Fort Rodd Hill

 (1894-1956) - A Canadian Coastal Fort first established in 1894 as a part of the "Victoria-Esquimalt Fortress". Located in present day Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Named after Admiral John Rashleigh Rodd. Deactivated in 1956.

Endicott Period
Three reinforced concrete gun batteries were constructed on Fort Rod Hill between 1895 and 1900. The Fort Rodd Hill Upper Battery had a single 6" disappearing gun while the Fort Rodd Hill Lower Battery mounted two 6" disappearing guns, these batteries were designed to engage larger enemy ships at a distance. Battery Belmont mounted two rapid fire barbette 12-pounder guns that were designed to counter small, fast motor torpedo boats that might attempt to enter the harbor.

World War II (1939-1945)
At the beginning of Canadian involvement in World War II all of the gun batteries at Fort Rodd Hill were obsolete and a plan to upgrade the defenses was in place. The upgrade plan was not complete when war was declared and a shortage of the required armament throughout the British Commonwealth forced the implementation of a scaled back interim plan. The original plan had been developed by Major B.D.C. Treatt, Royal Artillery, for defenses along the British Columbia coast. For Fort Rodd Hill, the plan upgraded the only operational guns at the fort, two 12 pounder QF guns in Belmont Battery, to a more modern twin 6 pounder QF installation. The new twin 6 pounder was not in place until 1944.

Fortress Plotting Room
In the early years of World War II (1940-1941) a Fortress Plotting Room was built into an outer wall of the Lower Battery. This facility was built to provide target information to the long range guns of the Mary Hill Battery and Albert Head Battery. The plotting room had its own switchboard to take in target data from the observation posts and pass azmuth and range data to the guns. The computations were done using a Fortress Plotting Machine that weighed a half ton. The facility was bomb proof and gas proof.

The plotting machine was obsoleted by the introduction of radar into the harbor defense and the room became an anti-aircraft operations room in 1951 until it was closed down in 1954.

Searchlight Systems
Searchlights were first installed at Fort Rodd Hill about 1902 and were meant to light up targets at night. There were two lights installed, No. 1 was on the west side of the point and No. 2 was located on the east side near the lighthouse. The No. 1 light was a narrow beam with a range of about 5000 yards while the No. 2 light was a wide beam with a range of about 2000 yards. The searchlight system was updated during World War II with modern 60" searchlights. By the end of the war 17 searchlight positions ringed the harbor. Two of the Fort Rodd Hill searchlight shelters still exist, one disguised as a fisherman's hut.

Current Status
Must See! Now a part of Fort Rodd Hill, Parks Canada park. Period guns and carriages in place. Restored and interpreted gun batteries.

Sources:

Links:
 * North American Forts - Fort Rodd Hill
 * Wikipedia - Fort Rodd Hill
 * Parks Canada - Fort Rodd Hill