 This allowed the allocated six British E-class submarines to operate further into the North Sea during their defence, attack and mine laying operations against the Imperial German Navy.At this time, commercial port facilities were still handled at Middlesbrough Docks, located further upstream.In the 1920s, Eston Urban District Council decided to turn the 13 former dormitories of the former Royal Navy facility into 38 small houses, within a community called Teesport.