BLOCKED GERMAN PORTS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25181, 12 May 1947, Page 3

BLOCKED GERMAN PORTS

1,500,000 TONS OF SUNKEN VESSELS CLEARANCE PRESENTS BIG TASK When Germany capitulated. 1,500.000 tons of sunken naval vessels and merchant shipping blocked her ports. Not a single port of importance—with the exception of Bremen all are in the British zone—was accessible to seagoing shipping. . « iSince then, writes Reuters Berlin correspondent, every port has been opened up, more than 250.000 tons of shipping and floating docks successfully salvaged, and unknown masses of underwater obstructions destroyed and dispersed. Nevertheless, it is estimated that it will take another five years, assuming that present resources and supplies remain available, to complete one of the biggest tasks created by Germany’* utter collapse and defeat. The Royal Navy was charged in the initial stages of penetration into Germany and later occupation with reopening sea-going oorts in order to reduce the Army's dependence upon the road and battered rail links with Antwerp and the Channel ports. This first task completed, wider interests emerged, ana in December, 1945, the salvage section of the shipping branch (transport division) was ordered to plan and prepare the longterm programme now in operation. Clearance of navigable channels and the freeing of berths of sunken vessels take top priority. Work is going on under acute natural and technical difficulties, and amid hazards of the minefields still uncleared by the German minesweepers operating under the command of the Royal Navy. Many wrecks have been sunk where under-water demolition is the only way of freeing a channel. Massive blocks of granite and concrete from quays which collapsed into the water under terrific bombardment present another difficult problem for a salvage fleet, some of whose ships, drawn from an inadequate pool, are good, but many of which are bad or indifferent and whose equipment is severely limited. Hamburg Clearance Last year the 2z,000-ton liner Robert Ley—once famous as* the “Strength Through Joy” summer cruiser, whose luxuries were a prize for picked party members—was lying sunk at its Hamburg berth, gutted, and with a heavy list. To-day she has been brought to an even keel and is ready to be towed away. Another Hamburg feat has been the salvaging of a 1700-ton floating dock. In the few channels now. opened, however, shipping casualties still occur. The occasional mine or the unsuspected underwater obstruction still underline the heavy job ahead before the present programme—designed only to meet the needs of occupation and Germany’s minimum requirements for survival—is completed.