BRITISH MYSTERY TOWERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16497, 6 August 1921, Page 3

BRITISH MYSTERY TOWERS.

NAVAL SECRET REVEALED, With the passage of time the greater secrets of the war are gradually hem© disclosed, a case in point being those enormous concrete structures which were built on the English side ot the Channel for a purpose which was most carefully concealed as long as the war lasted, and indeed, was known to a very few for a long period after the armistice. It will be remembered that the towers were built on the foreshore and were launched in the regulation fashion at high tide. They were circular in plan, with a maximum diameter at the base of about 200 ft, and they were some 250 ft in height. The whole thing constituted a huge, hollow, monolithic mass of great weight arid strength. Speculation naturally wa.s rife as to their purpose, and in this respect they shared attention with the so-called “ Hush-Hush ” ships themselves. Now, however, it appears that these two were only a pair out ot some score of similar towers which were to be built, and that their purpose was to assist in absolutely closing tho English Channel at. Dover against the passage of submarines. They were to be floated out and sunk at intervals of a mile, and serve as anchorages for very heavy chain nets which were to bo stretched from tower to tower. Their heights would have varied according to the depth of the water, and the tops of tho towers being clear of tho waves, were to be used as emplacements for batteries) of guns. Things were done on a big scale during the war, and certainly this scheme for absolutely shutting up the- Channel was one of the most ambitious. It would have cost a pretty penny by the time it was completed ; but considering the great strategical advantage of forcing submarines to pass out and return to the North Sea around tho north coast of Scotland, the venture would have been, well worth, ita groat cost-