Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

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October 25, 2014 by JImbo

New US Navy Shit a “Floating Base”

What a GREAT IDEA!

Why didn’t we think of this sooner?

Oh.

Wait…we did.

We had a thing called the “Mulberry Harbors” we used on D-Day to get supplies ashore.

 

The problem then (as now) was that the really BIG ships can’t get close enough to unload directly on the beach. It’s too shallow and they get stuck.

Small, flat bottomed boats can.

Sometimes medium sized ships can, if they’re specially made and the tide and beach is just right.

However, like I said it has to be PERFECT conditions and the ships have to be specially made. The tidal limitations are especially narrow.

Hence, the Mulberry Harbors.

They were made of concrete, but hollow so they floated. (Hey, steel is heavy too but they still make ships out of it!)

Then, they sink them when they’re close and fill them with dirt/etc. Instance harbor walls.

To these “Mulberries” they attached pontoon bridges called “Whale Roads.”

And… viola! You can pull your big freighters up to the concrete “harbor”, drive your trucks and tanks off and down the bridge to the beach!

(note the much larger freighters towards the bottom of the picture which can’t get near the beach normally)

These particular ones were used for many months and left there as time went on and the war moved into Germany. In fact they’re still there. Some parts are visible.

Some are just under the water.

I realize the Navy and Marines will say “these are different! They are ships, not harbors! We can move them if we need to!”

Well, so are oil platforms.

How do you think they get there? They carry them there, then fill them with water.

When the oil runs out, they empty the water out and load them back on a ship!

This isn’t “new technology.”None of it is. To claim otherwise is ignorant.

It’s ancient.

The Romans used this method 2,000 years ago.

It might even be older than that.

Compare that to a Mulberry Harbor under construction.

Looks pretty familiar doesn’t it?

How many times do we have to reinvent the wheel?

We keep going round and round, having to rediscover the same basic things the hard way because we refuse to learn from history.

(You get the point even if that isn’t even close to a mulberry bush)

 

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