Image Bank
Swansea
Pipeline under the ocean
From at least 1942 there were plans to invade France and liberate it from German occupation. To get lots of men and supplies ashore, one way would have been to capture a big port quickly, but it was decided to land on the open beaches of Normandy, taking floating Mulberry breakwaters, and pumping fuel for all the vehicles across the English Channel. This is a piece of one of the pipelines, which supplied 172,000,000 gallons by the end of the war.
It was called ‘PLUTO’, short for ‘pipeline under the ocean’. Some of the tests were done in Swansea Bay, and the whole thing was laid across to France by a converted freighter, H.M.S.Holdfast. It was unrolled from around a huge drum (nicknamed H.M.S. Conundrum!) and sank to the sea bed.
Activity: What's the story?
Look at the picture and read, listen to, or print the story.