The Thames Estuary Army Forts were constructed in 1942 to a design by Guy Maunsell, following the successful construction and deployment of the Naval Sea Forts. Their purpose was to provide anti-aircraft fire within the Thames Estuary area. Each fort consisted of a group of seven towers with a walkway connecting them all to the central control tower. The fort, when viewed as a whole, comprised one Bofors tower, a control tower, four gun towers and a searchlight tower. They were arranged in a very specific way, with the control tower at the centre, the Bofors and gun towers arranged in a semi-circular fashion around it and the searchlight tower positioned further away, but still linked directly to the control tower via a walkway. All the forts followed this plan and, in order of grounding, were called the Nore Army Fort, the Red Sands Army Fort and finally the Shivering Sands Army Fort. All three forts were in place by late 1943, but Nore is no longer standing. Construction of the towers was relatively quick, and they were easily floated out to sea and grounded in water no more than 30m (100ft) deep. Maunsell Sea Forts click play to start slideshow..
A similar principal was used much later by the oil industry for fixed platforms. float out on their side, then carefully flood the bottoms of the legs and let gravity plunge the feet into the bottom. The forts were also used for pirate radio stations in the early 60's being just outside UK territorial waters. Many day trips by pleasure boat around the Estuary Forts!!
I saw one of these on that great 60's spy show called 'Danger Man' (in the US it was 'Secret Agent.') starring Patrick McGoohan. The episode was called 'Not-so-Jolly Roger' It was about a pirate radio station.
Could a kind moderator please merge these? http://www.ww2f.com/western-europe/...nst-nazis-thames-mersey-estuaries-photos.html
