GRAND HARBOR BREAKWATER IN MALTA - 1903-09

The Grand Harbour in Malta has long been coveted by European maritime powers due to its strategic position in the Mediterranean. The 1903-09 breakwater scheme was promoted by the British Admiralty to strengthen the principal maritime base and dockyard of the Royal Navy's Mediterr anean fleet. State-of-the-art precast construction techniques develope d on Dover harbour transformed Malta's chief port into one of the worl d's finest deep-sea harbours (Fig. 1). This paper focuses on the techn ical design and construction aspects of the basic element of the schem e-the two breakwater arms-and reviews the engineering achievements in a historical context.