Talk:Fort Manoel

WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Tag & Assess 2008

Article reassessed and graded as start class. --dashiellx (talk) 19:34, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Fort Manoel/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Hchc2009 (talk · contribs) 10:40, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Xwejnusgozo, I think we're there - I'm just about to pass the article. Thanks for all your efforts on this one! Hchc2009 (talk) 09:12, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Well-written:

(a) the prose is clear and concise, respects copyright laws, and the spelling and grammar are correct;

• "Fort Manoel was built in the 18th century by the Order of Saint John, and it remained in use by the British military until the mid-20th century. " - as written, this could imply that the Fort was originally in use by the British military, which would be wrong... How about "Fort Manoel was built in the 18th century by António Manoel de Vilhena, the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John, after whom it is named. The British military took over the fort in 1800 and it remained in use by them until the mid-20th century."
• "It was the last major fort to be built with the bastioned trace in Malta." - I found this confusing in the lead, as most readers won't know what a bastioned trace is, and it isn't explained.

@Hchc2009: I just edited the wording of the first paragraph to make it more clear. I removed the sentence about the bastioned trace, as on second thought I'm not sure that it is correct. Although Dr. Stephen C. Spiteri (an expert on Maltese military architecture) states that Fort Manoel was "the last major work of fortification to be built to the conventions of the bastioned trace by the Order of St. John in Malta" in the beginning of his detailed journal about Fort Manoel, Fort Chambray is also a bastioned fort and it was built between 1749-60s, around 15 years after Fort Manoel was completed. Probably Spiteri does not consider Fort Chambray to be a "major fort", since despite being larger than Fort Manoel, it does not have a particularly interesting history when compared to some of Malta's other fortifications. Xwejnusgozo (talk) 13:12, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

• "The island in the middle of Marsamxett Harbour, originally known as l'Isolotto and now known as Manoel Island after the fort, was considered to be a problem for the defence of Valletta soon after the city's construction." - I'm not sure the construction here works, as it pushes the active verb to the last third of the sentence, and presupposes a bit of knowledge about the location. How about something like "In the 16th century, the Marsamxett Harbour was one of the two major harbours in the Maltese city of Valetta. In the centre of the harbour was an island, originally known as l'Isolotto and now known as Manoel Island after the fort, which overlooked the city. Shortly after Valetta's construction, the Order of Saint John realised this was a potential vulnerability in the city's defences."
• I don't know if File:Malta Marsamxett.png is any use to this article or not?
• "The threat was again highlighted by Scipione Campi in 1577 and Giovanni Battista in 1582." - can we explain who these are inline - e.g. "the Spanish military engineer Scipione Campi"?
• "hornwork" - worth linking
• "a third proposal was drawn up by Carlos de Grunenbergh in 1687" - again, worth explaining who he is
• "bastions and a ravelin, surrounded by a ditch, covertway and faussebraye" - can we link these?
• "Other proposals made in 1715," - "were made"

• Done. I did not add any info about Giovanni Battista, since the source does not say anything else about him (probably he was Italian, but I can't find a citation). I also created stubs on covertway and faussebraye.

• "and it incorporated work of de Tigné" - I think this needs to be "and it incorporated the work of de Tigné"
• "the Order's resident military engineer. " - "resident" read oddly to me, probably as it isn't clear where he was residing (the fort not having been built yet). How about "the Order's resident military engineer in Valetta."? or alternatively "the Order's local military engineer."?
• "It was the last major fort in Malta to be built with the bastioned trace" - the use of this in the main text probably needs to go as well, if it's gone from the lead.
• "The fort was financed by and named after the Portuguese" > "The fort was financed by, and named after, the Portuguese"
• "the enciente, cavaliers and gateway were complete." - in the earlier paragraph you say "cavalier" in the singular, here it is plural: I don't know which is right, but you'll need to be consistent.
• " magazines and countermines" - you link magazine later, but it should be linked here on its first use. Any chance of a link for countermine? (I'm not actually sure what a countermine is!)
• "The fort became an active military establishment sometime before 1734." - just to check: if the buildings weren't finished until 1733, does this mean it became active in 1733? Or does it mean it became active before the buildings etc. were done?
• "In 1757, Lembi Battery was built near Tigné Point, Sliema. " - "In 1757, Lembi Battery was added near Tigné Point, Sliema. "; a different verb here might make it flow more easily.
• "The fort first saw use during the French invasion of Malta in June 1798." - if you want to easily contextualise this for a passing reader, you could say "The fort first saw use during the French invasion of Malta in June 1798, during the Napoleonic Wars."
• " a garrison mainly made up of men from the Cacciatori, " - who were/was the Cacciatori?
• "A French garrison of a few hundred men over the fort on 12 June. " - there's a verb missing here
• "Maltese insurgents built Għargħar Battery and Sqaq Cappara Battery to bombard Fort Manoel. " - I'd recommend "Maltese insurgents built the Għargħar and Sqaq Cappara batteries to bombard Fort Manoel."
• "The Maltese bombarded the fort on a number of occasions, and the French retaliated with their own bombardment at least once" - the paragraph has three uses of "bombard" in close succession - I don't know if there's an alternative that could be used?
• "On 12 September 1799, a company of French troops from Fort Manoel " - As a single sentence, I think this needs to be part of the previous paragraph, rather than a stand alone paragraph.

• Done. Xwejnusgozo (talk) 11:16, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

• "Fort Manoel was officially taken over by the British military in September 1800, along with the rest of the Maltese islands. " - "taken over" can mean several things. How about "When Malta became a British Dominion in 1800, Fort Manoel was officially taken over by the British military that September."?
• "echaugettes" - I don't know what an echaugette is: any chance of an inline explanation or link?
• "Nonetheless, it remained a military establishment, seeing use again during World War II, when a battery of 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft guns was deployed in and around the fort. The guns were mounted in concrete gun emplacements and deployed in a semicircle around the fort." - you could avoid some confusing repetition here, by going for "Nonetheless, it remained a military establishment, seeing use again during World War II, when a battery of 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft guns was deployed there. The guns were mounted in concrete gun emplacements and deployed in a semicircle in and around the fort. "
• "aerial bombing during the war" - do we know if this was German or Italian bombing?
• "After this it was left abandoned" - Could we be more specific here, e.g. "After the war it was left abandoned..."
• "It housed the premises of the Royal Malta Yacht Club from 1970 to 2008." - may be hard to answer, but did the club renovate it at all? UK Royal Yacht Clubs are quite prestigious, and I couldn't imagine one of ours working out of a ruined fort without renovating it! :)
• " MIDI plc" - I'd suggest "the development company MIDI plc"

• Done. I don't know if the fort was damaged by German or Italian bombs (most probably it was hit by both). The RYMC were based in part of the fort, so presumably they would have renovated their premises, but not the rest of the fort. The chapel and most of the other damaged parts of the fort were only restored by MIDI a couple of years ago. Xwejnusgozo (talk) 12:38, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

• "curtain walls between each of the bastions" - should probably be capitalised, e.g. "Curtain walls between each of the bastions", as you're using full stops at the end of each item.
• "a pentagonal ravelin" -ditto
• "the Piazza, containing" - ditto
• Are Air Malta and the the Times of Malta reliable sources for folk tales in Malta during the 1920s? (I wouldn't necessary use equivalent UK sources for such claims) I can't work out from the sources what the evidence base for the statements were...
• "YouTube video about Fort Manoel" - could this be more descriptive to help the passing reader know what they're about to get, e.g. "A video by X and Y about Fort Manoel"? Hchc2009 (talk) 07:15, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

• I would consider the Times article to be a reliable source about the ghost story. However, I'll have a look around to try to find some better sources. Xwejnusgozo (talk) 09:43, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

• I found out some info about the story of the Black Knight from the book The Ghosts of Malta, and it states that the ghost began to appear after World War II. I removed the Times and Air Malta sources, which state that the ghost appeared after World War I. Xwejnusgozo (talk) 10:51, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

(b) it complies with the manual of style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.

• The list in the layout could potentially be rendered as normal prose, but I think it's still OK. Hchc2009 (talk) 07:15, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

• I rewrote the entire layout section in prose. Could you have a look to see if it is OK please? Xwejnusgozo (talk) 09:43, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

Factually accurate and verifiable:

(a) it provides references to all sources of information in the section(s) dedicated to the attribution of these sources according to the guide to layout;

• Yes. Hchc2009 (talk) 07:15, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

(b) it provides in-line citations from reliable sources for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged, and contentious material relating to living persons—science-based articles should follow the scientific citation guidelines;

• Yes. Hchc2009 (talk) 07:15, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

(c) it contains no original research.

Broad in its coverage:

(a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic;

• Yes. Hchc2009 (talk) 07:15, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

(b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).

• Yes. Hchc2009 (talk) 07:15, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each.

• Appears neutral at this stage. Hchc2009 (talk) 10:43, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.

• Stable. Hchc2009 (talk) 10:43, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Illustrated, if possible, by images:

(a) images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content;

• File:Malta; view of the quarantine area. Etching by M-A. Benoist, Wellcome L0019027.jpg - this requires a valid license for the underlying image; e.g. PD-Art or similar. Hchc2009 (talk) 10:43, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

(b) images are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.

• "Military re-enactment of the Second World War at Fort Manoel." - this isn't a complete sentence, so doesn't need a full-stop at the end of it. Hchc2009 (talk) 10:43, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

@Hchc2009: I added the PD-Art template to the image, and changed the caption about the reenactment. Is the article OK now? Best regards, Xwejnusgozo (talk) 14:21, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

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