Old Dover Hoverport
- 4 April 2010 10:4645946Certainly not the best quality photograph, but I took this shot back in 1969 with a simple Agfa automatic camera from the East cliff top. Did anyone else take any of the old hoverport?
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 4 April 2010 10:5645947
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 4 April 2010 11:0245948Last one, just a bit further to the left of the hoverport.
Tell them that I came, and no one answered. - 4 April 2010 11:1145949Are those the old MTB/Submarine pens I've heard talk about?
- 4 April 2010 11:1345950I have a few old slides (this was all before I was born!!)
Been nice knowing you :) - 4 April 2010 11:1945951That`s a fine shot Paul, and from a different angle. Yes Barry, they are the old submarine pens mate. Gone forever.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 4 April 2010 11:3445952It`s so easy to just go on the internet and transfer items from it, but I much prefer where possible to get some original unpublished material if I can, even if the quality is poor. Of course, much of the time, there`s not always the original material to hand.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 4 April 2010 11:4345956Ditto Colin... there is quite a lot of stuff around at Collectors Fairs but as photos and slides are not 'postcards' they are often lost or thrown away as not of interest :(Been nice knowing you :)
- 4 April 2010 14:3045968I have loads of pictures like this .My late husband was a duty officer there
- 5 April 2010 00:0746070You`ll have to try and get some on here Sue, I`m sure they`ll be viewed with great interest.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- Alec Sheldon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 18 Aug 2008
- Posts: 1,037
5 April 2010 00:2246071Colin, I worked at Seaspeed with Sue's husband Paul for a while but unfortunately never took any photos. It was quite an expensive hobby 30 and 40 years ago when we were only on a few bob a week
- 5 April 2010 11:2246120Thanks for that Colin, I've always wondered where they were positioned, the first I heard of the pens was when I first moved to Kent and got talking to a chap in The White Horse in Hawkinge who was involved in their demolition
Am I right in saying that they were never used for submarines in WWll, just MTB's? - 10 April 2010 18:2546791Sorry Barry, I missed your above question mate. As far as I`m aware, they were never used for submarine`s, just the torpedo boats, but maybe Ed on here can offer more info`.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 10 April 2010 19:2446795I can tell you ,you are right Coiln only Torpedo boats and they were still in there in the 1950s when I was ayoung man,later in life when I was in the Royal Navy x/service we had a part of them for training We would spend most weekends in there +the Dover life boat was in there to. They were very big inside with lots of rooms to.
- 10 April 2010 20:5146816Thank you Vic. I am curious to know as to when they were built, and whether it was because of the immediate German threat?Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 10 April 2010 21:2246820Temporary staging went in for the the "Submarine Depot" in July 1911. Not sure what the threat was at that stage or whether they were part of the revised plan for the Admiralty HarbourBeen nice knowing you :)
- 12 April 2010 15:1947085Great photos again, Colin. I remember occasionally taking the old Seaspeed hovercrafts (Princess Anne and Princess Margaret) to Boulogne (Le Portel) from their first Eastern Docks home with my Mum and Dad when I was a kid.
Happy days.
Andy - 12 April 2010 18:3847102Thanks Andy, and it`s good to have pleasant memories mate. Just to quote the last line of Robert Louis Stevenson`s famous poem, `From a Railway Carriage`, (which applies to almost everything in life)`each a glimpse, and gone forever`.Tell them that I came, and no one answered.
- 13 April 2010 02:4247142Submarines were based in the Camber during WW1, indeed the reason for constructing the Camber was as a small harbour-within-a-harbour to afford protection for submarines and small craft from the wilder sea conditions in the exposed outer harbour.
I would imagine that they saw very little action as the Dover Strait would be an impossible submarine operating area with shallow water, banks, strong currents, etc. Also very little to attack as the German big ships only ventured out on very rare occasions. Additionally, they would have been extremely likely to have been attacked by our own side as the Dover Patrol mustered a huge anti-submarine effort attempting to deny German submarines passage through the Dover Strait.
Probably based there as one element of defence should the German High Seas Fleet head south towards the Thames or Dover Strait, with the Grand Fleet having to come down from Scapa Flow and Rosyth.
http://shipsintheportofdover.fotopic.net/c1554060_1.html
There were no submarines based in Dover in WW2 for the reasons above. A destroyer flotilla was based here to begin with but had to be withdrawn after suffering heavy damage and the loss of the flotilla leader, HMS Codrington, whose wreck remained on Dover Beach for the rest of the war. Also the ammunition ship HMS Sandhurst was badly damaged and the oiler War Sepoy was sunk.
With the Germans occupying the French coast, Dover was exposed to aerial attack from Stukas and medium bombers, and later from the cross channel guns, and was totally untenable for anything other than light naval forces. Accordingly MTB's, MGB's, M.L.'s, Air Sea Rescue launches, etc, were based here. The headquarters was at the Lord Warden Hotel, requisitioned as HMS Wasp, and initially most of the craft were berthed in the Train Ferry Dock.
The reinforced concrete shelter dubbed the "Submarine Pens" was constructed in the Camber to afford better protection for the light naval forces mentioned. I would imagine completion would have been in 1940/41. Where the appellation "submarine pens" came from is unclear. They are of similar construction to the submarine pens the Germans built in WW1 at Brugges and elsewhere, and to the ones they built in WW2 in the Bay of Biscay ports and back in Germany. Everybody would have been familiar with those from WW1 and, seeing something similar being erected in the Camber, perhaps those not in the know surmised that was what they were intended for. - 13 April 2010 07:2647150Thank you for that very good report Ed.Like Colin I need to talk to you about a event I am working on for later in the year,but I will say more after the election, even if I did win this event can still go ahead,there are others working with me on it. Thank you.
