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Earlier today, I was asked my thoughts on these concrete barges - you can read my responses in this thread. I haven't dedicated a huge amount of time to these barges yet though, so obviously I went a little bit further down the rabbit hole and turned up a few more details... https://twitter.com/Blitzwalker/status/1288104525316816898
Early in the development of the famous Beetle float, Wates construction were approached to develop a suitable concrete pontoon. Their first design, the PP1 (below), probably borrowed heavily from the company's concrete barge designs. https://www.flickr.com/photos/33297516@N05/3492478424/
But, a little extra digging reveals that whilst concrete barges weren't used in the development of Beetles, "converted [steel] Thames barges and abbreviated versions of concrete water barges" were used very early in the development of the Whale roadway spans...
I'm not sure what abbreviated means in this instance and exact design of barge is uncertain, but whatever it was, it was very early in the process. But is it just possible that some of these Ferro Cement Barges (FCBs) contributed just a little to Mulberry Harbour.
Were they used in Mulberry at Normandy? Emphatically no. However, this picture may be the cause of the rumour. these aren't Beetles, or even PP1s, and they do look like the FCBs at Rainham.
But they're not. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/prototype-pierhead-with-sections-of-floating-roadway-news-photo/499294765?adppopup=true
But they're not. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/prototype-pierhead-with-sections-of-floating-roadway-news-photo/499294765?adppopup=true
Looking closely at the bow and the hull, there are clearly a few designs in use, and none are quite the same as the ones at Rainham. Also this photo is apparently in Canada.
Whenever something concrete and floaty turns up, Mulberry seems the go to association. The reason Mulberry could be built and worked was only because maritime architects were already so proficient in using concrete as a ship building material already! https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060023128
Whilst I've been typing this, @FjordrInfo has turned up a few more details, which gives a few more leads to investigate further. https://twitter.com/FjordrInfo/status/1288194348635521026
These barges were apparently 200 tons, so they could be the same one mentioned. They weren't the only design of concrete barge in service though!
