Marine Peilstand, Naval direction-finding tower at Battery Lothringen in Jersey
The Marine Peilstand 1 tower, or MP1 tower, was used to observe targets at sea. The round tower is around 16 metres (52 ft) tall, and has four observation floors, each with a wide, and narrow embrasure (for observation purposes only). Each of these floors was assigned to observe for one of the four 15 cm naval guns. The tower has five floors, including a windowless lower floor, plus a further open rooftop floor. Access is gained via a steel door, at the top floor, which is protected by an adjacent embrasure, suitable for small arms. An Oerlikon 20 mm cannon was placed on the top of the tower for anti-aircraft purposes. In 2012, the gun is no longer present, but its steel support can be seen. The tower, built between April and October 1943, is located near the top of the steep sloping cliff, and extends no higher than the headland, which means its profile does not protrude into the sky when seen from afar. The visibility of the tower was reduced further using camouflage. It is one of three completed direction and range finding towers, of this type, in Jersey. Nine towers were planned, but only towers numbered 1 to 3 were built. The towers were to be positioned around the entire coast of Jersey, so that any neighboring pair of towers could work together to pin-point a precise location of a target using triangulation. The position of the target would be passed on to the artillery, so that the gun could be rotated, raised or lowered to the correct orientation to fire upon that position.
Size: 4505px × 6750px
Location: Noirmont, Jersey, Channel Islands
Photo credit: © Paul Williams / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: abseil, abseiling, artillery, battery, building, bunker, channel, coastal, command, defence, direction, direction-finding, finding, fire-control, fortification, islands, jersey, lothringen, marine, naval, noirmont, occupation, peilstand, point, rangefinder, tower, war, world
