Cherbourg Naval Base is a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that us ...

in Cherbourg Harbour,

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. The town has been a base of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

since the opening of the military port in 1813.

History

Early works

Cherbourg had been a stronghold since Roman times, and was one of the strongest fortresses of the

Hundred Years War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagen ...

. But until the 18th century it had only a shallow harbour, minor commercial activity and no military development. In the 17th century the

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics b ...

Vauban drew up plans to develop Cherbourg into a port where passing ships could shelter from attack or storms. Vauban's plans included an artificial harbour, and the quadrupling of the size of the city. The project was eventually abandoned, before being temporarily revived under

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

. The British

raid on Cherbourg The Raid on Cherbourg took place in August 1758 during the Seven Years' War when a British force was landed on the coast of France by the Royal Navy with the intention of attacking the town of Cherbourg as part of the British government's policy ...

in 1758 however caused severe damage to the barely completed commercial port. Louis XVI visitant le port de Cherbourg en 1786

By the 1770s, with French involvement in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

sought to create a large military port on the

Cotentin Peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

, allowing access into the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, and comparable to that of

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

on the Atlantic. Two projects were drawn up and presented to the king in 1777. The first, by the chief engineer of the bridges, roads and ports of the

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Armand Lefebvre Armand refer to: People * Armand (name), list of people with this name *Armand (photographer) (1901–1963), Armenian photographer *Armand (singer) (1946–2015), Dutch protest singer *Sean Armand (born 1991), American basketball player *Armand, ...

, called for the fortification of the Cherbourg

roadstead A roadstead (or ''roads'' – the earlier form) is a body of water sheltered from rip currents, spring tides, or ocean swell where ships can lie reasonably safely at anchor without dragging or snatching.United States Army technical manual, TM 5- ...

around the enlarged commercial port. The second project, by director of maritime engineering

Antoine Choquet de Lindu Antoine Choquet de Lindu (7 November 1712, in Brest – 7 October 1790, in Brest) was a French architect and military engineer in the service of the French Navy Life Entering the Navy as a clerk, like his father, he executed a very large number ...

, proposed the construction of a first class arsenal at La Hougue. Naval officer

Louis de La Couldre de La Bretonnière Louis Jean de la Couldre, Comte de La Bretonnière, 6/8 July 1741, to 25 November 1809, was a French naval officer and engineer, who designed Cherbourg Harbour. He was born at Château de la Bretonnière, Marchésieux, and died in Paris. Life H ...

conducted a review of the proposals, which favoured the Cherbourg option. La Bretonnière recommended the construction of a jetty "two thousand

toise A toise (; symbol: T) is a unit of measure for length, area and volume originating in pre-revolutionary France. In North America, it was used in colonial French establishments in early New France, French Louisiana (''Louisiane''), Acadia (''Acadi ...

s long" between the tip of

Querqueville Querqueville () is a former commune in the Manche department in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.Île Pelée, with the dredging of a harbour to a depth of 20 meters. La Bretonnière suggested the construction of a

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...

composed of sunken hulks and rocks, to be a foundation for further construction. Ultimately an alternative proposal, by engineer

Louis-Alexandre de Cessart Louis-Alexandre de Cessart (25 August 1719, Paris – 12 April 1806, Rouen) was a French road and bridge engineer. He served in the "gendarmerie de la Maison du Roi", fighting at the battles of Fontenoy and Raucoux in 1745 and 1746. In 1747 he ...

, was preferred, that of a breakwater created by the sinking of 90 wooden cones weighted with stones, 50 meters in diameter at the base and 20 meters in height. Work began in the 1780s. Île Pelée was fortified, and the wooden cones filled with stone were sunk outside the harbour(one in the presence of the king), to serve as a foundation for the breakwater. The cones were damaged by bad weather, and were gradually replaced by a continuous breakwater in pierres perdues, when the works were interrupted by the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Nineteenth century

Work resumed in 1803 under the orders of

First Consul The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

(decree of 25 Germinal year XI), as part of the plans to invade the United Kingdom. From 1803, protected from British attacks, Cherbourg became a haven for

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s. The breakwater was discontinued after 1813, to be resumed in 1830 and completed in 1853. The engineer

Joseph Cachin Baron Joseph Marie François Cachin was a French engineer, most notable for his work at Cherbourg Harbour. He was born in Castres on October 2, 1757 and died in Paris on February 23, 1825. Biography Joseph Cachin, son of Pierre Cachin, was a bu ...

continued building the military port to the west of the town, the avant-port of which was opened on 27 August 1813 by

Empress Marie-Louise french: Marie-Louise-Léopoldine-Françoise-Thérèse-Josèphe-Lucie it, Maria Luigia Leopoldina Francesca Teresa Giuseppa Lucia , house = Habsburg-Lorraine , father = Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Maria Theresa of ...

. It was decided to establish the Arsenal in the same place. Work began on the Charles X basin (420 × 200 × 18 meters) in 1814, and it was inaugurated on 25 August 1829 in the presence of the Dauphin. A second basin, Napoleon III (290 × 220 × 18 meters), was begun in 1836 and inaugurated on 7 August 1858 in the presence of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

and

Empress Eugénie An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

. The continuous expansion of the military port and dockyard eventually came to consume between 3 and 4 million gold francs a year. By the end of the nineteenth century the United Kingdom was no longer the main adversary. The city had become a major industrial centre and employer, with 4,000 workers from all over France based at the arsenal, which became the "backbone of the city". With the naval importance of the port reduced, the well-developed harbour became a base for transatlantic trade connecting northern Europe with the east coast of the Americas.

Second World War

Bundesarchiv Bild 101II-MW-5716-45A, Cherbourg, NSV-Flüchtlingsbetreuung

The city was first bombed by the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' on 15 June 1940, during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

. The port was used as the evacuation point as British and French soldiers withdrew ahead of the advancing German Army, Cherbourg becoming the "Norman Dunkirk". The east fort on the breakwater was destroyed by the French Navy. German forces arrived at Cherbourg on 17 June, and on 18 June the city council declared Cherbourg an

open city In war, an open city is a settlement which has announced it has abandoned all defensive efforts, generally in the event of the imminent capture of the city to avoid destruction. Once a city has declared itself open the opposing military will be ...

. Maritime prefect Vice-Admiral Jules Le Bigot ensured three submarines under construction at the arsenal, ''Praya'', ''Roland Morillot'' and ''Martinique'', were destroyed, and then surrendered the city to General

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

Battle of Cherbourg

Cherbourg, the only deep-water port in the region, was the primary goal of US troops landed at

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

during the allied invasion of Normandy. Cherbourg was vital in order to provide the Allies logistical support for the reinforcement and supply of the troops. US troops encircled the city on 21 June 1944. Furious street fighting took place, with heavy supporting fire from allied warships against the German batteries. After strong resistance from Fort du Roule, General

Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben __NOTOC__ Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben (30 October 1894 – 18 June 1964) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II. Biography Schlieben joined the Prussian Army in August 1914 and served during World War I. He served as a regimen ...

, Admiral Walter Hennecke and 37,000 soldiers surrendered on 26 June at 16:00 to General

J. Lawton Collins General (United States), General Joseph Lawton Collins (May 1, 1896 – September 12, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer. During World War II, he served in both the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, Pacific and European Theater of Operations, U ...

. The arsenal and the forts on the breakwater resisted for another day before they too surrendered. Cherbourg 1944-Gare Maritime-Interieur

The Germans had systematically damaged the port prior to surrendering. Ships, tugs, cranes and other equipment had been thrown into the water in the basins, blocking the harbour and delaying the arrival of the first ships until the end of July. In November 1944, the local Cherbourg bailout commission was created to organise the salvaging of ships and clearing accesses to the port. The port was only partially back in service by mid-August. On 14 July 1944 the Place du Château, renamed Place du Maréchal-Pétain during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

, was renamed Place Général De Gaulle, while the Quai de l'Ancien-Arsenal was renamed Lawton-Collins Quay, after the American commander of

VII Corps 7th Corps, Seventh Corps, or VII Corps may refer to: * VII Corps (Grande Armée), a corps of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VII Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World War I * VII ...

, which had liberated the city. American troops of the Fourth Major Port of Embarkation and French transport corps carried out sufficient repairs to the port for it to accommodate the first

liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...

s a month after its capture. From then until the liberation of the

port of Antwerp The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is the port of the City of Antwerp. It is located in Flanders (Belgium), mainly in the province of Antwerp but also partially in the province of East Flanders. It is a seaport in the heart of Europe accessible to ...

in November 1944, the daily landing of supplies and military equipment made Cherbourg the largest port in the world, twice that of the port of New York. Fuel arrived in Cherbourg along the

PLUTO Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

pipeline, while men and the equipment were routed from the port to the front, travelling by road (the "

Red Ball Express The Red Ball Express was a famed truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944. To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with red ...

") and rail (the "Toot Sweet Express"). On 24 December 1944, the Belgian freighter , carrying 2,237 American soldiers of the 66th Infantry Division, was torpedoed by a German submarine off Cherbourg. 763 were killed and 493 went missing. Cherbourg was returned to France by the Americans on 14 October 1945. It is quoted in the order of the army of 2 June 1948 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm.

Current ships assigned

Cherbourg is one of three naval bases of metropolitan France (the other two are

and

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

). With the departure of the Flotilla of the North (FLONOR), Cherbourg lost its importance as a port of registry. The Channel Flotilla (Flomanche) monitors the English Channel and the North Sea. The naval base occupies 120 hectares and commands 13 ships: * the three ''Flamant''-class patrol vessels of the

: ''Flamant'', ''Pluvier'' and ''Cormoran'', * the radiological surveillance swift boat ''Coralline'', * the

RPC12 The RPC12 (''Remorqueurs Portuaires et Côtiers de 12 tonnes de traction au point fixe'', "Harbour and Coastal tugboat, 12-tonne bollard pull") is a type of harbour tugboat operated by the French Navy. They utilise Voith propulsion to develop a ...

tugboats A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

''Fréhel'' and ''Saire'', * the mine clearance

diving support vessel A diving support vessel is a ship that is used as a floating base for professional diving projects. Basic requirements are the ability to keep station accurately and reliably throughout a diving operation, often in close proximity to drilling or ...

''Vulcain'', * the diving support swift boat ''Acanthe'' and ''Magnolia'', * the patrol boats of the

Maritime Gendarmerie The Maritime Gendarmerie (french: Gendarmerie maritime) is a component of the French National Gendarmerie under operational control of the chief of staff of the French Navy. It employs 1,157 personnel and operates around thirty patrol boats and h ...

''Athos'' and ''Aramis,'', * the support vessel ''Élan''. Other vessels present: * Chartered salvage tug '' Abeille Liberté'', * Patrol boat ''Thémis'' (operated by Affaires maritime)�
Ports d'attache des bâtiments de la Marine nationale en 2008
», ''Netmarine.net'', 2008

Cherbourg Arsenal

The arsenal of Cherbourg specializes in submarine construction. These are nuclear vessels for the French Navy, such as the and the planned ''Suffren'' class, or conventional diesel-electric propulsion vessels for export, such as the Scorpène type. Faced with declining needs, the Navy has since 2000 opened the arsenal to the private sector. It leases of land to two companies in its northern part: the Euriware secure management centre (100 employees) and the Ican shipyard (170 employees), specializing in the construction of service boats.

References

{{coord, 49.6525, N, 1.6342, W, source:wikidata, display=title Installations of the French Navy French Navy submarine bases Cherbourg-Octeville Buildings and structures in Manche