Of Ship Halves, Salvage and Blockships...
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Originally Posted by Kipparikalle
Didn't the British sometimes hauled those half-sunken ships to the ports and put them as anti-submarine barricade?
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The case of the US tanker Esso Nashville was an interesting one in this respect - her stern stayed afloat and was indeed towed in. However, she was actually returned to sea after a new bow half was built for the salvaged stern. I know there are probably other stories of ship-halves being salvaged for this purpose, but I can't think of them right now. I could also probably find and post a link for the Esso Nashville story, but I don't really have time and most of the people here probably already know it anyway.:yep:
In regards to blockships, from what I have read, most of those used were empty, rusted hulls and obsolete and/or rusted drifters and barges that were already condemned in 1939. A few obsolete warships were used as blockships during the Normandy invasion as well, such as the British Centurion, the French Courbet, some UK D class light cruisers (Durban and Dragon I think), and the Dutch light cruiser Sumatra (sister ship of the Java). The latter case was for protection for the landing from the weather and not against submarines though.
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