Santa Marija Battery

Six Guns Over the Channel

When the British took Malta in 1800, they quickly recognised Comino's strategic importance. The channel between Malta and Gozo is a natural chokepoint — whoever controls it, controls maritime traffic around the entire archipelago. So they built Santa Marija Battery with six guns: two powerful 24-pounders and four smaller 6-pounders.

Defensive Architecture

The battery isn't a single building but a system of fortifications: stone artillery positions, an ammunition magazine (carved into rock), barracks for 30 soldiers, and a defensive wall on the landward side. The guns could fire on ships traversing the channel up to 1.5 km away — every vessel had to pass under their barrels.

World War II

During the Siege of Malta (1940-1943), the battery was reactivated. Comino lay on the route of supply convoys heading to Grand Harbour. Though no direct attack on the battery occurred, its presence deterred Italian torpedo boats operating from Sicily.