Cortina Battery

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1898

This battery was installed in 1898 on the same wall that separated the nearby castles of Paso Alto and San Miguel fort. Its objective was to reinforce this northern line of the Santa Cruz coastline in the face of the uncertain threat of an American attack during the Cuban war situation.

The battery had a rectangular layout and its construction, made of rubble masonry, occupied 1,344 square metres. It had an emplacement for 6 howitzers of 26 centimetres.

In 1921, two barracks intended as stables for the engineer troops' livestock were built within this military enclosure, to which an annex pavilion with a washroom, toilets and a watering trough for the animals was added.

These reforms were short-lived in active use, as in January 1924 the battery was declared inadequate for defensive needs. It was then handed over to the Ministry of Development, later passing to the Treasury. In 1940 the Royal Nautical Club (Real Club Náutico) occupied the grounds to use them for its own facilities.

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