Category:Mines (DE)
The Germans laid substantial defensive and offensive minefields in the Great War.
Contents
Minelaying from Warships
The British recorded that all classes of German warship generally carried mines from time to time, but without provision for special storage and hence at a cost of reduced efficiency for their other duties. Light cruisers were thought to accommodate 70 to 120 mines when so equipped.
German Minelaying Doctrine
The Germans used minelayers to sow fields to harass trade routes and movements of warships. Submarine minelaying placed small, offensive fields near British ports. It was thought that warship minelaying was intended as a tactical method in fleet action or for quick injection of offensive minefields such as the Scarborough Raid, when slower layers cannot suffice.[1]
Laying
The Germans generally laid their moored mines to a depth of 4 to 5.5 metres.[2]
Common Characteristics
German mines were equipped with a device that should withdraw the detonator should the mooring part, but the British thought this mechanism to be unreliable "at its best", and most German mines they recovered were found to have this gadget removed or disabled. For this reason, any German mines found adrift had to be considered very dangerous, and sinking them by mere rifle fire was discouraged in favour of shellfire, as it would more surely detonate the mine outright and not rely a perchance detonation when striking bottom.[3]
Type I and Type II mines had external wires from their horns to their detonator, affording a simple means of rendering a recovered mine (fairly) safe by cutting these. Later types carried these wires internally.[4]
Types of Mines
German mines were judged to exhibit great care in design and manufacture, but it was not thought that this made them practically superior to British types.[5] In mid-1917, the British believed the types and characteristics of German mines to be as follows.[6]
| Type | Charge | Weight pounds |
Buoyancy | Length of Shell inches |
Maximum dimensions inches |
notes |
| I | 180 pounds wet gun cotton | 560 | 250 | 42 | 31.5 | early type laid on Scarborough Raid and off Ireland |
| II | 290 pounds wet gun cotton | 710 | 320 | 46 | 31.5 | used from minelayers |
| II small | 54 pounds hexanite | 324 | – | 37 | 25 | for use by above-water minelayers in the Baltic |
| III & early IV |
220 pounds T.N.T. | 620 | 200 | 37 | 34 | later type to replace Type I and possibly Type II |
| IV UC 5 type |
220 pounds T.N.T. | – | – | 41.75 | 34 | Type III for submarine minelaying |
| V | 361 pounds T.N.T. | 835 | 281 | 46 | 34 | ditto |
| VI | unknown | – | – | – | – | ditto |
The British believe that the Germans also used the Leon Torpedo Mine.
Footnotes
- ↑ German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc.. p. 18.
- ↑ German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc.. p. 18.
- ↑ German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc.. p. 19.
- ↑ German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc.. p. 20.
- ↑ German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc.. p. 18.
- ↑ German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc.. pp. 19-20.
Bibliography
- Admiralty (July, 1917). German Navy: Part IV, Section 3. Torpedoes, Mines, Etc. (C.B. 1182) The National Archives. ADM 186/228.
This category currently contains no pages or media.
