Pontoon bridge transport soldiers and artillery across rivers in the South. In 1872 at a military review before Queen Victoria, a pontoon bridge was thrown across the River Thames at Windsor, Berkshire, where the river was wide. The bridge, comprising 15 pontoons held by 14 anchors, was completed in 22 minutes and then used to move five battalions of troops across the river. It was removed in 34 minutes the next day. The British Blanshard Pontoon stayed in British use until the late 1870s, when it was replaced by the "Blood Pontoon". The Blood Pontoon returned to the open boat system, which
Pontoon bridge Earl of Shrewsbury crossed the Oise river across a pontoon bridge of portable leather vessels in 1441. Ottoman engineers built a pontoon bridge across the Golden Horn during the Siege of Constantinople (1453), using over a thousand barrels. The bridge was strong enough to support carts. The Ottoman Army constructed a pontoon bridge during the Siege of Rhodes (1480). Venetian pioneers built a floating bridge across the Adige at the Battle of Calliano (1487). The Spanish Army constructed a pontoon bridge at the Battle of Garigliano (1503). The Spanish Army of Flanders under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma built an