Batterie de Peyras, Maritime fortification at Cap Sicié, La Seyne-sur-Mer, France

Batterie de Peyras is a coastal fortification on Cap Sicié standing about 200 meters above sea level with views across the entire Mediterranean coastline. The site features gun emplacements, casemates, and defensive walls typical of late 19th-century French military architecture.

Built in 1879 amid tensions between the Third Republic and Britain and Italy, the battery defended the sea between the Sablettes isthmus and the open sea, crossing fire with Saint-Elme. In 1899 a six-gun 95 mm annex was added and the right wing received a concrete shell. From 1943 German occupation troops installed six 88 mm Flak guns; after the Liberation the Navy mounted the four 105 mm guns still present.

The battery's name comes from the Peyras hill above La Seyne-sur-Mer. Its casemated barracks housed 29 gunners and 68 auxiliaries in 1880, with vaulted quarters for troops, NCOs and officers. The museum, run by the GMC association since the Navy restored the site in 1997, displays the four 105 mm SKC 32 naval guns still mounted under armoured cupolas.

The battery stands at 196 metres on the heights above La Seyne-sur-Mer, reached by road from the town; the visit covers the lower courtyard, the casemated barracks and the two gun wings, the left one 150 metres long and the right 102 metres. The upper terre-plein is exposed to wind, so bring a jacket, and allow time to walk the whole circuit.

The four 105 mm guns are French Navy SKC 32 models under armoured cupolas, built in the Lorient region and installed after the Liberation when the site became an anti-aircraft training school. Their maximum range is 15,350 metres; elevation is set by hand, azimuth rotation is motorised but can also be turned manually.