Los Moriscos Battery

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1940

World War II represented a period of imminent danger for the Canary Islands, as the belligerents saw the Archipelago as an important base for their naval manoeuvres in the Atlantic. In response to this, defences were reinforced along the coasts of the Islands. 

In June 1940, two new coastal batteries began to be armed on the Santa Cruz coastline: one to the north, in San Andrés; and another to the south, the Los Moriscos battery, located near Hoya Fría, between where the Autopista del Sur and the sea run today. 

The Los Moriscos military defence complex, also known as the Seventh Coastal Battery, was spread over a large uneven terrain crossed by a small ravine. It came to include offices, a canteen, guardhouse, observation posts, officers' quarters, casemates, sports courts and, most interestingly, volcanic stone tunnels for access to the three Vickers 152.4/50 guns it initially had, pieces that were replaced in 1965 by others from the cruiser Almirante Cervera, a ship that had been withdrawn from service around that time. 

The Los Moriscos battery, after more than fifty years of activity, ceased operation in 1993. Today, only ruins and remnants remain throughout this extensive area of what it once was.

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