BL 13.5-inch Mk V railway gun bombarding German positions across the English Channel in 1940

The Dover Strait coastal guns were long-range coastal artillery batteries that were sited on both sides of the English Channel during the Second World War. The British built several gun position along the coast of Kent, England while the Germans fortified the Pas-de-Calais in occupied France. The Strait of Dover was strategically important because it is the narrowest part of the English channel. Batteries on both sides attacked shipping as well as bombarding the coastal towns and military installations.

Three BL 13.5 inch /45 Mark V guns, named Gladiator, Piece Maker and Scene Shifter, were mounted on railway chassis during World War II for use as railway guns. Scene Shifter re-used a railway truck which had carried a BL 14 inch Railway Gun in the First World War. In 1940 these guns were issued to the Royal Marine Siege Regiment at Dover in Kent to bombard German batteries and shipping in the Calais area. They could be stored in railway tunnels when not in use to protect them from attack.