When planning the invasion of France the allies were extremely worried that they would be unable to supply the troops who were ashore. An army on the offensive consumes vast quantities of stores. The only reliable method of landing such quantities was through a major port. However, the Germans held all ports and had fortified them to such an extent that they were expected to hold out for at least 60 days, ample time for an invading army to be starved of stores and hence defeated. If a steady stream of supplies could not be maintained the German forces in France would be able to overwhelm the invaders and force them back into the sea, effectively ending any chance of liberating France for several years. The allies had attempted, and failed, to capture a French port in 1942 with the disastrous commando raid against Dieppe. As a result of this they knew that to capture a port in the early days was impractical so another means had to be found. The solution was the Mulberry harbours. Two temporary harbours, each the size of the port of Dover, were built of prefabricated sections in Britain then towed to Normandy in the wake of the invading armies. In a ferocious building program the pieces were put together on the beaches of Normandy, creating two operational harbours within two weeks. Mulberry A, located off St. Laurent on Omaha beach was allocated to support the American forces. Mulberry B was located at Arromanches les Bains, adjacent to Gold beach, and intended to support the British and Canadian forces. Mulberry A was all but destroyed by a massive storm that hit the Normandy area between 19 and 21 June. However, Mulberry B, although badly damaged by the storm, was repaired and continued in operation until late November greatly exceeding the original 90 day design period. http://www.ukho.gov.uk/Media/News/Pages/Mulberry-Harbour-survey.aspx
Thanks for posting that Clive. I heard about the survey some time ago and seen one or two small parts of it but that is the most detailed summary of results I have seen so far. Fascinating.
Visiting Arromanches is a must do - fascinating, and the models are amazing. I also understand that the largest part of the failure for Mulberry A was the fact that the Americans did not fit it together properly in the first place, leaving out strategic components in their haste. Mulberry B was fitted together properly - as per instructions - and as from above outlasted its design requirements. TD
Couple of other good Gooseberry/Mulberry threads (not the only ones by any means): Ships deliberately sunk at Normandy 1944 - this offers some details on construction differences between Mulberries A & B. Gooseberries and Mulberries at Normandy 1944
I was going to send these to Mike (Trux) but as this thread has cropped up I will post them here. Many years ago my Dad worked for Phoenix Timber in Rainham and I worked there for a few weeks when I left school. My Dad told me the 'phoenix wharf' on the Thames was built from Mulberry sections brought back from Normandy after WW2 and, whilst I (in the maintenance office) dealt with plant breakdowns on the wharf, I never got to see it. Today I found a few documents online relating to the 'Mulberry pier, Rainham'. Attached. Looking at the pictures I suspect that only the floating roadway (rhino and dolphin) sections were from the Mulberry - the wharf itself I am not sure about until I can get to see (and photograph) it.
good day cl1.yesterday,07:59pm.re:mullberry harbour survey.thank you for a most interesting post and the link about the mulberry harbour.it was a great feat of engineering.even though it took a beating,it did the job,have a good day.regards bernard85
Mike, The wharf could well be a Phoenix caisson. I will look up some dimensions. There were an amazing number of wharves and piers all along the Thames. Old maps show them to be almost continuous. Mike.
Yes Mike - most of the old wharves and piers are long gone but this one is still in place and in use. There use to be lots of old concrete barges along this stretch of the river as well, mostly semi-sunken, but the river banks sems to have been tidied up a lot recently. I wonder if they were war period as well? I will see if I can arrange a visit to the pier fairly soon.
Concrete was used for the construction of various vessels. I suppose the idea was to save steel for more vital construction. At least one concrete coaster was built at Whitby. I do not think it was a great success as it was eventually towed out to sea to be sunk. It did not even sink properly and washed onto the rocky coast south of Whitby where it remained for years. Mike
I do hope that the pier proves to be a 'phoenix' caisson as this would make the whole structure a rare surviving example of a phoenix and rhino combination (even if now modified somewhat). One of the links I found suggested that the 'rhino' roadway was a section of Bailey Bridge but this is evidently incorrect from the photos. I will see what I can find on the Phoenix caisson construction. I am having trouble finding out who owns and operates the pier these days - the industrial estate adjacent has undergone many changes recently - but I have a few leads to investigate. Phoenix Timber left the site around 20 years ago and their offices (where I worked for a few weeks) are now Rainham Steel's offices.
The promontory here is called Coldharbour Point and lies across the river from Erith. The name is probably a reference to the bleakness of the location; a harbour was originally a place of shelter for wayfarers, not necessarily a haven for ships. Its earliest appearance on a map was around 1560 as ‘Coleherbert’, which was probably a confused spelling. Later maps show Great and Little Coldharbour. These are concrete barges stranded on the mud. These were used as part of a Mulberry harbour during the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. They were used to shore up flood defences in 1953, but are now abandoned. Derelict concrete barges lying offshore formed part of Second World War defences. http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/coldharbour-havering/ http://www.concretebarge.co.uk/02-canveybarge/3-history/02-history.htm
Interesting stuff Clive. The concrete barges I recall seeing around there years ago were very much like a concrete version of the 'dumb lighters' used today on the Thames to transport London's refuse to landfill sites. I doubt somehow they were part of Mulberry, as has been suggested, but proof seems hard to find. Many sites which refer to the construction of the Mulberries state that ferro concrete was used in the major components due to a severe shortage of steel in Britain at the time - probably most of the steel was being used to build landing craft! Strangely it would seem the most likely current owner of the Mulberry Pier could be a company called Veolia (mentioned in your first link) who has the rights to use the adjacent land as a landfill site until 2024. I am trying to get in touch with them to confirm this and arrange a visit.
The 'concrete barges' in CLIs link are standard LCP(L)s. These are somewhat overlooked craft although hundreds were used in a variety of roles off the Normandy beaches. None as far as i know were used in an assault role. Those in the photos have canvas tilts over the well. This was normal. They also have allied stars which were ordered to be painted on all small craft and coastal forces craft. I see that there were six different designs of Phoenix, with the largest being 200 foot long and 55 foot wide. Mikes pier could well be one. I believe, but can not now find a reference, that concrete barges were used on the Thames, probably replacing those taken to work on the invasion beaches. Also some of the Normandy landing barges had concrete armour added. Mike
In trying to find some more information about the 'Phoenix pier' I contacted Beckett Rankine who were involved in the repair works in 1999. Tim Beckett was kind enough to chat to me for some while and gave me some very useful information. His father, Allan Beckett, was heavily involved with the Mulberries (especially the 'Whale' floating road sections) and Tim has been interviewed for a couple of documentaries about Mulberry. Apparently the Rainham pier 'whale' sections were replaced by a new roadway/conveyor after the original pontoon was sunk by a mechanical digger (which was on the roadway at the time!). The pierhead is not thought to be a Mulberry section, although it looks very similar to a 'spud' section in the 1940 picture above. The pierhead has been modified recently and probably no trace of the original structure is visible. Well - that saves me an abortive trip. It was starting to sound like a long process anyway (mentions of 'risk assessments' and heavy Health and Safety requirements). Beckett Rankine have a section of their company website dedicated to the Mulberries with some excellent documents which can be downloaded: http://www.beckettrankine.com/content/mulberry-harbour-archive-material
http://www.walkscotland.plus.com/otherwalks/garl/pages/index.htm http://www.scotsman.com/news/wartime-pontoons-win-battle-for-survival-1-1655966 2 Barges on the North Sea Coast. Creteblock is on the scar at Saltwick Nab Whitby Cretewheel is in numerous pieces near Newbiggin by the sea. Also a 3rd was at Sunderland Cretehauser lying in the Wear adjacent to the old Coles Crane factory was the first concrete ship to be built by the Wear Concrete Co in 1919. Survived till 1935 when stripped for use as an emergency breakwater.
That's what I read too. From what I remember the Americans were only using every third or forth gusset plate provided and leaving out the rest. They were able to get their Mulberry into action much more quickly but it couldn't take the storm. Trade off. Writing now, I wonder why the engineers didn't go back and fit the missing parts once the supplies were rolling. They might have been assigned to other work already, I guess. Busy place
One of the downloadable articles on Beckett Rankine’s website is a very amusing and informative cartoon illustration of the Arromanches Mulberry which gives a very clear description of the many Mulberry elements. Unfortunately the whole cartoon is too large to upload here (about 35Mb) but there are several very useful other downloads on the site. The description of the various Mulberry elements is something I have always found rather confusing (even after having seen the fabulous working model in the Arromanches museum) but I hope this will assist with a better understanding. ‘Mulberry B’ - The code name for British harbour constructed at Arromanches. The American harbour was ‘Mulberry A’ constructed off Omaha beach and virtually destroyed by the storm of 19th June 1944. Sections of ‘A’ were used to repair ‘B’ which survived the storm although seriously damaged. ‘Phoenix units’ – A concrete breakwater in sections. ‘Leviathan’ - The ship which filled the Phoenix units with sand to give them extra weight. ‘Corncobs’ – Old merchant ships sunk as a breakwater. ‘Gooseberry’ - Code name of the breakwater formed by corncobs. ‘Spud piers’ – The landing wharf at which material was unloaded. ‘Whale’ – The bridge connecting spud piers to the shore. ‘Beetles’ – The pontoons on which the whales were supported. ‘Headquarters’ – The Naval Officer in charge. ‘Golden Arrow’ – Arrow, the code name for the Port of Arromanches. Gold, the code name of the beach sector. ‘Liberty trot’ – Trot (lines) of buoys for the Liberty ships. ‘Rhinos’ – The power-driven pontoons on which cargo (not landed on spuds) was brought ashore. ‘Ducks’ – The DUKW amphibious vehicle. ‘Duck cushions’ – Assembly points for Ducks. ‘Planter’ – The code name for Officer in charge of sinking arrangements for Phoenix and Corncob. The working model in the Arromanches museum demonstrates how the ‘spud piers’ and ‘Whales’ worked on a tidal shore. A fantastic piece of engineering. The Rainham pier would have to contend with similar tidal ranges. The ‘pier’ would have to be a ‘floating’ (spud) wharf and the land connection a ‘whale’ element. It could not have been a ‘Phoenix’ element, which was sunk to the sea (river) bed. If the ‘Mulberry pier’ in Rainham was a rare intact relic of the Mulberry ‘spuds’ and ‘whales’ used in Normandy it would be a prime candidate for listing with British Heritage. Unfortunately it would appear that the surviving elements of Mulberry in Rainham have been demolished.
Some idea of how busy the Thames was before D day. This does not include the large number of vessels loading in the London Docks. TILBURY PRELOADER MOORINGS. The following loaded ammunition at Tilbury Main Dock and Tilbury Jetty and then moored as follows. Greenhithe. Stone Court Jetty. 2 coasters. Greenhithe. Empire Paper Mills. 1 coaster. Greenhithe. Plaster Products Jetty. 1 coaster. Belvedere. Burt Boultons Quay. 2 coasters. Littlebrook Power Station, Lower Jetty. 2 coasters. Woolwich. Christies Jetty. 2 coasters. Thurrock Tunnel Jetty. 3 coasters. Thurrock. Chalk and Whiting Jetty. 2 coasters. Thameshaven Anchorage. 3 coasters. Erith. Doultons Jetty. 2 coasters. Erith Oil Works. 1 coaster. Erith. Corys Jetty. 2 coasters Erith. British Plaster Mills Jetty. 2 coasters. Swanscombe. Bell Wharfe Quay. 3 coasters. Swanscombe. Bell Wharfe Jetty. 1 coaster. Silvertown. Ohlendorffs Wharfe. 2 coasters. Dagenham. Williams Jetty. 2 coasters. Dagenham. Thunderer Jetty. 1 coaster. Dagenham. Fords Jetty. 3 coasters. Purfleet. Harrisons Jetty. 2 coasters. Purfleet. Corys Jetty. 1 coaster. Charlton Durham Wharfe. 2 coasters. Barking. Guano Jetty. 2 coasters. Barking. Jetty. 2 coasters. Beckton No2 Pier. 2 coasters. Northfleet. Bowaters Quay. 2 coasters. Northfleet. Bevans Jetty. 2 coasters. Grays Thurrock. Hedleys Jetty. 1 coaster. Gravesend. Imperial Paper Mills Jetty. 1 coaster. Coryton. Corys Jetty. 1 coaster. Canvey Island LCOW Jetty. 1 coaster. Shellhaven. Shell Mex Jetty. 1 coaster. These were not the only vessels loading at Tilbury. LCTs, LSTs, MT ships, MT coasters and personnel ships were also loaded when the coasters were complete. Mike
