Undersea oil pipeline operation in World War II (1939-1945)
This article is about the Second World War operation. "Operation Pluto" was also the codename for the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
"PLUTO" and "Pipeline Under the Ocean" redirect here. For the 2005 album by Pluto, see Pipeline Under the Ocean (album). For other uses, see Pluto (disambiguation).
A Conundrum is towed across the English Channel laying out pipe to Cherbourg
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Operation Overlord (Battle of Normandy)
Prelude
Atlantic Wall
Bodyguard
Fortitude
Zeppelin
Titanic
Taxable, Glimmer & Big Drum
Combined Bomber Offensive
Pointblank
Transport Plan
Postage Able
Tarbrush
Tiger
Fabius
Airborne assault British Sector
Tonga
Caen canal and Orne river bridges
Merville Battery
Mallard
American Sector
Albany
Boston
Chicago
Detroit
Elmira
Normandy landings American Sector
Omaha
Utah
Pointe du Hoc
Anglo-Canadian Sector
Gambit
Sword
Juno
Gold
Port-en-Bessin
Logistics
American
Operation Chastity
British
Mulberry
Pluto
Ground campaign American Sector
Brécourt Manor
Graignes
La Haye-du-Puits
Saint-Lô
Carentan
Hill 30
Cherbourg
Naval
Anglo-Canadian Sector
Caen
Bréville
Perch
Villers-Bocage
Le Mesnil-Patry
Normandy massacres
Ardenne Abbey
Douvres
Martlet
Epsom
Windsor
Charnwood
Jupiter
2nd Odon
Atlantic
Goodwood
Verrières Ridge
Breakout
Cobra
Spring
Bluecoat
Totalize
Lüttich
Tractable
Hill 262
Chambois
Falaise
Saint-Malo
Brest
Mantes-Gassicourt
Paris
La Rochelle
Air and Sea operations
Ushant
La Caine
Cherbourg
Pierres Noires
Audierne Bay
Supporting operations
Dingson
Samwest
Titanic
Cooney
Bulbasket
Houndsworth
Loyton
Jedburgh
Dragoon
Wallace & Hardy
Aftermath
Cemeteries
Operation Pluto (Pipeline Under the Ocean or Pipeline Underwater Transportation of Oil, also written Operation PLUTO) was an operation by British engineers, oil companies and the British Armed Forces to build submarine oil pipelines under the English Channel to support Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy during the Second World War.
The British War Office estimated that petrol, oil, and lubricants would account for more than 60 per cent of the weight of supplies required by the expeditionary forces. Pipelines would reduce the need for coastal tankers, which could be hindered by bad weather, were subject to air attack, and needed to be offloaded into vulnerable storage tanks ashore. A new kind of pipeline was required that could be rapidly deployed. Two types were developed, named "Hais" and "Hamel" after their inventors. Two pipeline systems were laid, each connected by camouflaged pumping stations to the Avonmouth-Thames pipeline.
The first was the not-very-successful "Bambi" project, which connected Sandown on the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg in Normandy. Deployment of Bambi began on 12 August 1944, and it delivered just 3,300 long tons (3,400 t) between 22 September, when the first pipeline became operational, and 4 October, when it was terminated. More successful was "Dumbo", which ran from Dungeness on the Kent coast to Boulogne in Pas-de-Calais. The Dumbo system began pumping on 26 October, expanded to 17 pipelines by December, and remained in action until 7 August 1945. Ultimately, the pipelines carried about 8 per cent of all petroleum products sent from the United Kingdom to the Allied Expeditionary Force in North West Europe, including some 180 million imperial gallons (820 million litres) of petrol.
OperationPluto (Pipeline Under the Ocean or Pipeline Underwater Transportation of Oil, also written OperationPLUTO) was an operation by British engineers...
returning from bombing raids over Germany in poor visibility, and OperationPluto, which installed prefabricated fuel pipelines between England and France...
V took part in pipelaying activities during July 1944, as part of OperationPluto, which brought together British scientists, oil companies and the armed...
a planned launch in January 2006 and arrival at Pluto in 2015. Alice Bowman became Mission Operations Manager (MOM). New Horizons is the first mission...
were mainly supplied by rail. Fuels were brought by tankers and the OperationPluto pipeline from the UK, and delivered by barge and pipeline to the army...
Huddell, a ship converted in 1944 into a pipe transport to support OperationPluto, was transferred to Greece and converted to a floating museum dedicated...
tragic results. Operation Biting – captured a Würzburg radar. Operation Starkey – a staged invasion of Europe in 1943. OperationPluto – construction of...
States and Cuba. Peter Pan (1960s) — transfer of Cubans to the US OperationPluto (1961) — plan to invade Cuba and overthrow its government using a CIA-trained...
225 Hastings, p. 256 Wilmot, p. 389 Clymer, Samuel (August 2011). "OperationPluto: The Red Ball Express" (PDF). The Intercom. 34 (8): 8. Archived from...
involvement in the Second World War, when it was used to carry one of the OperationPluto pipelines and as training area for the 40 Royal Marine Commando battalion...
re-supply. Many innovative elements were included in the operation to ensure its success. OperationPluto was a scheme developed by Arthur Hartley, chief engineer...
together with all the major departments, on the latest plan (code-named OperationPluto), which involved 1,000 men landed in a ship-borne invasion at Trinidad...
submarine oil pipeline was conducted with one laid across the Medway in OperationPluto. The Medway's 'marriage' to the Thames is given extensive treatment...
submarines. The island was the starting point for one of the earlier OperationPluto pipelines to feed fuel to Europe after the Normandy landings. The Needles...
equipping and organizing a Cuban exile force. The Cubans executed "OperationPluto", an amphibious paratroop invasion of Cuba at Bahia de Conchinos, in...
many of whom were children in the same area as US military personnel. OperationPluto Lily: a floating airstrip using components developed for the Mulberry...
Natural gas pipeline system in the United States Gas networks simulation OperationPluto Petroleum transport Pigging Pipeline bridge Pneumatic tube, a method...
underwater oil pipelines were laid between Dungeness and France in OperationPluto. The lines from Dungeness were part of a network called "Dumbo" and...
cable technology to create the world's first submarine oil pipeline in OperationPluto during World War II. Active fiber-optic cables may be useful in detecting...
ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Pluto, after Pluto, a God of Roman mythology: HMS Pluto (1745) was an 8-gun fire ship purchased from civilian...
On 23 December 2023, the tanker Chem Pluto was struck by a anti-ship missile or drone while it was carrying oil from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to New Mangalore...
during Operation Overlord – 'D-Day'. Other significant military engineering projects of World War II include Mulberry harbour and OperationPluto. Modern...
construction of artificial ports (Operation Mulberry) and an underwater pipeline across the English Channel (OperationPluto), intensive bombardment of railways...
Project Pluto was a United States government program to develop nuclear-powered ramjet engines for use in cruise missiles. Two experimental engines were...
pipeline that had been laid across the Firth of Clyde was the site of OperationPluto, the world's first deep-water test of its kind. This was one of many...
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