The terminal operation

The liner terminal of Cherbourg had 2 main buildings. The passenger hall and the main building. The hall was covered by one span, under which were the cart track and the departure and arrival platforms on 4 railway lines. The hall gables were flanked by 2 towers strong enough to withstand a wind of 200 km/h. Each tower held a reinforced concrete staircase. The main building was built on the central part of the jetty and was  2.5 hectares (6177 acres). It included a 2 storey building and some raised accomodation. On the ground floor: tracks and luggage service, railway station with 2 tracks on the quay side. On the first floor: the passenger service with the through fare hall, the administration and companies services, bureau de change, post office and telegraph, showrooms and bar. On the second floor was different foremen's accomodation. The bell tower held 4 clocks. It measured 70 metres in height. It was completed on the 17th December 1931.  

The France quay. The South side.The terminal at night.

Lounge. Bar. Train station. Luggage check point.

The movable gangways permitted the sheltered loading or unloading of the luggage. They permitted the direct transfer of the passengers from the exterior gallery on the first floor to the ship. The inside of the gangway was 3.80 metres wide and divided into a gangway and a mechanical carrier. The cranes were used for the loading of cargo or vehicles. 

Gangways to the ship.Roofs. 

The liner terminal of Cherbourg was open on the 1st June 1933. The Bremen was the first to dock in 1934.

Le berthed Bremen.         " Cherbourg speedy harbour" 

More work was done on the wet dock rocky bottom to accomodate the big Cunard  liners. On the 14th April 1937, the Queen Mary entered for the first time at the Mielles wet dock by the France quay.

In 1944, the liner terminal was for its best part, destroyed by the Nazis. The American army freed Cherbourg on the 26th June 1944 and discovered a more or less unusable harbour.

The bell tower, the South and West parts of the harbour and the France quay had just been destroyed. The American army did some provisional repairs to restore necessary navigation for its supplies.

After the return of the harbour to the French authorities, the destroyed buildings were in part rebuilt between 1949 and 1952 to welcome liners once again.

Several years later, because of the near  disappearance of the transatlantic trade, the terminal was going to be completely destroyed to make room for a storage yard. The South  part was rebuilt after the war then was destroyed again between 1979 and 1982.

The harbour buildings, which were still standing, were saved from total destruction in November 1989 because they became  listed buildings due to their historical value.

The liner terminal became the "Cité de la Mer" and shelters, since the 4th June 2000 the first nuclear submarine built in Cherbourg dockyard : Le Redoutable.