Murcia is perhaps the Spanish regions from where I have fewer postcards. Vanesa went there on holidays and sent me this card.
Despite the name and the appearance, this structure is not a castle, it is a battery.
Castillitos Battery, locally known as Batería del Castillitos, lies on the ridge of a cape above the sea, west of the city of Cartagena in the province of Murcia in Spain.
WW I had resulted in huge technological advances, which rendered the defenses of Cartagena obsolete. Cartagena then already was the headquarters and main military port of the Spanish Navy. So in 1926 a Defense Plan called for the construction of a new defense system, compromising the building of tens of new fortifications around Cartagena, giving it full protection against attacks from sea and air.
Fotografia: Miguel A. Gomez
Cabo Tiñoso, a cape some 25 kilometers from Cartagena, was amongst the sites chosen to be used. On the ridge of this cape were built 3 batteries; Atalayón, Castillitos and Jorel. Castillitos Battery was built between 1933 and 1936. It was an anti shipping battery armed with two massive Vickers 381 mm 45 caliber anti shipping guns. They had a reach of about 35 kilometers.
The battery was deliberately built into the top of the ridge to render it invisible from the sea. For the buildings of this battery the builders used a style of eclectic modernism, decorating them with crenellations and towers like a medieval castle.
At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 Castillitos Battery was almost operational, only lacking its fire-control system. In 1937 it fired one shot against a Nationalist squadron, and the knowledge of the havoc the guns could wreak was enough of a deterrent to ensure that they were not required to take part in further combat. With the passing of time the guns became obsolete and the battery was decomissioned in 1994. It was subsequently dismantled and abandoned. The two Vickers guns remained. In 2010/2011 it was somewhat restored. It is still owned by the Ministry of Defense. - in: http://www.castles.nl/castillitos-battery
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