X-Nico

8 unusual facts about naval mine


Ernst Hechler

During World War II he flew 65 combat missions as a bomber pilot, the majority of which were in mine-laying operations.

Indicator net

Sometimes mines were attached directly to the nets, thus reducing submarine survival chances.

Jean Venturini

Indeed, he died in June 1940, with the entire crew of the submarine called "Morse", which exploded hitting a mine.

Mine warfare

Naval mine, a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy ships or submarines

Naval Undersea Museum

Exhibit themes include the environment of the ocean, torpedoes, naval mine warfare, the technology of submarines, and diving equipment.

Pluto Plus

The Pluto Plus is an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) designed for use in underwater mine identification and destruction by militaries.

Roscoe Bulmer

After World War I, he served as United States naval representative at a conference which met at the British Admiralty to consider clearing the seas of mines after the war.

Seven Waves Away

The luxury liner SS Crescent Star sinks in seven minutes after striking a rogue mine in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with her nearly all of the 1156 people on board.


Ajonpää class minesweeper

Ajonpää and Kallanpää were bought from Denmark during the Continuation War and were intended for clearing influence mines.

Clearance Diving Team

They are so called because their first job was clearing mines and wreckage from harbors after World War II.

French minelaying cruiser Pluton

She was sent to Casablanca, in French Morocco, when the war began to lay a minefield, but the order was cancelled a day later and she was ordered to disembark her naval mines.

German submarine U-325

By April 1945, nine different fields (Serial B1, part 1 to 4, Serial B2, part 1 to 4, and Serial B3, part 1), comprising 900 Mk XVII/XVII(8) mines were laid off Lizard Head.

German submarine U-547

U-547 was damaged by a mine on 13 August 1944 in the Gironde (where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge), near Pauillac in western France; she then retraced part of the route of her first patrol, arriving at Marviken in Kristiansand on 29 September and moving on to Flensburg on 4 October.

Japanese destroyer Oyashio

On the night of 7–8 May 1943, while on a troop transport run to Kolombangara, Oyashio struck mines when leaving Vila (Kolombangara).

Ludovico De Filippi

He died on 16 November 1918 while commanding the scout cruiser Cesare Rossarol when she sank after hitting a mine near the city of Ližnjan, on the Istrian Peninsula.

MV Atheltemplar

Atheltemplar returned to Great Britain with Convoy HG 9 which left Port Said on 19 November 1939, but on the afternoon of 14 December 1939, she struck a mine laid by German destroyers off the Tyne Estuary.

No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron

The squadron used several versions, including Mark IC, IV, III and X. In 1941 while the unit was equipped with Wellingtons and flying from Hemswell on 'Gardening' (mining) operations, the squadron's Intelligence Officer was Michael Bentine, later to become well known as an entertainer.

Shaft passer

One of the earliest printed references to these devices was made by Richard Feynman, who was told by a colleague at Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia that the cable-passing version of the device had been used during both world wars on German naval mine mooring cables, to prevent the mines from being caught by British cables swept along the sea bottom.

SS Norhauk

She was transferred to the Norwegian Government in 1942 and renamed Norhauk, serving until she struck a mine and sank in December 1943.

United States military divers

United States Navy SpecOp (based in Indian Head, Maryland) is a naval unit which trains and supports divers and develops dive equipment for neutralizing mines and removing submerged unexploded ordnance.

Viktor Lomidze

After boarding naval mines from a floating depot, the flotilla headed for Hel Peninsula, assisted by ORP Wicher and several smaller vessels (among them Łomidze's former ship Jaskółka).


see also