Goulet de Brest
Encyclopedia
Strait
A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...
linking the roadstead of Brest
Roadstead of Brest
The roadstead of Brest is a roadstead or bay located in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. The surface area is about 180 km² . The port of Brest is located on its northern edge and one of the two French naval bases...
to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Only 1.8 km wide, it is situated between the Pointe du Petit Minou
Phare du Petit Minou
The Phare du Petit Minou is a lighthouse in the roadstead of Brest, standing in front of the Fort du Petit Minou, in the commune of Plouzané. By aligning it with the phare du Portzic, it shows the safe route to follow for ships to enter the roadstead...
and the Pointe du Portzic
Phare du Portzic
The phare du Portzic is situated on the north-eastern extremity of the Goulet de Brest and is the nearest lighthouse to the town of Brest. It was inscribed as a monument historique before 1987...
to the north and the îlot des Capucins
Îlot des Capucins
Îlot des Capucins is a rocky islet at the foot of a cliff in the commune of Roscanvel on the Crozon peninsular. Its name comes from a rock near the island, shaped like a praying monk...
and the Pointe des Espagnols
Pointe des Espagnols
The Pointe des Espagnols is the north-east extremity of the Roscanvel peninsula, an outgrowth of the Crozon peninsula closing off the roadstead of Brest...
to the south.
At each turn of the tide, the ocean refills the roadstead in a current that can attain 4 to 5 knots. Sailing ships would thus wait in the cove of Camaret-sur-Mer
Camaret-sur-Mer
Camaret-sur-Mer is a commune in the Finistère department in northwestern France, located at the end of Crozon peninsula.-Sights:Camaret-sur-Mer is home to the Tour Vauban or Tour dorée , a historic fortification guarding the harbor and built in 1669-94...
for a favourable current to carry them into the goulet.
Military significance
As the only opening into the roadstead of BrestBrest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, and thus the only access to the town and thus is lined with military installations to protect the town and the naval fleet based there and to keep a watch on shipping using it. The geography of the goulet also favours the defenders, since it has a spine down its length in the form of the Le Mengant rocks, forcing ships to sail either to the north or south of them.
Zone of Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
- Fort de BertheaumeFort de BertheaumeThe Fort de Bertheaume is a fort in Plougonvelin, the Department of Finistère, France. It is located on an island, which is nowadays connected to the dry land by a footbridge...
- Fort de Toulbroc'hFort de Toulbroc'hThe military remains known as Fort de Toulbroc'h form part of the defences along the goulet de Brest in France, in the commune of Locmaria-Plouzané. They are accessible via coastal path GR34 to the pointe du Grand Minou....
- Fort du Petit MinouFort du Petit MinouBuilt between 1694 and 1697, the Fort du Petit Minou was a fort built in the commune of Plouzané in France to defend the goulet de Brest. It consists of 6m high masonry bastions, surrounded by a 3m deep and 9.5m wide moat....
- Fort du MengantFort du MengantThe fort du Mengant or fort du Léon in the commune of Plouzané is part of the defences of the roadstead of Brest. It is made up of a high battery , with a now-destroyed artillery tower, and a lower semi-circular battery at the foot of the cliff, with two small powder magzaines.Built by Vauban in...
or Fort du Léon - Fort du DellecFort du DellecForming part of the chain of fortifications along the goulet de Brest, the fort du Dellec was built by Vauban in the 17th century, then rebuilt several times, notably in the 19th century when casemates were added for barracks and munitions storage. A German blockhouse typical of those on the...
- Fort de PortzicFort de PortzicThe Fort de Portzic was built near the town of Brest by Vauban between 1693 and 1699 as part of the defences of the goulet de Brest. It faces the pointe des Espagnols and was improved and enlarged over time , since it formed the town's last and innermost defence...
Zone by île de Roscanvel
Roscanvel
Roscanvel is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Population:Inhabitants of Roscanvel are called in French Roscanvelistes.-See also:*Quélern*Communes of the Finistère department...
- Fort de l'îlot des CapucinsÎlot des CapucinsÎlot des Capucins is a rocky islet at the foot of a cliff in the commune of Roscanvel on the Crozon peninsular. Its name comes from a rock near the island, shaped like a praying monk...
- Fort de la FraternitéFort de la FraternitéThe fort de la Fraternité is a fort located on the îlot du Diable in Roscanvel, France. The whole complex is now in ruins, though a powder magazine is still standing, with a roof of large rectangular tiles and elaborate guttering....
- îlot du DiableÎlot du DiableÎlot du Diable is a gun battery built to support fort de la Fraternité in the defensive system around the goulet de Brest in France. It is sited on the peninsula of Roscanvel and is accessible by a small bridge. The battery was razed in the 19th century and in 1890 on its site was built a bunker...
- Fortified lines of QuélernQuélernQuélern is a hamlet in Roscanvel, in the department of Finistère , in western France.-Fortified lines:The Quélern lines defended the entrance to the goulet de Brest against capture from behind the defences of the Roscanvel peninsula. They are 1.22 km long and form the only surviving non-urban...
- Batteries of Kerviniou
- Batteries of TremetTremetTremet is a hamlet on the Roscanvel peninsula in France. The gun batteries located here are part of the defences of the goulet de Brest, forbidding ships from entering the bay of Camaret-sur-Mer. The site had been occupied by the military since 1694 and was updated several times in the 18th and...
- Fort on pointe des EspagnolsPointe des EspagnolsThe Pointe des Espagnols is the north-east extremity of the Roscanvel peninsula, an outgrowth of the Crozon peninsula closing off the roadstead of Brest...
- Powder-stores of the Île des MortsÎle des MortsÎle des Morts is a 7-hectare island in the Bay of Roscanvel, to the south-west of the roadstead of Brest, between the Quélern peninsula and Île Longue. It is 26m above sea level at its highest point.-History:...
- Battery of CornouaillePointe de CornouailleLa pointe de Cornouaille is a cape to the north of the hamlet of Kerviniou in France. They are both situated on the Roscanvel peninsula and, facing as it does the Fort du Mengant, a battery on the point forms part of the defences of the goulet de Brest....
Zone de Camaret-sur-Mer
Camaret-sur-Mer
Camaret-sur-Mer is a commune in the Finistère department in northwestern France, located at the end of Crozon peninsula.-Sights:Camaret-sur-Mer is home to the Tour Vauban or Tour dorée , a historic fortification guarding the harbor and built in 1669-94...
- Batteries of KerbonnKerbonnKerbonn is a village in the commune of Camaret-sur-Mer in France, between the pointe de Pen-Hir and the pointe du Toulinguet, on the Crozon peninsula. As well as its fortifications, the site also houses the ruins of the manor of Coecilian.-Kerbonn batteries:...
- Batteries of Le Toulinguet
- Batteries of Pointe du Petit Gouin and Pointe du Grand GouinPointe du Grand GouinThe pointe du Grand Gouin is a rocky promontory with vertical cliffs to the west of the inlet of Camaret-sur-Mer. It protects a port which, in Vauban's era, was vulnerable to possible landings...
- Tour VaubanTour VaubanThe Tour Vauban , initially known as the tour de Camaret, is an 18m-high polygonal defensive tower built to a plan by Vauban on the Sillon at Camaret-sur-Mer, as part of the fortifications of the goulet de Brest...