Although there was no Mineman (MN) rating when the United States entered World War I, that hardly means that the United States Navy did not engage in mine warfare (MIW). As part of the North Sea Mine Barrage, an Allied effort to stymie German U-boats moving into Atlantic shipping lanes, ten U.S. Navy ships laid over 56,500 mines (over 71,000 were laid in total). The efficacy of this massive minelaying effort is unclear because mines were still being laid at the end of the war and the inability to determine what delays or complications the presence of the mines might have caused for U-boat captains. The official figures—four confirmed U-boat kills, two probable kills, two possible kills, and eight boats damaged. (Five more U-boats disappeared in the area, but it is pure speculation to assume these were sunk by mines.)
Mines are a favored weapon for nations operating on tight defensive budgets—North Korea, for instance, relied on them heavily for coastal Naval defenses during the Korean War—but today’s U.S. Navy does not place a great deal of emphasis on MIW. A major reason is that mines that are deployed during a conflict typically must be retrieved once hostilities have ceased.
Perhaps that explains why the Navy’s current MIW weapons are rather dated in comparison to other Navy technologies (including mine countermeasures), and why Sailors in the MN rating receive relatively little training on mine deployment. The Mk60 CAPTOR, for instance, is Cold-War relic that launches the Mark 46 anti-submarine torpedo when it detects a submarine in the vicinity. Other mines currently are four shallow-water mines known as Quickstrikes. While the Mk65 Quickstrike variant is a dedicated 2,000-lb naval mine, the Mk62 (500 lbs), Mk63 (1000 lbs), and Mk64 (2,000 lbs) versions are ad-hoc adaptation of aerial bombs.
The Mk67 SLMM (Submarine Launched Mobile Mine) is, as the name implies, laid by submarines and the only one that’s deliverable from standoff ranges in a clandestine method. It consists of modified Mk37 Torpedo, which is used to send the mine to a remote location, and the Mk13 explosive section contains devices for arming, target detection, detonation, and of course the explosive charge itself. Currently, the Navy is working to convert the SLMM so it can be delivered by an LDUUV, or Large Diameter Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, rather than a submarine.
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