The turret to hold the guns was constructed by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company of Blackwall.

[6] At first it was proposed to move the guns to Dover by rail but this was considered to be too costly as a special carriage would be needed that would be useless for anything else.

The cliffs did not fall down as predicted, and neither did the fort itself but a couple of panes of glass were broken in the nearby lighthouse.

Four rounds were fired and the committee reported that the turret was ready to be handed over to the Royal Artillery.

[10][11] In 1887 a consultative committee decided that the efficiency of the two 80-ton guns in the Dover Turret was diminished by the exposed position of the magazine.

It was proposed to make a new shell store below the water line and to increase the thickness of the foundation of the turret with a mass of concrete.

[12] In 1891 the Dover Harbour Board wished to extend the pier-head to the seaward and to give it a more rounded shape due to the rip tide wearing it away.

In 1893 the committee reported that the works for strengthening the magazines of Admiralty Pier Fort were nearing completion.

A battery command post was added on top of the old lighthouse which was no longer used as a new one had been built at the end of the Admiralty Pier extension.

Between the two World Wars the Admiralty Pier Fort was transformed into a home for the battery caretaker, who lived there with his wife and family.

In 1920 the Pier Turret Battery was reduced to "care and maintenance" but was used for drill by the Territorial Army.

The turret remains under the control of Dover Harbour Board and there are no plans to restore it or open it to view.