Tourists prove Operation Sealion feasible

[vakarr]

Hi, most people say "Operation Sealion" would have failed because the Germans wanted to use river barges (some German but mostly from Holland, France, and Belgium) to cross the English Channel

A) The river barges are said to be unseaworthy and would have been swamped due to low freeboard
B) The barges are said to be too slow to overcome the Channel tides and currents
C) The barge design is said to be too primitive to allow a quick exit using the proposed exit ramp.

They say that it would have been impossible to do so but the videos below prove them wrong!!!
The barges in the videos seem to all be of the smaller type (A1 – Peniche, 38.5 metres long and carried 360 tons of cargo, 1,336 available September 1940)

Watch these:

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=ubm4UuGJYyg – the Dutch barge Spica goes through Dutch canals and across the Channel to Portsmouth

65ft barge towed through heavy seas off Dover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kg_QweiLy0
“50 ton of ballest would have helped the cavitation and steadyed her”

Dutch barge Anna at sea on a trip from Ely to Wisbeach in the Wash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q6M1z6kS-U

Spits Barge crossing the Channel from Belgium to Leigh on the Thames http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X8FXTji5-g

And http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGlgvpM-SUU

“Motoring across the channel in our Belgian spits barge 'Madorcha', september 2007, at this point just going over the sandbanks leaving Nieuwpoort Belgium, next anchorage; Liegh small ships, on the Thames. The crossing took us 15 hours, and then another 5 hours to Barking.

Our Belgian spits is standard gauge at 38m x 5.05m, with a 6-71 series detroit diesel/gray marine engine, we averaged 40l of diesel an hour on the sea at full throttle, compared to 20-25l p/h on the inland canals, thats pushing 65 tonnes of ship with 55 tonnes of ballast (125 tonnes gross), only just enough to avoid cavitation with the larger swells.

From Bocholt in Limburg, Belgium to Barking London, we used 1,500l of diesel!.. maybe time to consider a more efficient propulsion system, but the detroit makes a lovely growling scream, with massive torque for 165hp engine.

Proof it's possible to cross with safe precautions, to all the Belgians and Dutch who thought we'd never make it!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0GSuSUAJc and http://www.flickr.com/photos/simoncoggi ... 768054705/ Sailing the Dutch barge Cosmos across the Channel