War |
Ocean and River Fortifications
Since the beginning of history, when ships and boats were first deployed as weapons, defenses were created to prevent assaults from the sea. In the early days, the defense may have been a simple tower, where a lookout could watch the ocean and warn of an approaching ship. As time progressed, walls were built around port cities to prevent raiders and enemy armies, who arrived by ship, from pillaging and sacking the city. Sometimes this worked and the city was spared but other times the walls were breached and the city was doomed. The construction of sea defenses didn't stop at walls, however. As time progressed, things like walls around cities became useless. With the advent of gun powder and cannons, walls could not withstand the pounding that these instruments of war would give them. There had to be a way to defend the shore and yet, keep the ships out of cannon range. If the city to be protected was inland and accessible by river, sometimes huge chains were stretched across the narrowest part of that river, preventing ships from getting past that point. Forts were erected with large cannons of their own that could fire down on the ships as they tried to sail up the river. When ships were wood and forts were stone, the ships were at a disadvantage. If a chain was stretched across a river, such as at West Point in the Revolutionary War, and a fort guarded the river or their were gun batteries within range of the chain, it would have been suicide for a ship to try and get up river. In the case of West Point, New York, the fortifications were designed by Tadeusz Koscuiszko in 1778. Many stone and even brick forts had been built to guard harbors. This construction had continued right up through World War II. Some say that this type of construction really reached it's peak in the American Civil War where many southern cities had to protect themselves from the Federal Navy, I sort of think that it's peak was when Rummel constructed the Atlantic Wall in World War II. Forts and gun batteries were constructed at many places along rivers and in harbors. The south knew that the Northern or Federal Navy was a threat to them and as ships became more and more sturdy, they became harder to stop. The appearance of iron clads just made things harder for the south. The iron clads were harder to destroy as they sailed up the rivers to raid the cities. The south had iron clads of their own but the southern navy was severely outnumbered.
Civil War Photo Source: Library of Congress Both sides found out during the Civil War the no matter how thick the walls of a fort were, they were still no match for the big guns of the day. Fort building on rivers continued through World War I. The Belgians constructed many forts on river banks. One of these forts was the fortress of Liege or Le Position Fortifiee de Liege. It was not one fort but six large forts and six small ones. They were equally divided on both banks of the river Meuse and encircled Liege. Two more forts were suggested but they were not built due to budgetary reasons. Other countries in Europe built their own forts on rivers and placed batteries at strategic points to protect their ports. The day of the fort might have been past but forts were also being used for other things besides protection during World War II. The British were using forts, to house radar. They actually built a string of forts on the water to guard London. The forts were called the Maunsell Sea Forts. They are situated in the Thames and Mersey estuaries. After the war some were used as radio stations. One fort was declared a micro nation by it's inhabitants and became famous as the Principality of Sealand. This was not officially recognized by any nation however. The forts got their name from Guy Maunsell their designer. There are naval forts and army forts. The naval forts were four in number and were constructed with two hollow cylindrical towers with a platform on top. The platform had several large guns mounted on it. The inhabitants lived in the "legs". They served the purpose of extending radar outwards and were said to be quite helpful in locating newly laid German mines. This was not their only purpose, they were also useful in detecting German air raids and also providing fire at attacking planes. The army forts are a little different. They have interconnecting platforms and were used mostly for air defense. These were much bigger than the navy platforms and had many more guns. They usually had their guns arrayed in a semi-circle with the fire control in the center. They also contained a searchlight tower. Three of these forts were in the Mersey River and three were in the Thames estuary. These forts were responsible for shooting down 22 aircraft and about 30 buzz bombs. It is quite strange to see these buildings sitting atop their pillions. One can't help but think that they weren't safe to be in during a storm but that must not be true because they are still here all these years later. It must have been tough duty to serve in one since they look so cramped. It is said that sometime each one accommodated over 100 men. The following photos are used with the kind permission of Robin Adcroft, Chairman, Project Redsand. http://www.project-redsand.com/index.htm
Sea and River fortifications have taken many strange twists and turns over the years. Will we see other types emerge in the future? Perhaps undersea stations will be the next type of sea fortification to appear, maybe they are in place already and we don't even know it. |
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