OPERATION PLUTO

Evening Star, Issue 25927, 19 October 1946, Page 9

OPERATION PLUTO

ROMANCE OF CABLE-MAKING VITAL WAR-WINNING FACTOR A display of photographs in a Stuart street shop window dealing with Operation Pluto, which provided the means by which millions of gallons of petrol were pumped from England to the battlefields of Europe after D.Day, recalls a stupendous undertaking. The word Pluto was coined from t’%3 initial letters of “ pipe line under the ocean,” which aptly describes this feat of engineering. Behind the official story of Pluto there lies a romance of the cable-making industry, perhaps as significant as the first linking of Britain and America by the submarine telegraph cable. CORD MOUNTBATTEN’S IDEA. The story begins early in 1942, when Mr Geoffrey Lloyd, Minister in Charge of Petroleum Warfare Department, at a demonstration of flame-throwers, asked Lord Louis Mountbatten, then Chief of Combined Operations, if anything more could be done to assist she Continental operations then being planned. Lord Louis’s reply was “ Yes. Can you lay an oil pipe line across the Channel?” The first reaction of the experts to whom Mr Lloyd referred this question was that it would be impossible, hut Mr. A. C. Hartley, C.8.E., put forward the idea of a pipe line like a submarine electric power cable without the conductors and insulation, as a* possible solution. Following on this suggestion, Mr Lloyd lost no time in having a short trial length of hollow cable made and this was tested in the Thames. Whilst the results were very promising, certain defects were revealed, and the trial brought into prominence the imperative need of a reliable lead pipe which must be absolutely free from all inherent weakr nesses. A well-known firm of cable makers was consulted, and after a period of intensive research and experiment an order for a 30-mile experimental length of cable was placed. This weighed approximately 1,000 tons and was laid across the Bristol Channel from Swansea to Ilfracombe. The experiment was a success and established the feasibility of the cross-Channel project.* For convenience of manufacture and transport, the lead tube which_ forms the actual pipe line was made in 700yard lengths and Operatives had to be trained in the technique of making special joints. This matter also involved a good deal of research and numerous tests to determine a method which would produce a joint possessing at least the same mechanical Rtrength as the tube itself. The application of the reinforcement and armour to the tube was a continuous process throughout the complete 35roile length. HUGE PROJECT. An idea of the immensity of the project is conveyed by the fact that one firm alone used 8,000 tons of lead, and 5,600 tons of steel wire and strip, as well as large quantities of other materials. Transporting and handling these huge bulks under war conditions was an enormous task, and great credit; is due ;to the suppliers whose ready co-operation made these vital supplies available. Soon after D.-Day a continuous flow of petrol to meet the stupendous demands of the liberation armies and air fleets was maintained by pipe lines under the English Channel. Those pipe lines were vital arteries which enabled the Allied air fleets and land forces to hammer the life out of the Reich. Moreover, Operation Pluto made it possible to dispense with the fleets of tankers which otherwise would have been necessary, and spared them the ordeal of concentrated enemv attacks in congested waters, thus undoubtedly saving many hundreds of lives. As our armies swept forward, so the pipe-line system was extended and in addition to the original crossing from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg, more lines were laid from Dungeness to Boulogne. Ultimately, a million gallons of petrol were being pumped daily direct from the Mersev to the Rhine via the British oil pipe grid system and the Pinto nine lines.