Operation Pluto (Pipe-Lines Under The Ocean) was a World War II operation by British scientists, oil companies and armed forces to construct undersea oil pipelines under the English Channel between England and France. The scheme was developed by AC Hartley, chief engineer with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, after Admiral Louis Mountbatten initiated the concept. Allied forces on the European continent required a tremendous amount of fuel; pipelines were considered necessary to relieve dependence on oil tankers, which could be slowed by bad weather, were susceptible to German submarines, and were also needed in the Pacific War. Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... An elevated section of the Alaska Pipeline Pipeline transport is a transportation of goods through a tube. ... Satellite view of the English Channel The English Channel (French: La Manche, IPA: , the sleeve), also for some time known in England as the British Sea, is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001... The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) was founded in 1909, as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Iran. ... Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979) was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. ... German UC-1 class World War I submarine A model of Gunter Priens Unterseeboot 47 (U-47), German WWII Type VII diesel-electric hunter-killer (SSK) submarine Typhoon class ballistic-missile carrying (SSBN) submarine, compared to a man USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine A submarine... US landings in the Pacific, 1942–1945 The Pacific War occurred in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in Asia. ...

Two types of pipeline were developed; the flexible HAIS pipe with a 3 inch (75 mm) diameter lead core, weighing around 55 long tons per nautical mile (30 Mg/km), was essentially a development by Siemens Brothers (in conjunction with the National Physical Laboratory) of their existing undersea telegraph cables, and known as HAIS from Hartley-Anglo-Iranian-Siemens. The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water. ... Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) is the worlds largest electronics company. ... The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom, based at Bushy Park in Teddington, near London. ... A submarine communications cable is a cable laid beneath the sea to carry telecommunications between countries. ...

The second type was a less flexible steel pipe of similar diameter, developed by engineers from the Iraq Petroleum Company and the Burmah Oil Company, known as HAMEL from the contraction of the two chief engineers, HA Hammick and BJ Ellis. It was discovered in testing that the HAMEL pipe was best used with final sections of HAIS pipe each end. Because of the rigidity of the HAMEL pipe a special apparatus code named The ConumDrum was developed (Picture). The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), until 1929 called Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), was an oil company jointly owned by by some of the worlds largest oil companies, which had virtual monopoly on all oil exploration in Iraq from 1925 to 1961. ...

The first prototypes were tested in May 1942 (across the River Medway), and in June in deep water across the Firth of Clyde, before going into production. Due to capacity limitations in the UK, some HAIS pipeline was also manufactured in the USA. This article is about the year. ... The River Medway in England flows for 112 km from Turners Hill, in West Sussex, through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, to the River Thames at Sheerness, where it is the latters last tributary. ... Map of the Firth of Clyde and area The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. ...

After full-scale testing of a 45 nautical mile (93 km) HAIS pipe between Swansea in Wales and Watermouth in Cornwall, the first line to France was laid on August 12, 1944 over the 70 nautical miles (130 km) from the Isle of Wight through the English Channel to Cherbourg. A further HAIS pipe and two HAMELs followed. As the fighting moved closer to Germany 17 other lines (11 HAIS and 6 HAMEL) were laid from Dungeness to Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais. Swansea (Welsh: Abertawe, mouth of the Tawe) is a city and county in South Wales, situated on the coast immediately to the east of the Gower Peninsula. ... For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom, England and Wales and England, see British Isles (terminology). ... Motto: Onen hag oll (Cornish: One and all) Geography Status Ceremonial and (smaller) Non-metropolitan county Region South West England Population - Total (2004 est. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... The Isle of Wight is an English island, south of Southampton off the southern English coast. ... Cherbourg is a city of Normandy, in northwestern France, in the Manche département, of which it is a sous_préfecture. ... Dungeness is the headland of a shingle beach on the Romney Marsh in Kent, England. ... Pas-de-Calais is a département in northern France named after the strait which it borders. ...

The PLUTO Pipelines were linked to pump stations on the English coast housed in various inconspicuous buildings including cottages and garages. Though uninhabited these were intended to cloak the real purpose of the buildings. In England, the PLUTO pipelines were supplied by a 1,600 km (1,000 statute mile) network of pipelines (constructed at night to prevent detection by aerial reconnaissance) to transport fuel from ports including Liverpool and Bristol. In Europe, the pipelines were extended as the troops moved forward, and eventually reached as far as the Rhine. Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ... Liverpool waterfront by night, as seen from the Wirral. ... Bristol (IPA: brĭstəl) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England. ... At 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) and an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second, the Rhine (German Rhein, French Rhin, Dutch Rijn, Romansch: Rein, Italian: Reno) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. ...

In January 1945 300 long tons (300 Mg) of fuel were pumped to France, which increased tenfold to 3,000 long tons (3000 Mg) in March. In total over 781 million litres (over 172 million imperial gallons) of gasoline had been pumped to the allied forces in Europe by VE day, providing a critical supply of fuel until a more permanent arrangement was made, although the pipeline remained in operation for some time after. 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Gasoline (or petrol) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ... Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) was May 8, 1945, the date when the Allies during the Second World War formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitlers Third Reich. ...

Along with the Mulberry Harbours that were constructed immediately after D-Day, Operation Pluto is considered one of history's greatest feats of military engineering. The pipelines are also the forerunners of all flexible pipes used in the development of offshore oil fields. Remains of Mulberry B at Arromanches A Mulberry Harbour was a type of temporary harbour developed in World War II to offload cargo on a beach during the Allied invasion of Normandy. ... A military engineer is primarily responsible for the design and construction of offensive and defensive structures for warfare. ... Drilling rig in a small oil field Near Sarnia, Ontario, 2001 An oil field is an area with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum (oil) from below ground. ...

In 1994 the Midland Bank (now part of HSBC) sponsored a black and white film which contained a remarkable amount of historical archive film showing the entire history and construction of the Pluto Project, the HAIS pipe and the Conundrum reels. It mentions the codewords Bambi, Watson, Dumbo Near, Dumbo Far and other terminal names. It shows how the HAIS pipe was constructed and increased in diamater from about 2" to the later 3" operational size. When the landing site for the invasion was switched from Calais to Normandy the pipeline needed to be increased from its original length to around 70 miles and the film tells of how the American pipeline industry became involved in producing the extra amount of HAIS pipe.

It is quite remarkable to realise that this 70+ mile pipe was laid in just 10 hours when it was deployed across the English Channel.

The film can be seen in a small heritage museum at Shanklin Chine in the Isle of Wight, one of the Pluto terminals, where there are also a lot of other memorabilia, books and photographs. It is uncertain as to whether or not this film was ever made available to the general public or is available now.

See also

• List of military missions, operations, and projects
• Logistics

This is a list of missions, operations, and projects. ... It has been suggested that Logistics Overview be merged into this article or section. ...

External links

• A very detailed description of the operations
• A picture of a pipe laying drum