Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Defence of the Realm - Penarth Head Fort and Coastal Battery . . .

The following newspaper reports of 1904 report a mock invasion : -

1904 - To Capture Cardiff - Coming Experiments in Naval Attack - The possibility of an enemy's cruiser coming up the Bristol Channel and attacking Cardiff is to be tested next week by the 2nd Glamorgan Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers), who will be in camp on Barry Island. The particulars are kept secret, but we understand that two attacks will be made - one by day and the other by night, the cruiser in each case being represented by a tug-boat.

In order to protect the port, the forts at Penarth, Lavernock, and Barry, in which 6in. and 4.7in. guns are mounted, will be manned by detachments of the regiment for two days and nights, and, of course, a sharp look-out will be kept all along the coast. Signallers will be provided by a section of the Severn Division Royal Engineers (Volunteers), and, in order to assist the defending force during the night time, the searchlight at Lavernock Point will be worked by members of the same corps.

The experiment will be a valuable one, and it will probably prove that a night attack from the sea may be successful, one of the weaknesses of the defending force being the absence of a searchlight on the Flat Holm, the necessity for which we have already pointed out. With the two lights converging, the prospect of a cruiser passing unseen would be greatly diminished. - Evening Express [135] [361] 29th July 1904.

1904 - Attack on Cardiff - Interesting Operations This Morning - An interesting and exciting affair in connection with the annual training of the 2nd Glamorgan Royal Garrison Artillery Volunteers this year was the manning of the three forts at Nell's Point, Barry Island, Lavernock, and Penarth, with strong detachments told off with sealed orders to defend the port of Cardiff against possible attacks from the sea. The detachments took up their positions in the forts yesterday morning for 45 hours continuous duty without relief.

It was arranged that an attempt would be made both by day and night by a belligerent cruiser in the form of a tugboat to storm the port. A suspicious craft left Barry Dock in the afternoon yesterday, and steamed as if making for Cardiff, but she was kept under observation by a contingent of the Severn Division Royal Engineers Submarine Miners, who acted as signallers to the forts, and dropped anchor off Sully.