| The Mirbat Gun |
| |
| The 25pdr artillery gun
whose use played such a key role in the battle at Mirbat
is now located in the Firepower! museum in Woolwich
where it is on display. It was formerly displayed
outside the Rotunda. There are no plans to move it
either temporarily or permanently from the Firepower! museum. |
 |
| The gun had three plaques on it two
of which
are reproduced below |
 |
| |
| |
THIS 25
POUNDER GUN, DONATED TO THE ROYAL ARTILLERY
INSTITUTION BY THE SULTAN OF OMAN, TOOK PART IN
THE
ACTION ON THE 19th JULY 1972 AT MARBAT ON THE
DHOFAR
COAST, 40 MILES TO THE EAST OF SALALAH.
IN THIS ACTION OMAN GOVERNMENT FORCES AND AN
S.A.S. TEAM
DROVE OFF A LARGE FORCE OF DISSIDENTS WHO WERE
BESEIGING THEM
THIS 25 POUNDER MANNED BY THE S.A.S. AND AN
OMANI GUNNER
GAVE DIRECT FIRE SUPPORT
T HAS THE DISTINCTION OF BEING THE LAST GUN OF
ITS
TYPE TO FIRE ROUNDS IN ANGER
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
PRESENTED
TO THE MUSEUM OF ARTILLERY WOOLWICH
BY SULTAN OF OMAN
AUGUST 1978 |
|
|
| 6th September 2009 |
| The Mirbat gun is displayed
immediately on the left as you enter the main hall of
the museum. One plaque that was on the gunshield has
been removed and there is the suggestion that there may
have been a plaque on the left gun trail. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
The left hand side of the gun shield, viewed from the
breech, seems to have taken almost
all of the incoming rounds from the adoo and has been
pierced by them. To my inexpert eye, there does appear to be at least one round
that had a calibre of about 0.5". The adoo were
known to have weapons of
12.7mm and 14.5mm calibre
|
|
The comments above were turned upside down when the
webmaster visited Oman in December 2010 and in the
course of conversation it transpired that only the
barrel - identified by its serial number - was the
actual lump of metal that took part in the battle. Any
comments made about the gunshield therefore are also
probably incorrect and have to be viewed
with caution. The gunshield came from another
gun and was "doctored" on the ranges at Arzat before
being attached to the gun carriage. The breech block
came from
?? and is obviously a spare bit. |
|
Firepower,The Royal Artillery
Museum,Royal Arsenal,WoolwichLondon,SE18 6ST
The Museum is open 10:30 to 17:00 seven days a week
except in term time when it is closed on Monday and
Tuesday. It is well worth a visit even though parking is
still a little difficult.
There are details of the 25pdrs
and the ammunition they used in Oman on the
Cracker Battery
webpage
|
