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Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA)
Portland Harbour has been an important site
for research into underwater defence equipment since Robert
Whitehead established his Torpedo factory at Ferrybridge in
1891. Whitehead tested his weapons initially from a pier stretching
out from Ferrybridge, the foundations of which are still visible
at low spring tides. With the development of larger and longer
range torpedoes, another range was built at Bincleaves in
1898. This became known as the "Short Range" when, in 1934
new facilities, the "Distant Range", were built on the northern
detached arm of the breakwaters.
Meanwhile an Asdic (submarine detection system)
research unit was established in the Portland Naval Base in
1929, moving to Scotland during the war and returning to Portland
in 1946 to be titled HM Underwater Detection Establishment.
This expanded in the 1950s and a new block was built at Southwell
on the Island of Portland.. In 1959 the development of underwater
systems was amalgamated when the various establishments working
on torpedoes, underwater launching systems and underwater
countermeasures were formed into the Admiralty Underwater
Weapons Establishment (AUWE). This became part of the Admiralty
Research Agency (ARE) in 1984 when all naval research came
under the same direction and this in turn became part of the
joint service Defence Research Agency (DRA) in 1991. All this
was incorporated in 1995 into what is now called the Defence
Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) and the staffs from
Southwell and the Naval Base were relocated to the Atomic
Energy Agency's business park at Winfrith, leaving Bincleaves
as the sole establishment in the Portland Harbour area.
So much for dry bewildering initials.
The history of underwater research in Portland is best known
for a great scandal - "The Portland Spies" when two employees
from the Portland Underwater Research Establishment, Harry
Houghton and Ethel Gee, were uncovered selling secrets to
the Russians. They were tried in 1961 together with Russian
spies Gordon Lonsdale and Peter and Helen Kroger and received
long prison sentences. Lonsdale and the Krogers were returned
to Russia in exchange for British spies.
Portland Harbour is well placed
for underwater research with its deep clean water and it is
hoped that the DERA site at Bincleaves has a promising future
for the development of Torpedo and mine Countermeasures.
Its current facilities include:-
Acoustic and Short Ranges providing an ideal capability to
test and calibrate various sensors in a seawater environment.
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