“Atomic Base” Being Built

Wanganui Chronicle, 16 December 1949, Page 7

“Atomic Base” Being Built

ON COAST OF NORTH AFRICA With the threat of an atomic armaments race becoming more definite, nations are seeking underground cover, states an article by Ferinand Tuohy in the “Daily Mail,” London. From the U.S. there is news of an “atom proof” hospital to be built at Long Beach, California. Meanwhile, the French have begun military burrowing. Almost unnoticed, i they the building what their Naval Chief of Staff (Admiral Lemonnier) has called an “atomic base” at Mers-el-Kebir, the wide bay next door to Oran, in Algeria. Mers-el-Kebir, which is Arabic for “the big port,” lies at the western end of the Mediterranean. The Spaniards fortified and held it for 300 years before the French took possession more than a century ago. It remained unchanged until 1939, when the French hastily decided they needed a reserve naval base much farther from Italian airfields than Bizerta and Toulon. In July, 1940, a considerable part of the French Fleet found itself at Mers-el-Kebir. Mr. Churchill had to order the bombardment of those French warships. But less than three years later British and American naval squadrons and convoys were making full use of Mers-el-Kebir, with enthusiastic French support. NATURAL ADVANTAGES A glance at the lie of the land reveals the advantages Mers-el-Kebir has for being the first atomic port. The bay takes the form of a semiellipse at either (seaward) extremity of which rises a rock about 1000 ft high—the Santon and the Santa-Cruz. But what clinches Mers-el-Kebir for its present purpose are the Murdjadjo heights. These dominate the arc of the bay around its entire length. In several places they fall almost sheerdown to the sea from an average height of 1500 ft, and it is inside this rocky mass the French are “burying” military installations which must be protected from the weightiest longrange projectiles, whether atomic bombs, rockets, guided missiles, longdistance Vi's, or super-blockbusters. At the same time a “water plan” is being followed to allow for maximum dispersal of individual ships inside the harbour. A great deal of work is necessary because Mers-el-Kebir is not an ideal naval base. Its waters are too exposed. So moles are being built, one of them more than two miles long, and breakwaters, the longest of which measures half a mile. UNPRECEDENTED SCALE The “burying” of military installations is, however, on a scale never before planned. At the arsenal will have a “roof” of rock 1000 ft thick. Barracks, workshops, fuel reservoirs and administrative offices will be under the same “roof.” Even part of the French Fleet will be able to shelter inside the mammoth rock rim. The sheer drop down to the water at certain points makes this unique naval development practicable. When one realises the magnitude of a first-class naval port, it would seem at first sight that the hdllowing-out of adequate space for all the analogous installations, and their subsequent construction underground must be a work of gigantic proportions. It would be so were the same lavish spreading followed as on the surface. But the exact opposite is being pursued; a maximum of compactness is being sought underground. The layout of a warship compartment is being followed by the French architects and engineers—the utmost in the smallest possible space. The initial cost is great: 27 per cent, of the entire French naval works budget.