The Mulberry Harbor Engineers

The artificial Mulberry harbors used at Normandy were designed by a team led by Welsh engineer Hugh Iorys Hughes. His revolutionary design used concrete caissons ("Phoenix breakwaters") and floating roadways ("Whale" and "Beetle") that could be towed across the Channel and assembled in secret. Storms destroyed Mulberry A on June 19, but Mulberry B at Arromanches operated for 10 months, landing 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of supplies.