Cherbourg
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a fortified seaport and naval arsenal of France, in the department of La Manche, 196 miles W. N. W. of Paris. It is the headquarters of one of the five maritime arrondissements of France and one of the chief torpedo stations. The fortifications are very extensive, and have been greatly strengthened in recent times, so that Cherbourg, if not impregnable from the sea, is at least very difficult of attack. The port is divided into the commercial and naval ports, which are quite distinct. The Port Militaire is accessible at all times of tide for vessels of the largest class; there are slips for vessels of the largest dimensions, dry docks, building-sheds, mast-houses, houses, boiler-works, and in short everything necessary for the building and fitting out of ships of war. There is a great digue breakwater, stretching across the roadstead, which, though protected on three sides by the land, was formerly open to the heavy seas from the north. The digue was commenced under Louis XVI., is 4,120 yards long, and is 21/4 miles from the harbor, in water varying from 42 to 62 feet deep. A fort and lighthouse occupy the center of the digue, and there are circular forts at the extremities. The principal industry of the town is centered in the works of the dock-yard, the commercial trade and manufactures being comparatively insignificant, although it is a port of call of several of the largest French, British and American passenger steamship lines. Cherbourg occupies the site of a Roman station. William the Conqueror founded a hospital in it, and built the castle church. The castle, in which Henry II. frequently resided, was one of the strongholds of Normandy. The town was taken by the British in 1758. During the World War it was of great importance as a military and naval port. Pop. about 45,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's called Cherbourg in 1921 a fortified arsenal "very difficult of attack" from the sea, and so it proved -- the port fell in June 1944 not to a fleet but to American infantry advancing overland after the Normandy landings, its quays wrecked by German demolition charges and then rebuilt to become the Allies' main supply harbour, fed by the PLUTO fuel pipeline from England. The Port Militaire that Collier's described as a torpedo station now builds France's nuclear-powered submarines, and the surrounding Cotentin carries the La Hague spent-fuel reprocessing plant. The transatlantic liner trade that made Cherbourg a port of call has gone, replaced by cross-Channel ferries and cruise calls at the 1930s Gare Maritime, now partly a museum. The town of "about 45,000" has since absorbed its neighbours, becoming Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in 2016, with roughly 80,000 people; Louis XVI's great digue still shelters the roadstead.
Written for this edition, 2026.