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The Maunsell Sea Forts in the estuaries of rivers Thames and Mersey were built to help defend the United Kingdom during the second World War. They were designed by Guy Maunsell in 1942 and housed anti-aircraft guns and searchlights to shoot down German bombers on air raids. Maunsell designed two kinds of sea fort, one for the Army and the other for the Navy. Later in the War, Guy Maunsell went on to design the concrete mulberry harbours for the D Day Landings. According to historical reports, these forts helped the British Army and Navy shoot down 22 enemy aircraft and about 30 flying bombs, and scared off one U-boat.

The army fort consisted of a group of seven towers with a walkway connecting them all to the central control tower. The fort, when viewed as a whole, comprised of one Bofors tower, a control tower, four gun towers and a searchlight tower. They were arranged in a very specific way, with the control tower at the center, the Bofors and gun towers arranged in a semi-circular fashion around it and the searchlight tower positioned further away, but still linked directly to the control tower via a walkway.

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