mk VII guns.
  During World War I, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Britannia, at the time a part of the 3rd Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet, ran aground at Inchkeith on 26 January 1915, suffering considerable bottom damage. She was refloated after 36 hours and was repaired and refitted at Devonport Dockyard.
caption: HMS Britannia
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