The Second World War Big Guns Overlooking Momi Bay, Fiji.

Two big BL 6-inch Mark VII Naval guns overlook Momi Bay in Fiji and date back to World War Two. They were heavy field guns of the First World War which became one of the main coastal defense guns throughout the British Empire up until the 1950s. When it became apparent that the Japanese Imperial Army had designs on Fiji as part of their Pacific expansion, these Breech Loader (loaded from the back) guns became vital for the nation's defence and, beyond that, for the defence of New Zealand and protecting supplies between America and Australia. The guns fired a 6-inch diameter, 45-kilogram shell, with a maximum range of 14.4 kilometers. They could fire 8 rounds every minute. These two Momi Battery guns, the King's Gun and the Queen's Gun, had their nicknames. The soldiers called them "Jig Jig" and "Boom Boom" respectively. They were placed in specially made concrete bunkers and arrived in March 1941 and were fired at least three times. The first was their test shots, to ensure that they had been mounted properly and that everything was working. The second firing was when an unidentified ship tried to come through the Navula Passage and didn't respond to radio requests to identify itself. The third firing was by the Americans when they heard noises on the underwater sonar but no ships were seen.