as we all know world war ii caused untold destruction across the world
it also brought massive political and cultural change to this day there are many
unusual markers that have been left behind remnants of a devastating time for example
just off the coast of the uk something very unusual is still standing a collection of
seaforts which were built to defend british sovereignty against the relentless german
bombings throughout the early 1940s and while the sea forts accomplished their goal proving to be
a valuable defense against german planes their story extends far beyond world war ii and even
their military service as after the war these forts became a haven for pirate radio stations
planned explosions and even an independent nation so join me as we discover the history
of the mansell seaforts i'm your host ryan silkesh and you're watching it's history
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for a nation like england with massive coasts naval fortifications are not uncommon in fact
this has been the case ever since technology advanced enough to allow construction
far out at sea hence nations have been building coastal forts for hundreds of years for example
several dozen forces still stand in the english channel which previously were used for defense
from france in the napoleonic wars fast forward a little over a century and with the advent
of military aircraft and aerial combat many thought that these types of stationary sea forts
would be made obsolete however due to a british maritime engineer guy monsol these old seaforts
would be upgraded and serve a vital role in world war ii you see shortly after the second world war
had broken out the german war machine quickly swallowed up all of europe with both the ussr
and the u.s still neutral powers early on only one nation stood between germany and total domination
of the continent or possibly the world and that was the uk even under the oppressive boot of
german military invasion britain refused to surrender even defeating their mortal enemy
in the battle of britain in 1940 so afterwards in order to demoralize the british people and
also prepare for a potential land invasion germany conducted a massive aerial bombing campaign which
became known as the blitz for months on end the german bombers wrecked havoc on industrial and
military targets across the uk well by mid 1941 the blitz was categorized as a strategic failure
from the point of view of the germans as they were not able to stop british production or
really even demoralize the british populace it was devastating all the same given that around 40
000 civilians were killed as germany opened up a second front of war with their surprise attack on
the soviet union and operation barbarossa as well as the added stress of the american entry into the
war after the japanese attack on pearl harbor germany's resources were limited by this point
so even though they were unable to continue conducting massive air raids over britain
smaller attacks especially on convoys of american goods being sent to support their allies still
occurred therefore the british military needed to come up with a clever way to deter future
assaults it was here that guy monsol's engineering expertise and creative planning were put to use
monsol had designed a series of forts that would be placed along england's coast to deter the
germans the plans for these structures improved on older designs and added many new features
based on modern military technology despite many doubting the effectiveness of the designs as well
as the cost plans were approved and construction began the forts were then quickly built on land
and later shipped out to their locations in the coastal areas where they would be
pieced together named after their designer these structures would come to be known as the mansell
seaforts while the existence of such forts weren't all that perplexing the spots where they were
placed seemed relatively strange with many calling into question the reasoning however there was
absolutely a method behind the madness some of the forts were put up in the thames estuary where the
river connects with the north sea while the others were situated in the liverpool bay and this was
done due to the expert studying of german nazi flight patterns you see at this point of the war
the us was supplying britain with vital aid and was keeping the country alive both domestically
and on the front lines these essential materials which included tanks planes rifles as well as
clothing and food supplies were usually shipped across the atlantic to ports in liverpool and
london therefore liverpool was a prime target for german bombers then of course cities like london
and birmingham were also targeted on account of their large volume of production british
military intelligence noticed though that german planes would often cross the english channel
fly across the countryside before turning west towards liverpool whereas others would simply
fly straight towards london and birmingham so locations of both fort complexes were perfectly
placed to intercept german planes on their way to major cities all the forts were also heavily armed
often surprising their german adversaries as most maritime outposts were expected to be civilian run
and therefore unarmed in general the forts were armed with heavy 3.75 inch quick firing guns
as well as 40 millimeter cannons they also had massive searchlights that could easily spot german
planes flying overhead technically there were two different types of seaforts army forts and navy
forts and both had a distinct style and purpose the navy forts were smaller structures consisting
of a long platform held up by two large pillars upon this platform is where these small buildings
and weapons lay on the other hand the army forts had a much more intricate design these forts
were actually a collection of five or six small defensive towers all connected by long walkways
making up one large complex they were also able to carry more firepower as a result the majority of
the army forts were located near liverpool while london mostly had naval forts for protection i'd
also note that the army force and navy forts had slightly different purposes beyond just shooting
down enemy bombers for example the navy forts were tasked with attacking german planes trying to lay
mines in the water that would hit british or american ships sailing to london's docks
navy forts were also very effective when it came to intercepting german v1 rockets
which previously caused massive destruction across london throughout the duration of their service
these seaforts were extremely efficient despite the doubts of many before their construction for
example the forts in the thames estuary shot down over 30 german v1 rockets 22 planes and even one
e-boat despite not having the correct munitions their simple existence also deterred many german
military operations and also served as a symbolic moral boost for the british people but after world
war ii ended in allied victory the monsal sea forts were no longer needed by the military
as a result they fell into despair in fact their days were numbered before the war came to a close
even if they were a success in the long run you see while they were able to take down v1 rockets
the sea force could do nothing to stop supersonic v2s then as the cold war sieved on a military
technology moved towards intercontinental ballistic missiles and advanced missile
defense systems involving orbital satellites these simple sea forts looked to become yet
another forgotten relic of the past era of warfare without military maintenance the elements of the
unforgiving sea began to take their toll with the wind and the waves damaging the support pillars
the salt water causing rust to eat away at the walkways and platforms but while their military
service ended with the close of the second world war the story of the seaforts certainly does not
end here many became pirate radio stations and one claimed to become an independent nation
but to better understand their fate in the modern day let's take a look at these forts individually
as was said before the naval forts were primarily located in the tams estuary where they protected
major cities like london from bombers as well as ships from landmines many of the naval forts
found a new purpose in the 1960s becoming host for several pirate radio stations at the time radio
stations needed a license to play rock music which was booming in popularity with the rise
of many prominent british rock bands the station also played other media such as comedy shows and
shows that weren't approved by the bbc basically this whole pirate radio station situation was
made possible by a loophole you see since the naval force were far enough off the coast that
they were in international waters broadcasts could be set up here to play unlicensed content
the british censors were furious but they could do nothing as it was out of their jurisdiction
that was until a new law was passed called the marine broadcasting act of 1967 which stated
that unlicensed stations were illegal if they were conducted by british citizens and broadcast into
british territory as a result the pirate radio stations on the naval forts as well as others
in the channel islands and the isle of man were shut down as for the individual forts themselves
there were four naval forces in total the rough sands sunk head tongue sands and knock john forts
the nakjan fort is around nine nautical miles off the coast of essex where it has been standing
since august of 1942 well it was decommissioned in 1945 after the european theater of war came
to a close with germany's surrender the british military still continued maintenance until the
late 1950s since then it has fallen into severe disrepair despite still technically standing only
a few miles nearby is where the sunk head fort used to be situated decommissioned and abandoned
at nearly the same time as knock john with the main differentiation here being that the fort was
slightly further outside of british territorial waters so with the controversies surrounding the
marine broadcasting act and whether or not the sunk head fort is within jurisdiction or not
the british government decided to act quickly and prevent another pirate radio station from being
set up here so in mid-august of 1967 a squadron of royal marine were sent to sunkhead where they
blew up the naval fort using 3 200 pounds of explosives now all that remains of the fort is
a portion of the concrete pillars sticking out of the water the tongue sands fort was built up six
miles off the coast of margate and throughout the duration of the war was probably the most
famous of the naval forts as the crew were able to sink a german e-boat though they were quite lucky
in how events unfolded not that it takes anything away from their achievement in early 1945 a fleet
of e-boats was spotted on the radar and despite having insufficient armaments in the 3.7 inch guns
the tongue sands crew opened fire the commander of one e-boat did not know from what direction
he was being fired upon so he ordered his ship to quickly maneuver out of the way
where they accidentally crashed into another e-boat sinking themselves after the war issues
with the foundation that existed since its construction became even more pronounced
as the whole structure started to fall apart the caretaker crew was evacuated shortly after
massive sea storms caused even more damage despite being uninhabitable the tung sands fort remained
standing until another storm hit the installation in 1996 causing the whole structure to collapse
perhaps the most famous of the naval forts in general is the rough sands fort which
became the principality of sealand an independent country this fort was created to protect ipswich
as well as nearby ports and it was built upon the rough sand sandbar during the war
it was manned by about 100 crew members what makes this fort so interesting however
is its story after world war ii in the 1960s a man named roy bates who was a major in the
british army built a popular pirate radio station on the previously mentioned knock john fort he
felt that the bbc's content restrictions which only allowed paid licensed shows were unfair
over time though bates was unable to continue this venture as the british government
said that this fort fell within british nautical territory so bates abandoned the previous pirate
radio broadcasters and moved into the rough sands fort which was built exactly the same but laid out
three miles outside of british jurisdiction after talking with his lawyers however bates moved on
to a completely different endeavor citing the law of nations bates declared the fort an independent
country called sealand and then he moved his family out to the fort and officially coordinated
his new country with a flag raising ceremony which he designed himself he even bestowed the title of
princess to his wife joan and developed his own constitution national anthem currency passports
and national football team unsurprisingly sealand received little international recognition but
unfortunately for bates the british government took a hard stance against the new nation as
they wanted to avoid a cuba-like situation or other possible issues in the cold war context of
the time the destruction of other nearby seaforts also served as an intimidation tactic to scare off
bates but he remained undeterred sealand would see even more controversy in the late 1970s as bates
and alexander ackenbach a german citizen and prime minister of sealand had a falling out over plans
to expand tourism and the economy ekkenbach wanted to transform sealand into a hotel and
casino but bates refused in retaliation akhenbach led a group of german and dutch mercenaries who
invaded sealand after bates and his wife had left on a business trip bates's son michael
was even taken hostage but he was surprisingly able to break free and overcome the mercenaries
capturing ackerbock using a stash of weapons hidden in the fort the former prime minister of
sealand was then charged with treason but was sent back to germany but there was a silver lining here
you see the negotiations involved a german diplomat traveling to sealand which the
bates family claimed was proof of international recognition of their state unfortunately the story
of sealand largely came to a close in 1987 when a new treaty saw the uk's international territories
extend to 12 miles off their coasts instead of just three since then sealand has officially
been within british territory and any hope of international recognition has faded away
the reason for the creation of the seaforts was to protect british civilians industrial towns
and ports from german aerial bombing campaigns and considering that the brave crews stationed
on these forts shot down dozens of german rockets and bombers as well as preventing other attacks
most would agree that the forts accomplished their mission while some forts succumbed to
the elements of harsh seas others were blown up by the military and many became pirate radio stations
and one fort even became an independent nation it's safe to say that the story of the mancell
seaports is one that should never be forgotten and perhaps you have ideas for a tale of urban
decay that we should share on the program you can send your story ideas to my instagram or facebook
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