The Maunsell Sea Forts are a set of sea forts built in Britain in WWII. Guy Maunsell designed four Naval Sea Forts, double pontoon gun platforms with 2 6" guns and a Bofors, sunk in position in 1942 to deter and report back German attempts at mine laying (called Roughs Tower, Sunk Head Tower, Tongue Sands and Knock John). He also designed Army Forts for anti-aircraft work, each consisting of seven inter-connected platforms. three were placed in the Mersey, three in the Thames (at locations called Nore, Redsand and Shivering Sands), with 4 3.7" guns and one Bofors. During the war the forts shot down 22 aircraft and about 30 flying bombs, and were were finally abandoned by the military in 1956.

As well as their role in hindering German air raids, the Naval forts have also been credited with extending radar coverage in the Thames Estuary, allowing the Navy to pinpoint the positions of newly-laid enemy mines and avoid them.

Nore fort was badly damaged in 1953 when the Swedish ship Baalbeck collided with it, destroying two of the towers, killing four soldiers and destroying guns, radar equipment and supplies. The remains were considered a hazard to shipping and dismantled in 1959 - 1960. Part of the bases were towed ashore at the village of Cliffe, where they remain today.

One of the Shivering Sands towers was lost in 1963 after a ship collided with it. In 1964 the Port of London Authority placed wind and tide monitoring equipment on the Shivering Sands searchlight tower, which was isolated from the rest of the fort by the demolished tower. This relayed data to the mainland via a radio link.

Various forts were re-occupied for pirate radio in the mid-sixties.

In 1964, a few months after Radio Caroline went on air, Screaming Lord Sutch set up Radio Sutch in one of the towers at Shivering Sands. Sutch soon became bored with the project and sold the station to his manager Reg Calvert who renamed the station Radio City and expanded operations into all of the five towers that remained connected. It was Calvert's killing in a dispute over the station's ownership (found to be self-defence rather than murder) that led to the Government finaly passing legislation against the pirates in 1967.

During the pirate era the PLA frequently complained that its montoring radio link was being disrupted by the nearby Radio City transmitter.

Redsands was likewise occupied by Radio Invicta, later named KING Radio, before Ted Allbeury turned it into a professional-sounding easy listening station called Radio 390, after its wavelength of (approximately) 390 metres. The Danger Man episode "Not-so-Jolly Roger" was partly filmed at Redsands and includes an acknowledgement to Radio 390 in its closing credits.

The size of the Army forts made them ideal antenna platforms, since a large antenna could be based on the central tower and guyed from the surrounding towers.

A small group of radio enthusiasts set up Radio Tower on Sunk Head naval fort, but the station was run on a shoestring, had very poor coverage and only lasted a few months. Claims by the company that they also intended to run a television service were never credible.

Paddy Roy Bates occupied the Knock John Naval fort and set up Radio Essex, later renamed BBMS - Britain's Better Music Station - but is better known for his post-pirate activities.

He has lived in Roughs Tower since 1964 as the self-styled Principality of Sealand. Sunk Head was destroyed by the Royal Engineers in the late 60s. Tongue Fort collapsed in a storm in 1996.

Boat trips visit the remaining forts occasionally, and there are proposals to conserve the Army fort at Redsand.

Reference

Some of the information on the forts' wartime activities is derived from the Whitstable Scene site listed below.

External links

• Project Redsand (http://www.project-redsand.com/)
• Whitstable Scene: The Maunsell Sea Forts (http://www.whitstablescene.co.uk/forts.htm)