Anyone who has lived in Dover for any length of time cannot fail to be amazed at the changes that have taken place in the port over the years. One day when pacing the cliffs I reflected upon the old submarine pens at the Camber and my immediate memory was the Herculean task of demolishing them! Apart from that I knew very little – except that they were never designed for submarines! Mulling it over I asked Nigel Thornton, who came up with an article by the late David Collyer, originally published in the Dover Harbour Board magazine Port News of March 1990, which I am grateful to DHB for allowing me to reproduce – John Mavin
Over the last 80 years Dover Harbour has had many distinguishing landmarks. But that which has given rise to so much speculation, as well as being one of the most prominent features over the past 48 years, is the large structure known as “The Submarine Pens” on the Camber crosswall. Although the “Harbour of Refuge” had been completed in 1909, it was by no means ready for war in August 1914. The Admiralty had neglected to provide any but the barest permanent facilities, concentrating their resources and finance on the new naval base at Rosyth. However a start had been made on the north-eastern corner of the harbour in 1913 on a submarine shelter with a pair of breakwaters being constructed at the junction of the Eastern Arm with the shore. The area formed, known as the Camber, was utilised for mooring small craft such as launches, pinnaces, tugs and motor torpedo boats.
Royal Naval motor launches at the Camber during WW 1
During World War 1 materials were shipped to France from ports such as Dover, Folkestone and Ramsgate by barge until the new “Mystery Port” on the River Stour at Richborough was constructed in 1916. At Dover, a suitable sheltered anchorage for loading and discharge of these barges was found in the Camber. This sheltered anchorage became redundant for barge operations when Port Richborough began operations in February 1917. The Camber was then used for housing light naval craft such as the motor launches, motor torpedo boats and also submarines which formed the 4th Submarine Flotilla until 1917, after which Dover housed the 5th Flotilla, formerly based at Sheerness. The crews lived aboard HMS Arrogant which was the depot ship providing accommodation for the Senior Officer of the Flotilla, his staff and for the off duty crews. The vessel also had a machine shop for minor repairs and storage space for torpedoes and supplies.
The depot ship HMS Arrogant
The area to the shore side of the Camber was within the area of the Admiralty Dockyard. Gradually the facilities for ship repair and overhaul were installed. The Camber was also utilised for housing the Admiralty’s floating dock and crane, which were removed to Rosyth when the Royal Navy evacuated their dockyard in 1925. At the end on World War 1 the Admiralty utilised their dockyard facilities for ship-breaking operations, which was continued by Mssrs. Stanlee on the same site. With the outbreak of World War II the Camber was again used by the Royal Navy for accommodating their smaller vessels, motor torpedo boats and motor gunboats, launches and other miscellaneous craft. But no protection had been provided for the light naval craft which were vulnerable to bomb and shell splinters, as well as machine gun and cannon fire. After the attacks on Dover Harbour during the Battle of Britain from July - September 1940, when the harbour shipping and facilities were bombed, the Royal Navy withdrew their destroyer flotilla. The motor gunboats, motor torpedo boats and, after December 1940, the Air Sea Rescue Launches of the Royal Air Force, were still vulnerable to attack. The Royal Navy therefore required some protected accommodation for their vessels, and this need was re-emphasised with the commencement of the “Hit and Run” raids by fighter-bombers of the Luftwaffe which started in the winter of 1940-41. The German navy had been provided with re-enforced concrete shelters for their marine craft such as “E” and “R” boats, submarines and “soft skinned” vessels in the harbours along the coast of occupied France and Belgium to protect them from RAF bombing raids. Therefore, in March 1941, the Admiralty Engineering Department at Chatham drew up plans for the construction of a similar bomb and shell-proof structure to protect smaller naval vessels, especially during regular night-time “sneak” raids on the harbour. The structure was designed with a thick re-enforced concrete roof and the wall facing the sea was also thickened to provide protection from shell fire. The main construction of the building was of brick-faced re-enforced concrete; open sided towards the Camber with two-storied accommodation built on the Camber crosswall. The fourteen “pens” were separated by several re-enforced concrete piers and access walkways were provided between these leading to a gallery at the rear (seaward) side. Construction was undertaken by the Royal Marine Engineers, who had been formed to take over construction work at ports and harbours from the Royal Engineers. This is confirmed by Mr. W Taylor Allen, a retired general manager of the Harbour Board: “In 1941 I was stationed at the Royal Marine Barracks at Deal, and visited Dover Harbour where a detachment from the RM Engineers were building the so-called submarine pens, although they were never designed to accommodate such craft, only motor launches and motor torpedo boats (and Air Sea Rescue Launches if there was room) “One problem that did arise after the pens were brought into use was the types of launch they were designed for were being replaced by other vessels. Having a roof high enough to accommodate the original mast heights at Spring tides, the later models had to lower their masts before entering the pens at certain times” (the above conflicts with the apocryphal story that the roof was not designed high enough because the architect had forgotten about Spring tides!). The portion of the structure in the Camber was built on a series of driven concrete piles. This work was done from a steam-powered pile driver mounted on a barge, and the roof (13 feet thick) was supported on castellated steel beams, the concrete being cast against steel shuttering. Side walls were approximately six feet, with the one on the seaward side thickened to approximately 12 feet. One of those who recall using the accommodation is Mr. W. D. Pereira who was stationed at Dover while serving with the RAF Air Sea Rescue Service in the winter of 1941. “The massive structure had been built to protect submarines, other naval craft and air/sea rescue craft in that order. The building had room for about 24 vessels. We managed to find a space and while manoeuvring into it, I viewed the structure with wonder and admiration. A submarine, two frigates, also rows of torpedo and gunboats lay alongside a series of projecting walkways. At the inner ends of these, steps led to a crosswalk extending the whole width of the pens. Off the crosswalk were washing and toilet facilities for the crews. Green lights high overhead gave the vast interior a subterranean glow”. Sleeping accommodation was provided, together with a mess room, a galley and a communications room so that crews of vessels being housed overnight could keep in touch with their shore base or other vessels, in case of any emergency. For protection the flat roof mounted re-enforced concrete pill-box-cum observation posts, complete with mountings for a light machine gun such as the twin-Lewis or Browning. Power for lighting and heating was provided by a large Lister diesel generator (which was still in situ up until three years ago) housed in an engine room off the gallery. As well as British and Commonwealth (Empire) personnel who enjoyed the facility of the “Submarine Pens”, the torpedo and motor gunboats of the Light Coastal Forces based at Dover also included those manned by ex-patriate crews from European countries. On one occasion HRH Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands inspected some of his countrymen at the pens, and Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and his wife also visited and inspected a line-up of MTB crews and a detachment of WRNS personnel lined-up on the crosswall. From a photograph taken at this visit, it is evident that a spur line from the extensive railway system around the Eastern Docks had been laid along the Camber crosswall, and had probably been used for then delivery of materials during the construction of the pens.
The Eastern Docks in the early 1950s, with the pens on bottom left
Since the end of Word War II, when the pens became redundant for their original use, they have housed the Dover lifeboat, the Dover Harbour Board’s patrol launch and the local Range Launches. The Royal Navy maintained its presence in the harbour until 1984 with the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS), who were accommodated in the pens, but they have now been relocated elsewhere and over the past three years the Camber has been in-filled and the pens themselves have become land-locked. As to the name “Submarine Pens”, although some of the smaller type of submarine could be accommodated, it was mostly other light naval craft, the ASR launches and MTB’s which utilised this facility. Thus, it can be assumed, the association the Camber had with those submarines during World War 1 is the reason for the false description of this World War II structure.
1988, and the in-filling of the Camber left the submarine pens land-locked.
It will be interesting to monitor the progress of demolition of the pens bearing in mind they were originally designed to withstand the worst the Germans could throw against them during 1942-45! This will be achieved with the use of pneumatic breakers. David G. Collyer Footnote: The pens did not let anyone down. Shortly after this article was written the demolition teams moved in and slowly reduced them to rubble – and what a job it was. But no-one thought it would be easy! The site was developed as a cargo terminal.
The Camber today
Thanks once again to Dover Harbour Board for allowing me to reproduce David Collyer’s article, and to Nigel Thornton for bringing it to my attention. 
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