An exceptional harbour
In 1776, King Louis XVI sent Dumouriez to Cherbourg to study the construction of a naval port. Apparently, the first step was a sea wall designed to block the sea roads.
Work began in 1783 under the Duke of Harcourt who moved into a residence built within the compound of the Abbaye du Voeu that had been abandoned in 1774.
The French Revolution saw no major upheavals in Cherbourg.
From the beginning of the First Empire, the story of the town blends with that of the construction of its roadstead and naval port.
The first transatlantic departure set sail from Cherbourg on June 22, 1840. "L'Union", a French paddle-steamer, left with 150 passengers on board.
Cherbourg was the final continental port of call for the "Titanic" on April 10, 1912, a few days before it sank.
The liner terminal, inaugurated in 1933, bears witness to the importance of the transatlantic traffic that gradually died out with the development of air travel to the USA.
During the last world war, the harbour was a strategic site. After falling to German troops on June 19, 1940, the town was liberated by the Seventh Corps of the American Army led by General J. Lawton Collins, on June 26, 1944.
From July 1944 to August 1945, the port of Cherbourg became the most important port in the world with traffic superior to that of New York. It provided logistical back-up for the Allied forces in Europe.
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Submarines, liners and film stars
Napoleon, having "resolved to recreate in Cherbourg the marvels of Egypt", ordered the construction of a first class dockyard.
In 1899, it found its true vocation: specialising in building submarines.
In 1967, the "Redoutable", the first French nuclear-powered submarine, was launched, and Cherbourg has since become one of the foremost shipyards in the world for submarine design and production.
A military harbour, but also a passenger port. After the First World War, hundreds of thousands of emigrants, lured by the American dream, went aboard the liners anchored alongside the flamboyant Artdeco Transatlantic Terminal, while Hollywood stars strolled down the gangway to the waiting train.
Since 2002, the Cité de la Mer has given the Transatlantic Terminal a new lease of life. Great liners, including the Queen Mary 2, still come to Cherbourg to keep alive the legend of transatlantic travel.
Panoramics images of the Redoutable
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