Dogger Bank

For the former landmass in the southern North Sea that connected the island of Great Britain to mainland Europe, see Doggerland.

Location of the Dogger Bank

Dogger Bank (Dutch: Doggersbank, German: Doggerbank, Danish: Dogger banke) is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about 100 kilometres (62 miles) off the east coast of England. The bank extends over approximately 17,600 km² (6,800 sq mi), with its dimensions being about 260 km (160 mi) long and up to 97 km (60 mi) broad.

The water depth ranges from 15 to 36 metres (from 49 to 118 feet), about 20 m (66 ft) shallower than the surrounding sea. It has long been known by fishermen to be a productive fishing bank; it was named after the doggers, Old Dutch fishing boats especially used for catching cod.

Geography

Geologically, the feature is most likely a moraine, formed during the Pleistocene. At differing times during the last ice age it was either joined to the mainland or an island. The bank was part of a large landmass, known as Doggerland, which connected Britain to the European mainland until it was flooded some time after the end of the last ice age.

Fishing trawlers working the area have dredged up large amounts of moor peat, remains of mammoth and rhinoceros, and occasionally Paleolithic hunting artefacts.

In 1931, the largest earthquake ever recorded in the United Kingdom took place below the bank, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale. Its focus was 23 km beneath the bank, and the quake was felt in countries all around the North Sea, causing damage across eastern England.

South of Dogger Bank is the Cleaver Bank.

Naval battles and incidents

The bank has been the site of several naval actions:

• During the Nine Years' War on 18 June 1696 a French fleet under the command of Jean Bart was victorious over the ships of the Grand Alliance.
• During the War of American Independence, a Royal Navy squadron fought a Dutch squadron on 5 August 1781 in the Battle of Dogger Bank.
• During the Russo-Japanese War, Russian naval ships opened fire on British fishing boats in the Dogger Bank incident on 21 October 1904, mistaking them for Japanese torpedo boats.
• In the First World War, the area saw battles in 1915 and 1916 between the Royal Navy and the German High Seas Fleet.
• In 1966, the German submarine U-Hai sank during a gale. 19 of 20 men died, one of the worst peacetime naval disasters in German history.

Environmental

Map showing hypothetical extent of Doggerland (c. 8,000 BCE), which provided a land bridge between Great Britain and continental Europe.

The bank is an important fishing area, with cod and herring being caught in large numbers. It gives its name to the Dogger sea area used in the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. Several shipwrecks lie on the bank.

Dogger Bank has been identified as an oceanic environment that exhibits high primary productivity throughout the year in the form of phytoplankton. As such, it has been proposed by various groups to designate the area a Marine Nature Reserve.

Wind farm

Main article: Dogger Bank Wind Farm

In January 2010, a licence to develop a wind farm on Dogger Bank was granted to Forewind Ltd, a consortium of developers. Originally projected to develop up to 9 gigawatts of power as part of a planned nine zone project of 32 gigawatts, the plan was later scaled down to a 7.2 gigawatt installation in agreement with the area's owner Crown Estates.

Construction was scheduled to start around 2014 at the earliest, but has been repeatedly postponed.

In popular culture

Dogger Bank has been mentioned in documentaries about WWI and the pre-history of Britain & Ireland.

Prehistoric context (primarily as Doggerland)

• The Story of Scotland - Before Scotland (2009) Parts 1 & 2 (BBC, 2009)

World War I (as Dogger Bank)

• The Great War (BBC, 1965)

Folk song The Dogger Bank

See also

• Doggerland
• Dogger (boat), a type of fishing boat associated with the Dogger Bank area.
• Fishing in the North Sea
• Dogger Bank itch

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons