American Couple Reacts: London WWII: Red Sand Forts! How Did These Weird Structures Defend England??
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- American Couple Reacts: London WWII: Red Sand Forts! How Did These Weird Structures Defend England?? FIRST TIME REACTION!
We noticed these structures in a previous video and wondered what the heck are they?
Well in this episode not only do we find out that answer but SO much more fascinating, interesting information and history than we could have anticipated! We are sure that you will be equally as fascinated as us (if you don't already know) or proud of these "Weird" structures! Join us in this episode to unlock a very important and unique part of British History from WWII. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support any RUclips channel and it's FREE! Also please click the Like button. Thanks so much for watching!
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We noticed these structures in a previous video and wondered what the heck are they?
Well in this episode not only do we find out that answer but SO much more fascinating, interesting information and history than we could have anticipated! We are sure that you will be equally as fascinated as us (if you don't already know) or proud of these "Weird" structures! Join us in this episode to unlock a very important and unique part of British History from WWII. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support any RUclips channel and it's FREE! Also please click the Like button. Thanks so much for watching!
I get the star wars reference. But they also remind me of the film waterworld
Dan Snow is such a fantastic historian. His TV programmes are second to none. He mostly covers historical battles, which is fascinating, but he also did an incredible programme with a couple of our other TV presenters (naval historian and a naturalist), a geologist and a group of experts from the US called Operation Grand Canyon where they followed John Wesley Powell's famous trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. They built copies of the original boats and followed his exact journey. It is so heart stopping, exciting and emotional I can't recommend it enough.
I did know about these cool things as I love military history and live in the UK, a cool thing I think you guys might enjoy is m.ruclips.net/video/2MCmKrf91o4/видео.html it’s about what it was like to be in a First World War tank
These structures were featured in the 1975 film "Slade in Flame"; it's worth checking out.
The SS Montgomery is worth a look at on it's own.. It's been put off for near 80 years now and has the potential to devastate london and the other surrounding areas but has always been seen as too hard and expensive to deal with.. there isn't the political will (or capital) to invest the necessary funds to deal with it.
There was 220 people max in Red Sands Sea Fort.. each fort had multiple towers, 7 in the case of this one, there were multiple others.
Sticking with the WWII theme, have you seen The documentaries Jeremy Clarkson did on the history of the Victoria Cross or "The Greatest Raid".. I think you would be blown away if you havn't seen them yet.
They said about Army engineering and how long it can last, there was a serious train crash in 1957 in SE London, where 2 trains collided and then a bridge fell onto the wreckage, killing 90. The Army turned up to build a 'temporary' bridge so the trains could get running again ASAP. It's still there today!
Well it's still temporary because some day , some idiot could decide we really need to replace the bridge and the replacement won't last as long!
Built by the Royal Engineers. Ubique!
I recommend you watched the movie The Boat That Rocked this is about Pirate radio, the soundtrack is amazing and a really good movie.
Funny fact about Dan Snow (who is a famous historian in the U.K. and presented this video). When I was 8 months pregnant my partner and I went to see a show on Dan Snow’s tour at a local theatre where he talked about local history (we’re super geeks!) After the show he did a book signing and we bought the book and queued up to meet him. At this point, absolutely no one but ourselves and our dogs knew what we were going to call the baby, and everyone spent months trying to guess. However when we met Dan Snow to get the book signed we asked him to sign it to the baby and told him the name, and the fact he was the only other person than us who knew what the name was, which he thought that was really funny! My son’s grandparents didn’t😂 So my little claim to fame is that Dan Snow was the only person to know our son was going to be called Tomasz! Ultimate geek brag🤣
That's a fun story. Hope you and your family are doing well.
@@davidwolfe9722 hahaha, that would’ve probably freaked him out🤣 History geek fan girl naming her child after him🤣
Tomasz - is a popular Hungarian Name
The only other language that uses the SZ letter combination is Polish.
The Hungarian language is known as Magyar
[]▶ Caro Emerald Live A Night Like This Sziget 2012
ruclips.net/video/Fc6izYdLhNE/видео.html
Aug 11, 2012 08:04 -----------------------------
CHANNEL: Sziget Festival
ruclips.net/channel/UCFPuTxN3n9iesF0I6-gyOjA
Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw is a Dutch pop and jazz singer.
She debuted on 6 July 2009 with her single "Back It Up".
Her 2009 single "A Night Like This" reached the number 1 position in
the Netherlands.
Her debut album "Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor" set a new
all-time Dutch chart record on 20 August 2010 - spending its 30th week
at number one on the country's albums chart -
❏ beating the previous record set by Michael Jackson's Thriller by one week.
Title: A Night Like This
Artist: Caro Emerald
Album: Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor
@@andrew_koala2974 We love Eastern European history (I have a geeky obsession with the 1956 Hungarian Revolution - bonafide geek!). Also, a Polish footballer named Tomasz played for the team we support about 15 years before our son was born. When his name flashed up on the screen we both loved it and said that if we ever had children, and if we had a boy, that would be a cool name.
After being convinced I was having a girl, and having my gorgeous Nanna’s name ready to pass on, I was totally thrown when we found out we were having a boy and it was only then my other half reminded me of the name we’d liked so many years before.
I love this and the name you chose! What a gr8 piece of your family history. Thank u 4 sharing with us. 😊💕
I live in Southend on Sea in Essex , I can see these structures from where I live. It’s amazing how much you take for granted and never appreciate just how amazing these are and so close , so thank you for enlightening me , I knew they were there but never knew to this level . I will go and have a look today when I walk the dog with new eyes ! Thank you both and love the videos , sending love .
Hello fellow Essex dweller.
I'm from Southend also, there is a nice Old Leigh video taken in the snow ruclips.net/video/kF8tXm8mrcY/видео.html
@@ListerDavid hello fellow Essex fella .
Been to Southend more times than you can shake a stick at ( Living in Basildon and day trips with Mum and Dad ) and have never seen them ! shame on me
There are two sets of forts, Red Sands, as featured in the video, and Shivering Sands a few miles away, both sets are practically identical and both can be seen from Whitstable on the horizon. So when they said there were 200 men on each set of towers, they were referring to the two sets of seven towers, not 200 in one tower.
In the sixties they were taken over by the radio pirates, playing the latest pop music which was not widely available on the BBC at the time. Shivering Sands forts was the home of firstly Radio Sutch, run by eccentric horror rock singer and founder of The Monster Raving Loony (political) Party, "Screaming" Lord Sutch, later to be taken over by Radio City. The Red Sands forts housed Radio 390 and were a middle of the road family station playing easy listening, country and jazz. All the other pirate stations around the coast of Britain (and there were many) played pop and were mostly on ships anchored just outside the 3 mile limit. The story of the pirate radio stations of the sixties in the UK is a fascinating subject in it's own right and worth further investigation.
Another thing they didn't explain in the video was how the forts were constructed.
They obviously had to be built in secret, so they were constructed up river. The feet of the towers were basically pontoon barges, so when the towers were completed, they simply towed them out to sea and sunk them in the shallow waters of the Thames Estuary, genius eh?
If you come to the UK you can take boat trips from Whitstable (summer only) to see the towers close up.
Not to forget of course, that Caroline is still there!
@@stuartarundale6219 is It I used to listen to Caroline and Lux. . Great days.
@@mayajrj Yeah Caroline now has a licence and is broadcasting on the isle of man and the south coast so I am told.
What a history! It's never ceases to amaze me how we have the capacity, with our backs against the wall, to create such amazing things. What inspirational people. Heroes one and all. 😊💕
@@Mike-James They become respectable?!
Hi guys I live on the east coast in a place called Felixstowe in suffolk and on a clear day I can see a fortress on the horizon this type is a one big type which has been taken over by a family that have declared themselves as a independent country. They have there own passports stamps and money you can go out and visit if you wish I thought you might be interested in this fact oh by the way the place is called “ Sea Land “. Love you guys Andy from Felixstowe X.
Some interesting facts. After the S.S. Montgomery sank with all those explosives, in the early years there was discussion about how to offload it but due to bureaucracy, cost, and a myriad of other reasons it never was. Eventually it became too dangerous to offload as the explosives deteriorated and started leaking from containers. To this day it is still to dangerous to do anything with the ship and the explosives might one day spontaneously detonate without any external influence. They cant control detonate it even though its in the water because the 1500 tonnes is 1.5 kilotonnes which is 10% of the yield of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (obviously theres be no radiation or anything but still). If it ever did detonate its projected that houses inland from the river would have their windows blown in. Anything on or near the water would be subjected to a small tsunami. A failed attempt to make safe another sunken ammunition carrier near folkestone resulted in detonation measuring 4.5 on Richter scale with a 20ft deep crater left in the seabed.
There is also the refinery on the isle of grain, which is within the blast radius of the montgomery, if this exploded then the shockwave would be felt in london and beyond. Strangely the refinery was built with the knowledge of the montgomery being where it is. 😮
@@thatguyuk1 strangely
I always felt funny sailing near SS Montrgomery.. I was convinced it would explode under us.
These are my favourite things in the world, and I'm so happy to see my favourite RUclips couple discovering all about them.
I’m glad you were so curious about these weird things! This is brilliant 😁❤️
We have very curious minds...had to know! Glad you are enjoying it!
Yes they are completely different to look at, As you heard during the vid they were used for Pirate radio broadcasting, Perhaps an idea for a future vid looking at UK offshore radio stations in the 60s, Keep up the good work &..Keep The Faith
You two should look into Kent. It’s the garden of England. Very pretty
I live in Kingston upon Hull on the banks of the River Humber
We have two forts Bull sand fort and Haile dand Fort at the mouth of the humber. Armed with large calibre guns 59 ft tall 82 foot in circumference holding 200 soldiers built in WW1 reactivated in WW2 now empty but fairly intact
25:32 just to say that as a UK resident I was sort of aware of these towers, I think from a doc about the sunken munitions ship and their pirate radio days, but I knew virtually nothing about them. Also I loved the moment when Natasha connected with the old radio valves. ❤❤❤
As well as the WWII forts in the Thames estuary there are two forts in the Humber estuary built during WWI to protect the river Humber.
This is such a cool reaction video, thank you. I live on Sheppey an island on the Kent coast side of the Thames. I can see the Forts from my balcony and I have always loved abs been fascinated by them ever since I moved here from Kondn. I am really hoping those guys and gals can do the restoration of such an amazing piece of British heritage.
Knew of these vaguely but they are so much more impressive than I thought
Absolutely amazing all the thought that went into it. Every detail has been thought of!! The Brits seem to have a real ability to think about every angle. I had the same response when I saw the British Rapid Respinse Air Team (( not the correct name sorry), and every aspect gad bednthought off to specific airports for hijacked planes to refuelling in the air during operations etc etc. Quite amazing. Kudos to the Brits!!! 🙏🙏🙏
I am from Southend-on-Sea. It is located in the southeast on the Thames coastline. We can see the masts of the 'Montgomery' at low tide from the shore.
Structures like these forts survived long after their planned life in part because of the limitations of engineering technology. Not being able to accurately calculate requirements, they simply over-engineered to be 'on the safe side'.
While it's remarkable that these forts survive 80 years later, bear in mind that the Martello towers (coastal defence mini-forts mentioned in passing early in the video) built throughout the British Empire in the early 19th century are, in the most part, still intact even though rendered obsolete nearly 150 years ago (by improved naval guns). From Britain to Australia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to Canada, the Caribbean to India these towers still stand (some now converted to private dwellings). Even the USA copied the design and examples can be found along the Atlantic coast. Designed to withstand smoothbore naval cannon and deter wooden hulled warships they still survive long after their expected utility.
With modern engineering we ca calculate finely the tolerances, loadings, mean time between failures and economic repair time span and build to accurately meet targets. To put it another way, we build just 'good enough' to meet requirements or, to be less kind, design for built-in obsolescence. As a one-time engineer myself, I know we always have a tension between the engineers wanting to design something as well as possible and the accountants (and sales managers!) wanting to come in at the lowest price that met the spec.
In some ways things were simpler way back when; it was just "Build us an air defence fort asap. It doesn't matter what it costs just as long as it doesn't fall into the sea at the first storm." "OK, bring on the 6 inch thick steel and four foot thick concrete. That should do the job for the next century or so...".
Dan mentioned Southend on Sea in his video - you need to find a video about Southend which is an important seaside city as it hosts the worlds longest pleasure pier. It also in Great wakering has one of the most dangerous walks ever ()broomfields) which if you look for Tom scott you will see.
Wow never seen these before in my life, you can’t go wrong with info from Dan Snow, great historian and presenter
Good afternoon, ladies. Dan Snow is my favourite historian. I once met him in real life when he did a documentary on the battle of Taranto. The fella with him must be about 5'10" as he is HUGE. He has to duck when he walks into a room as doorways are not made tall enough for him.
The River Medway is in Kent and leads out into the Thames Estuary.. which in turn leads up to London.
I live on The Isle of Sheppey. Right where the SS Ship Montgomery is and not far from these forts. They are soon removing the masts from the boat because of decay and fear of them falling on to the bombs. We have bombs every now and then washed up onto our beaches. Experts have warned that if the bombs ever exploded, the shockwave could create a deadly tsunami which would be devastating for us on Sheppey, Southend could even be for London.
hey Natas en Debbie thanks for the vid i am from the uk and i did not knouw they were restoring them i thought the left them to rust such a shame great to preserve them
Very interesting video as always Natasha and Debbie. I knew about those but didn’t realise they were being restored which is amazing. There is a fort off the Suffolk coast called HM fort roughs which you can see. Since 1967 it’s the Principality of Sealand which is an unrecognised sovereign state! Very brave people who defended the UK with so many lives lost in the bombings of WW2, may they rest in peace ❤
Fascinating! Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
War of the worlds these remind me of
Yesss!
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow the original 1952 version not the nonsense Tom Cruise offering also the art work on the front of Geoff Lynn War of the World's, double album.
@davidhoward5392 yes! Totally with you! Not a Tom Cruise fan...at all
Hi Natasha & Debbie Ref the Thames Forts Check out Radio 390 and the Sealand fort which is now a principality
have a look at pirate off shore radio from the ships and the sea forts, radio caroline, radio north sea international, they changed pop music in the uk and the u.s.in the 60's and the 1970's
Not sure if you know but at Portsmouth, there is something similar from the Napoleonic wars
Hey - shout out for Southend, my home town! It has the longest pleasure pier in the World. 👍I noticed you exchanged looks when pirate radio was mentioned. In the 60s the only official broadcaster was the BBC and Independent companies. Pirate radio set up on ships and also the forts. These were usually outside the 3 mile territorial waters limit and so could not be prosecuted. They played rock, new wave music and were a great hit with young fans.
When I was a kid we rented a TV… and every so often the fella from the shop had to come to the house and replace the valves! 😊
Over 200 miles north at the mouth of the Mersey Wallasey side,known as the Western Approaches We have Fort Perch rock which is a substantial Napolean fort and it is used currently as a museum. Also further out in Liverpool bay there was another WW2 steel fort sadly demolished many years ago. Not much known about this.
2000's... The site is Populated by the massive Mersey wind turbines farm which can be seen from the shore.
Thanks for the video. It was a more indeath view
Fabulous video, I had a vague idea that these were out there, but I am definitely learning with you guys about the history and use of these towers x
Ladies my brother in laws family are all navy right back and beyond 17th century..
In fact my distressing cake was cut with a napoleonic sword carried by Lt Hurry at the Battle of the Nile 1798.
Both of my sister's husbands dad and grandfather served unwieldy war 2.
Grandad was Admiral hurry, served and commanded Hms Rodney that fought the Bismark.
Dad as a minesweeper commander based in Alexandria in the war. He described it as 99% boredom and 1 % terror. I remember him watching Das boot just before he died, a German film about a u boat crew. He said 'we fought the same war, boredom, terror and the se a'. He loved the movie.
Maunsal Army Air Defense Forts in the Thames Estuary!! their was another set up in the River Mersey off of Liverpool,The Navey ones (also designed by Maunsel) were Two sunken Tubes joined by a raised gun deck between accommodation inside the tubes, Google Maunsel Forts.Don't ask about the USS Richard Mongomery It won't be safe till the Hull is buried I the sandbank then it can be safely exploded.The Metal Army Forts were set in a set of 7 the navy Forts were single setups.
Once again I'm being schooled on my own country, never knew these existed so a wonderful video to watch. Thank you!
Pirate radio? Well, the BBC were the only radio broadcasters allowed on British soil for decades, but in the 60s a commercial radio station - Radio Caroline - started broadcasting from just outside UK sovereign waters. For us youngsters, at the time, it was a marvellous event as the BBC didn't air much rock music.
Liked the video,it's a bit of history,of what the solodrrs went through,keeping Brian safe.thankyou.
Knew about them but not the full story just missing one thing an ice-cream boat. Great video.
During WII my mother was in the army (ATS) part of the sighting crew to aim Anti Aircraft guns (Ack ACK). One of her officers had been based on one of the forts. He was so hated by his men that one stormy night they tried to throw him into the sea. That's how she ended up with him. They shot down a lot of V1's. Constant speed , height and direction. An ack ack gunners dream. They used to sleep in their uniforms in their tents. If he alarm went off they would jump up and dash to their posts removing their tent on the way.
I can see these maunsel forts from where I live there is another almost identical set of forts just a few miles along the coast these are the ones I’m closest too = the shivering sands forts ( approx 5 to 6 miles nnw off herne bay - Kent) - there are several other even older individual forts also- I used to go sea bass fishing by boat around the legs of these towers - used to be some of the best marks in the country, pirate radio was common in the 60/70s ( most notable was radio Caroline a pirate ship approx 11 to 12 miles nne from me ). All the best djs started off on these - tony Blackburn- kenny Everett ect.
If you like these... Just down the coast near the Isle of Wight in the Solant there are three forts!
Two have been renovated and you can stay there!!!
Search RUclips for "solant forts"
U should check out the portsmouth sea forts there pretty cool also
Red Sands fort was home to Radio Invicta and Radio 390. Shivering Sands fort was home to Radio City.
Amazing us brits. In time of need we show what we can do.
Hi girls....i live in Whitstable on the Thames Estuary, remember you did a video ...😀 I can see the Maunsell Forts from my bedroom window on a clear day...we have boat trips round them in the summer. 😀 its funny i notice below another person can see them from his bedroom in Southend....which is directly across the Estuary from me...we are seeing them from opposite sides of the water..🤣🤣🤣
Thank you for another fantastic video .
Thank you ladies for this great video. :-)
Never heard of these before, I love learning about the ingenuity of people in history
Ladies, the Montgomery is just 12 miles away from my home on the Thames, a place called canvey island, which is actually an island in the Thames, they say if the ship with all its explosives actually blew up, my home would be washed away with water, who knows, I’ve seen that ship many times as I visited Southend and Thorpe bay
Wow!!!
They have regular surveys of the wreck to check it's condition and the risk it poses, General consensus is to not disturb it for now, As the water temperature is cold enough to keep the explosives stable and they don't want to risk triggering the ships collapse, The hope is time and the sea will neutralise the risks of a explosive chain reaction before the ship crumbles. If the ship deteriorates too quickly they will have to decide if it's worth the risk to try and remove any more of the cargo...
Hi from a fellow islander/fraggle rocker lol
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow Check out this video on the subject ruclips.net/video/xQp0n8zuoC4/видео.html . I'm about 60 miles away from The Montgomery and 12 miles from the Thames, I will just about be safe if it ever goes up!
You should take a look at Spitbank fort, even more incredible.
The 1968 Doctor Who story 'Fury from the Deep' was filmed here! ( I'm such a nerd! )
On a clear day you can see these from a town in Kent they look like small dots as far out but still cool
Hi Natasha & Debbie. I have known of these forts since I was a boy of about 5. I will be 60 this year. My family used to holiday at a resort on the Isle of Sheppey which is in the Thames estuary. We had a chalet outside the village of Leysdown on the island and when we would spend time on the beach you could see these forts in the far off distance. We just knew them as "The Forts". I think my dad told me they were something to do with the military. It's great to see that finally they are being restored and maintained as a part of our history. Love your videos by the way. Happy New Year.
Ive actually met the guy presenting this : )
Love the video Girls, Radio 390 and Radio City broadcast from these forts, sadly they were forced to close down by the Government, great music sadly missed, you should make a video on the Pirates, check out Radio Caroline the only Pirate to survive
Enjoyed the comments at the end.
The nearest equivalent might be living on an oil rig.
I did this for several years and, while we were kept busy there were periods of boredom - you start reading the fine print on the cereal box - there were times when we were doing or... getting run off.
You learn to appreciate boredom.
Thanks again for this one.
It just shows that you never know where that little bit of curiosity is going to take you.
Love and peace
I was a teen in the 60s and loved the pirate radio stations. At the time I was working on the tugs around the Thames Estuary for the Ministry of Defence. To my everlasting shame I was involved in the operation with the Army to go out to these forts and blow the gantries and walkways up, and pretty much make them inhabitable. Luckily the stations that broadcast from the ships lasted a bit longer.
Thank you ladies this if one of the best reaction videos yet and I have watched and liked quite a lot of your others.
I knew of these forts but had only seen pictures.
Very pleased they are being restored may they still be there in another 80 years.
Based on what he said I make it around 40 men per fort and they must have had a shift systen some on duty manniing the defences, others asleep and of course cleaning cooking replenishing supplies.
It must have been very noisy most of the time.
They were a special generation what they went through is unvelievable.
I regret I never said that to my parents while they were still here.
Mother worked in food production and ran the house.
Father was converting American aircreft for use by the RAF and fleet air arm,
After a full days work he came home ate a meal put on a uniform and went out on patrol in the home guard.
I think it would probably be correct to say that it is likely to be quite a long time before the activity of renovating one of these towers, is completed. We have a great tradition of “doing things properly”. The organizations responsible for “supervising” such work, especially if it involves the Army or the Royal Air Force, will insist that it is restored to at least its original standard. Those kind of activities are expensive and lengthy but, assuming it is completed, will be amazing!
Oooh cool idea for your channel Debbie doing DIY projects small ones I would love to see that x
Thank you so much for this video, I knew nothing about these structures, but now I do 👍
My grandfather was a REME 😊
That was awesome and amazing video, Ladies thank you guys ♥️🇦🇺
Kent has a fantastic and interesting history, particularly Medway which is mentioned in this video. The Montgomery is a fascinating story. I believe that if it did explode it would take out a huge part of the county. Hugely proud to be from this area!
Splendid video!
I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet (as I don't have the time to scroll through all the comments) but these forts were a major location for the 1968 'Doctor Who' story 'Fury From The Deep'. Sadly destroyed and missing from the BBC archives but a reconstruction was put out a year or so ago on DVD which features a visit to the forts as an extra. Well worth a butchers! Keep up the good work!
Our glorious servicemen/women, so brave and protected us from the enemy. They were simply amazing❤️❤️❤️👋👋👋 We are forever indebted to them. Thank you ladies for showing so much love and interest for our country😍 We are great allies to each other.
Wow, great skills Debbie, I wouldn't have guessed your day job.
That's not her day job...she's a full-time hairstylist. She's just incredibly skilled at anything she tries
I always get educated when I watch your videos. I'm born and bred in the UK and did not know any of this. This was very interesting. Thank you Natasha and Debbie.
I remember pirate radio alright, but I'd be hard-pressed to say I knew where they were or anything about the history of them.
I've been a subscriber for about 2 years now and this is one of my fave videos you did. Love from Coventry UK
Theres loads of these the 2 near me in the North one is for sale and the other was meant to be a detox centre but it hasn't opened in the 5 yrs since they planned it.
Sending you love from within sight of those fortresses (Southend, as mentioned towards the start of the video) - thanks as always :-)
I love the enthusiasm you ladies have for all things British you’re like history teachers for even us Brits 🇬🇧🤩🥰
Also a few miles away (towards Essex) is a piece of the famous floating “mulberry harbour” that broke apart and sank in 1944. These were floating concrete pontoons used for The D Day landings.
Hi. We went out on a tourist boat from the end of Southend-on-Sea Pier. It was so rough when we hit the incoming tide, lol! It was, however, so worth seeing the Forts and the Montgomery's masts. We also saw one of the peregrine falcons that nest on the forts. Wish I could show you some of our photos. X
Never was so much owed by so many to so few
London isn't the only place with weird structures in the sea , there are also permanent forts in the Solent just off the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, at least one of them has been sold and was converted to a hotel in the middle of the sea, not sure if it still is but it might be worth checking out.
For me , I saw somewhere about these forts , it was briefly describe. Thanks for this informative vid . I never would have sought it out . U 2 always present vids, that make me want to watch !
these are amazing my dad in the 60s used to listen to the pirate radio stations from these forts and also radio caroline on the ship in the north/irish sea. i dont know of any of my family to be on these forts but we had my grandad at dunkirk dring ww2 as a mine sweeper on the beaches great video as always
More than twenty years ago I was asked to land a helicopter on one of the towers. The had tide monitoring equipment on one of the towers for the Thames Barrier and when they are becalmed the batteries go dead and a boat has to be sent out. it was like a time capsule with war time pinups still on the walls.
i live in margate and have been out to these a few times on my jet ski
The whole story of British Pirate Radio would be worth looking at. The most famous of the pirate stations was Radio Caroline which broadcast from a ship in the North Sea. There is a feature film called "The Boat that Rocked" which is an affectionate look at that era.
I’m from Southend-on-Sea and was a member of a party of schoolchildren on an end of term trip to France. This was during the height of the pirate radio station era, where some of these forts were being broadcast from. As our ferry passed by, the radio DJs would wave to us. Across from my parent's house in Southend was farmland, where as kids me and my brothers would go blackberry picking. Occasionally we would come across concrete bunkers which were built during the war as a homeland defence system and would house machine guns, just in case the Germans invaded. As a footnote, we never made it to France as we were hit by a storm with force eight gale force winds and had to turn back.
Hi Natasha and Debbie, I remember listening to Radio 390, an “easy listening music station, back in the 1960s.
Another pirate radio station, Radio City, broadcast from the neighbouring Shivering Sands sea fort.
An episode of Patrick McGoohan’s Danger Man ( USA: Secret Agent) - “Not So Jolly Roger”was filmed on the Red Sands sea fort in 1966.
Best wishes from Oxfordshire 🇬🇧❤️🇺🇸
Hi again, I have just watched the Danger Man / Secret Agent video of “Not So Jolly Roger”.
The 1966 film shows more clearly what the sea fort would have been/looked like at that time. “Radio 390” was still broadcasting from Red Sands at that time.
Had a trip on a Thames Sailing Barge out to them a few years ago,very impressive up close !
I can see these from where I live (not literally my house) but from the beach all around here. I’ve been lucky enough to fly around them in a light aircraft, was amazing.
On a map of Britain, go to the bottom right-hand corner; the Thames comes out of London, past Greenwich and several smaller port towns, until it becomes part of the North Sea.
The land on the southern side of the estuary is Kent, and the smaller rivers that enter the estuary include the Medway and the Swale.
There is a quite large island, and several smaller ones, near there is Hoo, where part of the first Wonder Woman film was shot (the gas factory), and the larger island (Sheppey) has a town; Sheerness-on-sea.
On the North-facing beach there, can be seen on a good day, two different sets of sea forts, one of which is Red Sands, the S.S. Montgomery liberty ship (surprisingly close), and a a couple of larger at-sea wind-farms.
There are usually ships entering and leaving port as well.
I'm sure that during the war, people thought the sea forts looked like H. G. Wells' Martian War Machines from the illustrations in 'The War of the Worlds'.
An update to my comments earlier, the best example of the Victoria Cross video is the Timeline - World History Documentaries,.
I look at them every morning from the Herne Bay seafront!
Dover Castle would be worth a visit. Henry VIII visited, there are also two sets of tunnels cut into the white cliffs. One for Napoleon invasion threat and one for WW2 use. You can go into the WW2 one. All set up with radio rooms, war room, hospital, bunks, etc. Then you can go by train, car or bus to Leeds Castle and visit that, which is about 25 miles up the road. You can stay there overnight. Canterbury is not far away. Plenty of other historical sites to see. Same county has Whitstable, Herne Bay, Ashford, Tunbridge Wells, Folkestone, Maidstone, Westerham (Churchills house), great beaches, stunning countryside, London nearby. Loads of castles and historical buildings.
Another brilliant video 👍 fascinating and again so much respect to the military and all involved in the making of these structures. 💞🇬🇧
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Brilliant video. I have grown up with these towers and the lesser known navy variety, which looked like a ship. There used to be one off the coast of Margate that succumbed to the weather and the platform toppled into the surrounding sea relatively recently, all that is left now is a stump of the legs and then, only at low water. Loving the videos you are doing, so glad I found your channel. Keep up the amazing work ladies.
Thanks so much! ❤️
I remember that one as a kid, looking at it from Botany Bay (where I lived) and remember it as a "bridge" on the horizon. I asked my dad what it was and he told me it was a fort.
I know Natasha and Debbie love military history, i highly recommend ,”Jeremy Clarksons greatest raid of all , Clarksons Victoria Cross documentaries “. 09:00 hrs ❤
They said 220 men in a SET OF SEVEN….”EACH set of 7” not each tower.
Hello Natasha & Debbie. Another interesting video. At one point Dan Snow mentioned how many planes and ”Doodle Bugs” were spotted and fired at? A Doodle Bug is the slang name for the German V1 Vengeance weapon. This was the first cruise missile. It was a flying bomb with a very early jet engine that had a very crude guidance system. These were set off from occupied France and flew until their fuel run out. They made an awful noise but when the noise stopped it fell to the earth and exploded. The RAF tried to shoot them down or to get so close, wing tip to wing tip to tip them over. A very morale sapping weapon. Later came V2 which was a rocket that left the atmosphere and dropped to earth without a sound except the bang.
The V1 used a 'Pulsejet' engine,not like the normal jet engine