marchwood_milport.zip

Marchwood Military Port (UK)

Module 10

In 1943 the little-known port of Marchwood in the UK was born on the far side of Southampton’s Test River, its purpose to ferry equipment and aid in the D-Day assault on Normandy beaches in 1944. With the coming of peace in 1945 a continuing military presence at Marchwood was needed to support the Army overseas.

Marchwood Military Port (MMP) or Marchwood Sea Mounting Centre (SMC) is situated on 289 acres of land on the western side of the River Test, which flows into the River Itchen and Southampton Water; more-or-less opposite ‘Southampton Container Docks’. The port came into its own once more in 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. Once again the job of loading all the equipment the troops would need for the fight ahead took place largely unnoticed at Marchwood. It was so important to the war in the South Atlantic that the government upgraded the base after the conflict. Marchwood is also the base-port for several Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships.

The port consists of three main jetties. The largest (Falkland Jetty) is 169 m long from the Ro/Ro Link Span pontoon and 33 m wide; it has had two dolphin extensions added and is capable of accepting vessels up to 203 m LOA and 25,000 tonnes displacement. The Ro/Ro Link Span Pontoon facility is capable of handling vessels with various ramp configurations. The Link span is 100t class and the pontoons can be ballasted to a free-board between 1-3 m. To the West of the Military Port lies the modern Marchwood Recycling Incinerator Plant.