Dover lock

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The Strait of Dover

The Dover Barrage (English: Dover Barrage ) was an underwater barrier created by the British Royal Navy during World War I to prevent German submarines from entering the English Channel .

history

The barrier initially consisted only of minefields that were created between Dover and the Belgian coast after the outbreak of war . Starting in February 1915, it was reinforced to a length of around 25 km by steel nets anchored to the seabed at different depths. The network closures extended from the south end of Goodwin Sands past the south end of Sandettie Bank to the south west end of Outer Ruytingen and the West Dyck sand bank. The lock was completed on April 3, 1915 and was guarded by the ships of the so-called Dover Patrol stationed in Dover and Dunkirk .

Both the Imperial Navy and the Royal Navy initially considered the lock to be effective, especially after the German boat U 8 on March 4, 1915 at about 50 ° 34 '  N , 1 ° 9'  E in a network that was still under construction located lock came from destroyers forced the Dover Patrol to surface and then from them by shelling was sunk. This prompted the German naval command at the beginning of April to forbid their submarines to pass through the English Channel and to instruct them to travel north around the British Isles . The barrier fulfilled its purpose at least until the spring of 1916, even if it only fell victim to one more submarine until November 1917.

However, the barrier was by no means impassable, because there were gaps between the individual networks through which submarines could navigate, the laid mines were of unreliable quality and there was a lack of destroyers to permanently monitor the barrier. In the spring of 1916 the German naval command gave up its restraint and sent submarines from Seebrugge and Ostend through the canal. It turned out that the passage was quite possible and that submarines could even cross the English Channel at night while surfaced. The Royal Navy finally moved the lock in November and December 1917 in the narrowness of Folkestone and Cap Gris-Nez . The use of the new H2 mines and better searchlights on the patrolling ships then had an effect, and by the end of August 1918 at least a dozen German boats had fallen victim to the closure. After that, the Imperial Navy did not send any more boats through the English Channel.

The North Sea mine lock

This late success led in 1918 to the relocation of the North Sea mine barrier between the Orkneys and Norway , which was, however, much more expensive and much less effective.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The Dover Barrage , accessed December 28, 2015.
  2. ↑ See map in Henry Newbolt: History of the Great War: Naval Operations: Vol. IV. Longmans Green, London, 1928, p. 54
  3. ^ UK Completes Antisubmarine Dover Barrage , in Today in World War I , April 3, 2015 , accessed December 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ Based on the example of captured German mines, these had much more reliable so-called Hertz ignition horns.
  5. ↑ Among them were: U 109 , UB 31 , UB 33 , UB 38 , UB 55 , UB 56 , UB 58 , UB 78 , UB 109 , UC 64 and UC 79 .
  6. ^ The Dover Barrage , accessed December 28, 2015.

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 0 ″  N , 1 ° 36 ′ 0 ″  E