sea estruktures -guda arkitekturak war architectures-
Of all man-made constructions to be found at sea, surely some of the most spectacular are those built for military purposes during wars. A prime example of this is the Maunsell Forts, built during World War II. These forts were built along the English coast and in different estuaries in order to detect enemy ships, mines and aircraft flying across the English Channel to attack the British mainland. What really interests us, however, is what became of these Mad Max and Waterworld-like constructions once the war had finished.
From 1964 onwards, in response to strict control and censorship by the British Government, the forts were ‘boarded’ by ‘pirate’ groups that set up many free pirate radio stations: Radio Caroline, Radio Sutch, Radio Invicta, King Radio,... and amongst those was the infamous BBMS (Britain’s Better Music Station) set up by Paddy Roy Bates on the Knock John tower. When the station was closed down, he remained there and founded the micro-nation The Principality of Sealand, the smallest country in the world. We are not particularly interested in this last part of the story, not since the creation of the principality anyway. We don’t really have much time for the monarchy.
From 1964 onwards, in response to strict control and censorship by the British Government, the forts were ‘boarded’ by ‘pirate’ groups that set up many free pirate radio stations: Radio Caroline, Radio Sutch, Radio Invicta, King Radio,... and amongst those was the infamous BBMS (Britain’s Better Music Station) set up by Paddy Roy Bates on the Knock John tower. When the station was closed down, he remained there and founded the micro-nation The Principality of Sealand, the smallest country in the world. We are not particularly interested in this last part of the story, not since the creation of the principality anyway. We don’t really have much time for the monarchy.
