History of Fort Serapong

It was a friday night, we met in a group of four and head towards sentosa Fort Serapong, when we took the bus into sentosa. our long jounery of walking begin..

Fort Serapong was built by the British army in 1879, atop a hillock called Mount Serapong on Pulau Blakang Mati (now resort island of Sentosa). It was modernised a few times, the last being in the 1930s. Serapong is a huge network of batteries, tunnels, underground rooms, lookout posts, supporting buildings and even its own water collection system. Essentially a self supporting defence post.

Two gun batteries were built on the top of Mount Serapong, but there was a military presence here years before a coast battery was constructed. The hill was then an infantry redoubt. The first Battery, in 1885 consisted of two Mark VII 8-Inch BL Guns. These were replaced in 1913 by two Mark X 9·2-Inch BL Guns. Some remains of the 8-Inch Battery still exist, including the Casemates and Magazine. These were later modified and used for the 9.2-Inch Battery, of which substantial remains exist.

All over the site, you can see danger signs telling you to keep out as the structures and ground is unstable. We watched our footing carefully as we explored the area. We managed to spot many abandoned structures and gun placements / turrets. Most of the fort seems to have been reclaimed by nature.

During WWII, Serapong saw little action. Serapong was used to fire on ships in the harbour only a few times, before itself, along with other forts and batteries were shelled and damaged by the Japanese. Here are some examples of underground structures, rooms, and bathrooms that once seerviced the soldiers during WWII.





When the British forces

surrendered, all the batteries were abandoned. Some of the guns were destroyed by the British just before they withdrew. But what happened to the batteries during Japanese Occupation I believe isn’t clear. Now Serapong is like a ruin, complete forgotten, save for some people who know of it’s existance.