Arromanches Mulberry-Harbour Phoenix-Elements 1 90

The Phoenix breakwaters were a set of reinforced concrete caissons built as part of the artificial Mulberry harbours that were assembled as part of the preparations for the Normandy landings during World War II. They were constructed by civil engineering contractors around the coast of Britain. They were collected at Dungeness and Selsey, and then towed by tugboats across the English Channel and sunk to form the Mulberry harbour breakwaters replacing the initial "

Gooseberry Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance. The berries of those in the genu ...

" block ships. Caissons were added in the autumn of 1944 to reinforce the existing structure to cope with the harbour continuing in use longer than planned. Mulberry at portland

Several Phoenix breakwaters still exist in Britain: two are part of the harbour off Castletown at

Portland Harbour Portland Harbour is located beside the Isle of Portland, Dorset, on the south coast of England. Construction of the harbour began in 1849; when completed in 1872, its surface area made it the largest man-made harbour in the world, and rema ...

in Dorset, and two can be dived in less than 10 metres of water off Pagham in West Sussex. There is also a smaller Phoenix Caisson (type C) in Langstone Harbour in Hampshire. A wrecked Phoenix breakwater is also to be seen, broken in two, in the Thames estuary off

Shoeburyness Shoeburyness (; also called Shoebury) is a suburb of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. east of the city centre. It was an urban district of Essex from 1894 to 1933, when it ...

in Essex. It broke while being towed from

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

in June 1944. To avoid it causing a hazard to shipping in the Thames estuary, it was beached on the mud on the northern edge of the Thames dredged shipping channel. It is about a mile from the beach. It is not quite covered at high tide, but it is topped by a beacon to warn shipping of its presence. Several Phoenix breakwaters were used in the Netherlands to plug gaps in the dykes, four of them for a dyke at Ouwerkerk after the North Sea Flood of 1 February 1953. These four have now been converted into a museum for the floods called the Watersnoodmuseum. One can walk through the four caissons. Two of the Phoenix breakwaters were sold to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 1949, initially towed to Frihamnen port in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and moved on 20 September 1956 to the newly-built heat and power plant in Hässelby where they remain as of 2021.

References

External links

The Mulberry Harbour Units, Portland, Dorset

The Watersnoodmuseum, Ouwerkerk, The Netherlands
{{coord, 50, 34, 16, N, 2, 26, 34, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Breakwaters Operation Neptune Buildings and structures in England

See also

References

External links