Veiuto Gun Battery

After World War II reaches Oceania thanks to German warships intercepting provisions for Britain sent from the area, the Fiji Defense Force construct the Veiuto (a.k.a. the Muanikau or the Suva) Gun Battery for potential armed threats near their capital’s coasts. Work begins in September and is finished in January 1940. They work alongside Australian and New Zealand defense forces who happen to be stationed in the British Crown Colony to complete this project. Measures are taken to ensure the battery is carefully, discreetly constructed (such as the mounting of faux guns within the structure while waiting for a pair of real, 4.7-inch guns to arrive from New Zealand, and the blacking out of all of Suva so those cannons’ actual placement is unknown to any adversaries of Fiji possibly surveying them then).

On December 6, a supposed cargo ship from Japan named the Taka Chiha Maru wanders into the waters surrounding Suva and proceeds to roam around despite being ordered to halt. The Veiuto Battery lets off a non-lethal shot to intimidate the Japanese vessel and successfully chases it out of Fijian territory. It is later presumed the vessel was on a reconnaissance mission seeking out the Veiuto cannons’ location and overall capacity.

With World War II threatening territories close to Fiji (like the Solomon Islands or Papua New Guinea) more than Fiji itself, the Veiuto Gun Battery ceases operations entirely on February 10. In fact, all the coastal gun constructions within Fiji’s borders are rendered inactive at this point in time. A Heavy Artillery Maintenance Section of the Fiji Artillery Regiment is formed to properly deactivate all those rarely-used pieces of military equipment.

A second facility for Fiji’s Parliament is built nearby and envelops the inoperative Veiuto Gun Battery.