5 Must Visit Sea Forts Around The World

Sea forts were strategic bases usually built on small islands or shallows that lies at a significant distance from the shore. A sea fort was exactly as the name indicates - a giant fort with stone walls and housing cannons to fend off intruders. Today, the sea forts are mostly deserted, but some of them have been renovated and converted into tourist attractions.

# Red Sands Fort, UK

The seven towers of Red Sands were placed approximately six miles off Minster, Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary, over the period July 23rd to September 3rd 1943. The forts were designed to house various gun installations to combat the twin threats of enemy aircraft and E-boats (fast warships). The forts were not a popular posting and were abandoned wholesale by the military at the end of the war after which ownership became a matter of opinion as they were generally considered to be situated in international waters and not subject to any particular mainland jurisdiction.

# No Man's Land Fort, UK

No Man's Land Fort was a fort built in the Solent as part of the Palmerston Forts. It is 2.2 km (1.37 mi) off the coast of the Isle of Wight and built between the years 1867 and 1880 to protect Portsmouth. It was built for a cost of £462,500, which if adjusted for inflation is equivalent to £43,391,356 ($67,783,806) at 2010 prices.

# Fort Jefferson, Florida, USA

Fort Jefferson is an unincorporated community and abandoned sea fort in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It is located on Garden Key in the lower Florida Keys within the Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles (110 km) west of the island of Key West. Fort Jefferson is a massive but unfinished fortress. It is the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere, and is composed of over 16 million bricks. Construction began in 1846 and lasted for 30 years.

# HM Fort Roughs (Principality of Sealand), UK

HM Fort Roughs was one of several World War II installations that were designed by Guy Maunsell and known collectively as Maunsell Sea Forts, and its purpose was to guard the port of Harwich, Essex. The naval fort is situated on Rough Sands, a sandbar located approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk and eight miles from the coast of Essex. It is today the self-proclaimed and unrecognised state, the Principality of Sealand.

# Murud-Janjira, India

Murud-Janjira is the local name for a fort situated in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It was occupied by the Siddis and is famous for being the only fort along India's Western coast that remained undefeated despite Dutch, Maratha and English East India Company attacks. Murud-Janjira Fort is situated on an oval-shaped rock off the Arabian Sea coast near the port town of Murud, 165 km (103 mi) south of Mumbai. Janjira is considered one of the strongest marine forts in India. The fort is approached by sailboats from Rajapuri jetty. The main gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore and can be seen only when one is quite close to it. It has a small postern gate towards the open sea for escape.