Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, naval station, fortified town, and seaport in Manche département, Normandy région, northwestern France. It lies along the English Channel, west-northwest of Paris, and is situated at the mouth of the small Divette River on the north shore of the Cotentin peninsula. The steep Roule Mountain nearby offers a panoramic view of the town. The port benefits from a remarkable harbour, well sheltered except to the north, and is situated close to the great maritime routes that ply the English Channel. Although the port’s general cargo traffic is now light, cross-channel passenger and freight traffic are important. Many industries depend on the port, notably the shipyards and the government naval dockyards (where nuclear submarines are built). Other industrial activities, some of which were originally relocated from Paris, include the manufacture of electronics and electronic equipment, clothing, and machinery.
Cherbourg-en-Cotentin is also the focus of an important nuclear industry based around the power station at Flamanville and the waste recycling plant at the La Hague site. The town acts as a commercial and administrative centre for the northern Cotentin peninsula and has a technical university and graduate schools. A museum in the hôtel de ville (town hall) houses many paintings by the 19th-century French painter Jean-François Millet, who was born near the town. The Emmanuel-Liais park has interesting tree and plant specimens.
In the 11th century Cherbourg was known as Carusburc and (as with the rest of Normandy) was fought over by the French and English. Charles VII of France finally recovered it in 1450. The town was pillaged by the English in a surprise attack in 1758. A vast breakwater, begun under Louis XVI in 1776, was completed 70 years later and converted the town into a major military and commercial port. During World War II, most of the port installations were destroyed in the fighting when the town was taken from the Germans by Allied forces after the Normandy Invasion in June 1944. A temporary port was rapidly rebuilt and handled a vast quantity of war matériel until hostilities ended. A museum commemorating the invasion is located in the 19th-century Fort du Roule, which overlooks the town. In 2016 the town of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin was created from the merger of Cherbourg and the surrounding communities of Équeurdreville-Hainneville, La Glacerie, Querqueville, and Tourlaville. Pop. (1999) 88,588; (2014 est.) 80,959.