Al Ward, 92, is a WWII veteran that had a job that many don't know much about. During his time in the military he was aboard a minesweeper. His boat was responsible for clearing the sea of all kinds of mines.
Image Source: St. Albans Messenger newspaper http://www.samessenger.com/veterans-day-minesweeper-trolls-his-memory/
In his interview he talks about his adventures in the navy and his travels across the world, as near the end of the war he was sent to find his own way to his next assignment on a ship in the Pacific Ocean. Essentially, his story sounds like a scavenger hunt. He started in the Carribean, and hopped aboard ship after ship, going in the right direction. His tales of the journey are great fun and raise all sorts of questions.
Let's have a listen...
It was such a pleasure to hear about so many aspects of Al Ward’s interesting life, and one particular chapter intrigued me so I decided to get us all up to speed about Al’s comments about his work on a vessel called a Mine Sweeper in WWII.
It was kind of shocked to learn that mines were laid in waters so close to the U.S. in the Gulf of Mexico, on the Carolina coast and throughout the Caribbean Sea. I suspect many in my generation think of WWII as a war fought in Europe and the Pacific Ocean.
“Sweeping” bays and heavily trafficked shipping lanes of mines also intriqued me and here’s what I found about the technologies of the past and present.
Not only did minesweepers clear waterways for warships and merchant shipping, they also dismantled the heavy protection given strategic areas, clearing a path for important amphibious landings. And then, even after the war, they were instrumental in returning the world to an era of safe shipping because tens of thousands of mines were left in place all over the oceans of the world after both sides went home.
Image Source: http://www.exelisinc.com/solutions/Mechanical-Mine-Sweeping-System/Pages/default.aspx
Many of the early mines were contact mines, like the ones in the picture above, that had a number of metal horns protruding from the metal shell, which when struck with sufficient force, such as that by a ship’s hull, activated the firing mechanism, detonating 600 lbs. of explosive TNT. They floated just below the surface and were anchored to the bottom, so the process of clearing them consisted of cutting their tether to the bottom. In one method, two ships would moved in parallel through a minefield with a wire rope stretched between them.
Image Source: http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/military_service/persian_gulf_ops.htm
In another method, a single ship would drag a long cable attached to a large float attached to a device called an otter or kite which made the float swing way out, nearing parallel to the ship towing it.
Image Source: http://www.koreanwaronline.com/history/pledge.htm
With the same cutting cable principle, the mine’s mooring ropes would be cut and the mines would float to the surface. The following is another more detailed diagram of this strategy, but what I found particularly interesting was how they discovered a way to only expose one ship in a flotilla of minesweepers to the danger of accidentally striking a mine. Take a look at the bottom part of this diagram where it shows the formations the ships took through the water. See how only the lead boat was in any danger of striking a mine! This way, many ships could be deployed in a formation that cleared large swaths in short order.
Image Source: Image Source: http://hmascastlemaine.org.au/minesweeping/
Either way, the “rope” was designed so it acted as a saw and cut through the mine mooring lines.
When the released mine rose to the surface, it was destroyed by gunfire.
Image Source: http://globalmilitaryreview.blogspot.com/2013/08/japan-maritime-self-defense-force-jmsdf.html
Sounds simple and ingenius.
Al Ward worked in the engine room on one of these important ships.
And what of the use of mines in modern warfare? Well, as you might guess, this old problem is still around, but technology has made minesweeping far safer and more efficient.
Enter: the drone minesweeping: the US Navy let's robots hunt and destroy mines. A technology called Knifefish finds the mines and then another called UISS comes into play. Knifefish emits a spoof signal that prompts the mines to detonate and then quickly swims back to the monthership on its own. In theory, every ship could carry this technology on its own and deploy it as needed.
Image Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2606316/Goodbye-minehunters-hello-tiny-drone-submarines-Royal-Navy-tests-hi-tech-devices
Dedicated minesweeping vessels would only be needed for large scale projects.
I have to say that I hope for a day that mining the seas becomes a useless exercise because the drone technology make it so easy to foil.
Thanks to the early bravery and ingenuity of guys like Al Ward. That day may come sooner than we think.
[All my information came from the sources I've credited in my chosen photos and http://www.britannica.com/technology/minesweeper]