Phi Suea Samut Fort

Coast Defense Fortress built by King Rama V. This island fortress served as a last line of defense for Bangkok in the event an enemy naval force got past Chulachomklao / Pak Nam Fortress. Phi Suea Samut Fort was armed with three Armstrong "disappearing" guns, which have been restored. Fort Phi Suea Samut is a naval installation on an island in the Chao Phraya River. The fort is at the southern tip of the island. Like Fort Phra Chulachomklao, Fort Phi Suea Samut has underground gun pits linked by a network of tunnels. The two newest forts Forts Phra Chulachomklao and Phi Suea Samut were armed with ten Armstrong BL 6-inch 30 caliber guns for coast defense designed by Elswick Ordnance Company in the United Kingdom and obtained by King Rama V at great expense. The type installed in the two Pak Nam forts had a rifled barrel and was rear-loaded. The 152.4 mm caliber gun had a maximum range of 7300 m and a crew of 10 men. The guns were installed as disappearing guns or disappearing carriages. The gun carriage enabled the gun to rotate backwards and down into a pit protected by a parapet after it was fired. This retraction lowered the gun from view by the enemy while it was being reloaded. It also made reloading easier, since it lowered the breech to a level just above the loading platform, and shells could be rolled right up to the open breech for loading and ramming. The disadvantage of the guns in the two forts was their maximum elevation of 20 degrees which had a drastic limit on its maximum range of 7.3 Kilometers. Lowering of the gun for reloading also slowed down the rate of fire, crucial at a time when fighting ships were increasing in speed. This limitation could have had a telling effect in the impending encounter. Three months after these new guns were installed; they would fire their first shots during the Pak Nam incident.

Ayutthaya Historical Research