The Tour Vauban ( Vauban Tower), initially known as the tour de Camaret , is an 18m-high polygonal defensive tower built to a plan by Vauban on the Sillon at Camaret-sur-Mer , as part of the fortifications of the goulet de Brest . It has three levels and is flanked by walls, a guardhouse and a gun battery which can hold 11 cannons as well as a cannonball foundry added in the French Revolution period.
7-584: Drafted in 1683, the tower was designed in 1689 by Vauban and construction was supervised by the military engineer Jean-Pierre Traverse from 1693 to completion in 1696. The 11 cannons in the battery are believed to have been forged with those for the battery on pointe du Grand Gouin , for the Quélern defensive-lines and the many neighbouring batteries. In the French victory in the Battle of Camaret on 18 June 1694,
14-678: Is a rocky promontory with vertical cliffs to the west of the inlet of Camaret-sur-Mer in France . It protects a port which, in Vauban 's era, was vulnerable to possible landings. It is divided into the Grand Gouin (the top of the cliff) and the Petit Gouin (mid-cliff). In 1693, Vauban began to organise the defences of Brest with batteries and fortifications all along the Camaret bay, from
21-506: The goulet de Brest to harry an approaching enemy. The Germans built a platform for four 220mm Schneider guns on a new site here between 1942 and 1943, known as Camaret battery and manned by the 1/1274 HKAA ( Heeres-Küsten-Artillerie-Abteilung ). This had a range of 22 km and formed the most important coastal defence for the Crozon peninsula. It was made up of four batteries (one gun each), each accompanied by four bunkers, as well as
28-462: The battery and its two guard houses were only armed with nine 24-pounder cannon and three mortars firing 30 cm balls. On 18 June 1694 Vauban himself was in command of the garrison when they repelled an Anglo-Dutch attack. The battery put several British vessels out of action. On land, a charge by French dragoons scattered the British troops that had landed, and the local militia helped complete
35-647: The opposite side of the Goulet de Brest . Camaret-sur-Mer is a member of the network of major Vauban sites . Since 7 July 2008 the tour Vauban and 11 other sites have been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to their outstanding engineering and testimony to Vauban's influence on military strategy and architecture from the 17th through the 19th centuries. 48°16′48″N 4°35′31″W / 48.28000°N 4.59194°W / 48.28000; -4.59194 Pointe du Grand Gouin The pointe du Grand Gouin
42-459: The pointe du Gouin to the Quélern lines ( Louis XIV of France had been warned of an Anglo-Dutch attack in the area, but did not know its precise landing point). In 1695 a mortar battery was set up on the Grand Gouin, though its location is now unknown. These mortar batteries could be directed towards the Cameret inlet and crossed their field of fire with those at Tremet , as well as covering
49-488: The victory. The French claimed to have killed 1200 attackers and captured 450 prisoners. Vauban's forces claimed to have only suffered 45 men wounded. British estimates were that they had lost 700 soldiers killed, wounded, and captured, and that 400 men aboard the ships were killed or wounded. A Dutch frigate of 20 guns also was sunk. The Anglo-Dutch fleet anchored between Camaret Bay and Bertheaume. Consequently, Tour Vauban also received some support from Fort de Bertheaume on
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