This type of mine rests below the surface, barely visible unless the water is clear and the weather is calm. Through World War I, the best method for sweeping these types of mines was to drag a cable between two ships, cutting the mooring cables and causing the mine to float to the surface where it would be destroyed by gunfire. Seems simple enough, however, this was not what was waiting for the ships of Mine Squadron Seven as they departed southern England on the evening of June 5, German sailors laying a contact mine off the coast of Norway.
Any impact with the barbs, or the casing will cause the mine to explode. These mines are swept by breaking the cable that holds them underwater. Once the mine rises to the surface it is usually sunk by gunfire.
Unlike many movies, these mines do not usually explode when hit with a bullet. Instead the bullet will only puncture the casing and cause the mine to sink to the bottom.
Courtesy of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Magnetic mines were activated by the magnetic field generated by the steel hull of ships. In order to sweep these types of mines a demagnetized minesweeper would trail two long electric cables that created a pulsing magnetic field causing the mine to detonate behind the ship.
It is difficult to capture the complexity of the Operation Neptune plan in entire books, let alone a short article. Allied ships of all types, with all different missions, destinations, and speeds, needed to be coordinated to arrive off the coast of France at precise times.
Fast warships could wait, while slow landing craft needed to leave first, but before any ships could leave their home port, the water needed to be swept of mines. The British had defensive minefields that protected harbors and coastal shipping routes. The Germans had laid defensive minefields all along the coast of France as well as laying offensive mine fields within British shipping lanes and harbors.
Furthermore, these were not just simple contact minefields, these fields consisted of moored mines and bottom mines. The bottom mines were a mix of magnetic, acoustic, or pressure mines. Some even had ship counters, allowing a predetermined number of ships—including minesweepers—to pass by before detonating. One group of this large minesweeping force was the 10 ships of Mine Squadron 7. Their mission was to clear one of the two assault channels and fire support area 1 off Utah Beach.
The plan was for the sweeping group to trail overlapping minesweeping gear in echelon. The lead ship, USS Staff AM , would be the very first ship to travel through the last 12 miles of the assault channels with the other sweepers guiding off its left side. Two minesweepers were dedicated layers of dan buoys, lighted floats that marked the edges of the swept channel. If a floating mine was located and brought to the surface, a British Royal Navy Motor Launch, ML, was attached to the group to sink them with gunfire.
Some S-boats were produced during the war, of which approximately half survived. The Kriegsmarine also had a class of large torpedo boats that were virtually destroyers: Type 23, 24, and 39 vessels displaced nine hundred to 1, tons, measured to feet long, and mounted up to 4. Crew complements were in the first two classes, in the third.
The T-Boote received animal names such as Falke, Jaguar, and Kondor, engaging Allied destroyers and torpedo boats on at least four occasions in the week after D-Day. Many were destroyed by bombing at Le Havre in mid- to late June. This article is part of our larger selection of posts about the Normandy Invasion.
To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to D-Day. Please use this data for any reference citations. Navy has dramatically decreased its minesweeper force, leaving only the Avenger-class ships to perform the once highly important duties.
Consequently, the last minesweeper class may eventually be replaced by new littoral combat ships, which will be supplied with mine countermeasure equipment as a part of their interchangeable mission gear.
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