Pictures from Ari Phoutrides' Album
The Mulberry Harbors
Mulberries were artificial ports and breakwaters placed into
position off Arromanches and Saint Laurent. They had been in
construction for approximately 2 years prior to the invasion. The
"docks" consisted of floating piers connected by treadway
to the beach. The piers were devised so that the platform, or roadway,
could slide up and down with the tide on four posts that rested on the sea
bottom. The breakwater combined hollow, floating concrete caissons
about six stories high with old merchant ships. Lined up end to end off the French
Coast, the ships and caissons were sunk by opening their sea cocks.
The Mulberries were not in operation long; a great storm two weeks after D-Day knocked out the American Mulberry and badly damaged the British one.
From a distance
A closer view
Real close