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PLUTO. (Pipe line under the ocean.)
At this distance in time, I suggest we tend to forget some of the incredible achievements associated with the 1944 landings on the west coast of France. Pluto or the pipe line under the ocean is a case in point. Background It was known that oil storage facilities located near the English Channel would be vulnerable to attack by the Luftwaffe. To reduce the risk of losses, a network of pipelines was, during early discussions about PLUTO, already under construction. This was designed to carry fuel from safer storage and port facilities around Bristol and Liverpool to the English Channel. This network would later be linked to the planned pipeline at Skanklin on the Isle of Wight and Dungeness further to the west. (see map below). The terminals and pumping stations were heavily disguised as bungalows, gravel pits, garages and even an ice cream shop!
Planning & Preparation In the early part of 1942 Geoffrey Lloyd MP, who was in charge of the UK's fuel policy, met with the Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations (CCO) and others to consider the fuel supply issue. There was no 'of the shelf' solution that did not invite the Luftwaffe to attack shore installations or slow pipe-laying and support vessels. Lloyd approached Sir William Fraser CBE Chairman of the Anglo-Iranian Petroleum Corporation.- They picked up on an idea of Mr Hartley, the Chief Engineer of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., to use existing submarine cable technology, minus the core, as the basic building block of a petrol pipeline. Siemens Brothers & Co Ltd., of Woolwich, London, who were experienced in the design and manufacture of such cables, eagerly took up the challenge. Other design work was undertaken by Henlys, Pirelli, Johnson & Phillips, the National Physical Laboratory and the Post Office. It was a complex task and there were many failures arising from twists, kinks, bursts and collapse due to external water pressure and other powerful forces. Design Specifications The Post Office cable ship Iris laid lengths of both Siemens’ and Henleys’ cable in the Clyde. Both pipelines were completely successful and PLUTO was formally brought into the plans for the invasion of Europe. The project was deemed ‘strategically important, tactically adventurous, and, from the industrial point of view, strenuous’. The Clyde trials showed that it was necessary to maintain an internal pressure of about one hundred pounds per square inch in the pipeline at all times, even during manufacture, to prevent distortion or collapse. In addition it was found that existing cable ships were not large enough and their loading and laying gear were not sufficiently powerful and robust for the task. To tackle the inadequacy of the pipe handling and laying gear on board the cable ships the Petroleum and Warfare Department turned to Johnson and Phillips for a solution. Mr G Whitehead re-designed the gear and a number of merchant ships were converted to pipe-laying duties by stripping out their interiors, installing larger cylindrical steel tanks and fitting strengthened special hauling gear, sheaves and guides. These modifications took account of the fact that the minimum diameter needed to coil the pipe was ten-feet. The final equipment was fitted to HMS Holdfast. The design, manufacture and testing of couplings to join sections of pipe together also presented complex problems. The aim was to achieve leak free joints in a relatively straightforward process that was quick to complete and and did not require highly qualified engineers and sophisticated equipment. Siemen's were entrusted with the design, testing and manufacture of the couplings and the training of personnel. The expertise of lead-burners Frank Stone and his brothers Albert and Ron was called upon. They produced sample joints which were tested and refined until they passed all tests. They were awarded the contract for the manufacture of the joints and working 18 hours per day for 2 years made 500 joints at Siemens and 800 at Calmens who had been sub-contracted to manufacture some of the pipelines. Each length of pipe was sealed at both ends and pressurised during the manufacturing process using 'copper bursting discs.' Within the coupling the two pipe ends were only an inch or so apart and when the full operating pressure was applied the discs burst open allowing the free flow of petrol. (See below).
The complexities and commercial scale of the operation needed specialised knowledge in many disciplines and suitably qualified people were drawn in as advisers and experts. One such was John Augustus Oriel, Chief Chemist of Shell Petroleum Co., Ltd., of London who was a Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry GBI. Despite suffering from impaired vision, as a result of a gassing incident in the 1st World War, he made a substantial contribution to the PLUTO project. Hundreds of miles of pipeline were needed and there were concerns over the supply of lead and the time available for manufacture. Two senior engineers (Hammick & Ellis) working on the project, had experience of laying 3" steel pipelines. They recalled that these were also flexible when laid in long lengths. This was welcome news and a parallel project was set up to find a second solution using steel pipes. For security reasons the two distinct systems were known as HAIS, a flexible multi layered lead based pipe and HAMEL a steel pipe. The former took the initials from Mr Hartley the inventor, Anglo/Iranian his employer, and Siemen the designers & manufactures while the latter was derived from Mr Henry Alexander Hammick Chief Engineer of the Iraq Petroleum Company Oil and Mr Ellis, Chief Engineer of the Burmah Oil Company. It was essential in war time to use terminology that would convey nothing to the enemy. As a fall back the use of pipe or pipeline was forbidden and all concerned were encouraged to think of cables rather than pipes or pipelines. Both systems had to be capable of laying down their pipes on the sea-bed in a fast single procedure. The HAIS pipe would be coiled on board the cable laying vessel and fed out as the vessel progressed across the Channel and the HAMEL pipe would be coiled around huge drums towed behind a tug-like vessel and fed out as they drum rolled along. The final specification of the HAIS pipeline was for a flexible pipe comprising an inner lead pipe of 3 inches diameter, two layers of prepared paper tape, 1 layer of bitumen prepared cotton tape, 4 layers of mild steel tape, jute bedding, steel armour wires and an outermost layer of jute servings. Each mile of pipe used 24 tons of lead, 7.5 tons of steel tape and 15 tons of steel armour wire and smaller amounts of lighter materials. The external diameter of the pipe was 4.5 inches. Detailed specification; lead tube internal bore 3.05 ins, minimum thickness 0.175 ins coated with petroleum residue compound, two layers of 10 mm prepared tape two ins wide, one layer of bitumen prepared cotton tape 2.25 ins wide applied with slight overlap, four layers of unvarnished cold rolled mild steel strip 2 ins wide by .022 ins thick, coating of petroleum residue compound, one serving of tarred jute yarn, 57 galvanised mild steel wires each 0.192 ins and separately compounded, coating of compound, two servings of tarred jute yarn compound between layers and overall and finally a coating of whitewash. The outside diameter was about 4.5 ins, maximum bursting pressure was 4,350 lbs/sq in, weight per mile approximately 47 tons - 54.25 tons when filled with pressurised water.
Manufacture of Pipeline The cable was usually manufactured in continuous lengths of 40 miles weighing 2000 tons. The weight of the cable, pressurised with water for laying, was around 67 tons per nautical mile. It was designed to operate safely at a pressure of 1,500 lbs per square inch and tested to destruction at a pressure of 3,500 lbs per square inch. Glovers Cables, located in Manchester's Trafford Park Industrial Estate, took delivery of the first specially built HAIS pipeline manufacturing machine, followed later by a second machine. The remaining four being delivered to a cable firm on the Thames. It was rumoured that Glovers machines produced a hollow cable -- an electrical cable minus its core of electrical conductors. We also heard that the machines produced the special cable in such unprecedented lengths that they had to pass along an overhead conveyor. The conveyor and its cable hauling units formed an unmistakable landmark that extended from the end of Glovers works and delivered the cables to either a cable-ship berthed on the Manchester Ship Canal alongside Trafford Park, or coiled the unwieldy cable alongside the canal wharf for later shipment. Also involved in the production was British Insulated Callender's Cables (BICC) of Erith, Kent, England ... but even this was not enough to meet the demand so USA firms - General Electric, Phelps-Dodge, Okonite Callenders and General Cable were drafted in. Of the 710 miles of PLUTO pipeline manufactured 140 came from the USA. Soon after D Day, a continuous flow of petrol to meet the heavy demands of the liberation armies and air fleets was maintained by the 'Pipelines Under the Ocean.' These pipe-lines were vital arteries, which enabled the Allied Air Fleets and Land Forces to maintain the vital momentum needed to secure victory. Moreover Operation PLUTO made it possible to dispense with the fleets of tankers, which otherwise would have been necessary and spared them the ordeal of concentrated enemy attacks in congested waters, thus undoubtedly saving many hundreds of gallant lives. Pipe-Laying Operations
The importance of this trial was manifest in the list of those monitoring its progress - Mr Hartley and Mr Tombs of Anglo Iranian Oil, Mr Colby of Iraq Petroleum, Mr Betson of the Post Office, Commander Hardy of the Admiralty and Mr Whitehead of Johnson and Phillips who had designed the pipe handling equipment. A number of setbacks followed. It took much longer than expected to effect a good joint, the pipeline was damaged and a tanker dragged her anchor and severed the line. It was 100 days before pumping began at a rate of 1500 gallons per hour. It was a modest beginning but would eventually lead to 1,000,000 gallons per day being pumped across the channel. Production of the 3" pipe started at Woolwich in September 1943 and a number of lengths had been completed a year later one of which was 40 miles long and weighing in at 2,200 tons. Many regarded PLUTO as yet another wild fantasy of C.O.H.Q. Concerns were alleviated to some extent by the concurrent use of 'Tombola,' a conventional tanker-ship to shore storage system. This was set up at Port-en-Bessin and at Ste. Honorine two miles further to the west and was fully operational by June 14 1944. (Photos below courtesy of the US National Archives and the US Military History Institute).
All possible land based installations in the UK were in place in readiness for the invasion and Operation PLUTO formally started on 12/8/44 more than two months after D-Day. It seemed that the delays in the Bristol Channel were revisited upon the project. As the Allies advanced, the pipeline was extended from Mont Cauvin towards Carentan. In August Pluto Minor was connected to the major system coming from the Isle of Wight via Cherbourg. The main 'Pipeline Under the Ocean' operation was initially based on Cherbourg and the laying process, over the 70 miles from the Isle of Wight to the Cherbourg peninsula, took as little as 10 hours. However, on the approaches to the beach, there was an unforeseen difficulty which catapulted ordinary individuals into dealing with issues well beyond their normal experience and sometimes drawing on long-forgotten solutions. One such concerned pulling the HAIS pipe up the beach at Cherbourg. A mobile winch was needed and when the engineers calculated the power required there was much shaking of heads and dark muttering that no such device existed. There was however a most unlikely solution from an earlier age as information taken from a 1965 article by Captain J.F. Hutchings explains. [Photo; pipelines arriving on the Isle of Wight from Hampshire courtesy of John Farthing.]
"It appears that a naval officer charged with the task of getting the pipelines across the Channel was having difficulties getting the pipes ashore. The officer recalled a boyhood memory of watching two steam powered ploughing engines at work. A phone call to the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries resulted in six (sic) engines being allocated to the PLUTO project. It appears that two engines went to the IoW... one each to Sandown and Thorpes Bay, one to Lepe at the entrance to Beaulieu River on the mainland opposite Cowes, one to the PLUTO training exercise area at Hengistbury Head near Bournemouth and one to France which was given the name STEVE - a Fowler class BB1 with works No 15220, built in 1918. The engine's modified hauling drum exerted a 14-ton pull to bring the pipes ashore." By the time the two HAIS flexible pipelines and two HAMEL steel pipelines were pumping petrol the Allied armies were well on their way to Belgium. The length of the supply lines needed to be shortened so 11 HAIS pipelines and 6 HAMEL pipelines were laid in a swept channel two miles wide between Dungeness and Ambleteuse near Boulogne. In all about 500 miles of pipeline were laid in an average laying time over the 30 mile stretch of about 5 hours. In January 1945 the system delivered a disappointing 300 tons but by March this had increased to 3000 tons and later still to 4000 tons. This amounted to over 1,000,000 gallons per day giving a total of 172,000,000 gallons delivered in total up to the end of hostilities. During the operation to lay the cables an HQ ship, several cable ships, tugs, trawlers and barges were employed on this specialised work - a total of 34 vessels with 600 men and officers under Captain J.F.Hutchings. Major Vessels Used Pipe Layers Empire Ridley Empire Baffin HMS Holdfast HMS Algerian All the above conversions were carried out by Green and Silley Weir Ltd,. London and all cable handling machinery was by Messrs Johnson & Phillips. Inshore Craft Hopper Barge Conun Drums Tugs HMRT Bustler - 3200 indicated horsepower ahead. HMRT Marauder - 3000 indicated horsepower ahead. HMRT Danube V a smaller craft astern of the two above to facilitate steering of the tow. The Salvage Fleet S/S Empire Ridley as per PLUTO Fleet S/S Empire Taw as per HMS Holdfast of the PLUTO Fleet. S/S Empire Tignes was a tanker of 407 gross tonnage built in 1943 for the German Navy. Prize 1945. It was converted to recover HAMEL steel pipes by Marine Contractors of Southampton. It was sold in 1949 to Risdon, Beazley & Co and became Topmast No 15. Sold to Dutch buyers in 1953 and in 1959 became an inland waterways tank barge. S/S Wrangler was a Mark III Tank Landing Craft converted by Marine Contractors Ltd. to recover HAMEL steel pipes and to undertake general salvage work M/V Redeemer was an ex Navy wooden hulled motor fishing vessel built in 1940. It served as tender to the recovery ships. National Archive, Kew, London Reference URL: http://www.combinedops.com/pluto.htm
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