have you ever heard about...

...the maunsell sea forts

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I have recently read an article about the Maunsell sea forts, also known as the Maunsell forts. These are small fortified towers that were built in estuaries of the riv

ers Thames and Mersey during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom. They are named after their constructor, the architect Guy Maunsell. 

Each f

ort consisted of a group of seven towers that were connected by a walkway to the central control tower. The construction of the towers was relatively quick, between February 1942 and December 1943. They were built on land, floated out to sea and grounded in water, no more than 30m deep. It is said that the forts shot down 22 aircraft and about 30 flying bombs during the Second World War. 

They were fully in use until 1945. By the end of the 1950s the forts were gradually closed down, the guns dismantled and the crew withdrawn.

Many of the towers were destroyed by ships colliding with them in the 1950s and 60s. In 1996 another fort collapsed in a storm. 

As you can imagine only a few of the fortresses were preserved. Among them are Roughs Tower, Red Sand, Shivering Sands and Knock John. 

The Roughs Tower is the most famous one, because Paddy Roy Bates, a former pirate radio broadcaster, occupied it in 1967 and set up Radio Essex (later renamed In BBMS- Britain‘s Better Music Station). In the course of time he declared it Principality of Sealand. 

I have not heard of these forts before and I am sure that there are plenty of other people who do not know them either, because these forts are considered being a forbidden place. 

I personally think that it‘s important and interesting knowing about it, because it‘s part of the world‘s history.