The Sinking (沉, or Chen) naval mines are a series of Chinese naval mines. These are

bottom mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any v ...

s. Estimates place Chinese total mine stocks at between 80,000 and 100,000 mines.

Chen-1

The Sinking-1 (沉-1, or Chen-1) naval mine is the fourth type of naval mine entering Chinese service in 1966. It is a bottom mine jointly developed by the 710th research institute, the 152nd Factory and Fengxi Machinery Factory (汾西机器厂), and it was the first Chinese naval mine using an acoustic fuze. It is useful for shallow water and port defence or blockading.

Chen-2

The Sinking-2 (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: ''沉-2'', Transliteration: ''Chen-2'') bottom mine was the first indigenous designed Chinese naval mine that could adopt a range of

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze d ...

s, such as acoustic,

contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * ...

, infrasonic, ultrasonic and

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particle ...

fuzes. The project was jointly developed by Fengxi Machinery Factory (Chinese: ''汾西机器厂'') and the 710th Research Institute in 1972, and was mainly used for coastal regions. The mine was accepted into service in 1975.

Chen-3

The Sinking-3 (沉-3, or Chen-3) is the successor of Sinking-2 (Chen-2) bottom mine, and is also a shallow water mine. It was jointly developed by the Vanguard Instrumentation Factory (前卫仪表厂) and

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

Maritime Machinery Factory (苏州船用机械厂) in 1974. In comparison to its processor, this mine is the first in the

inventory to adopt combined fuses instead of being only able to have a single type of fuze. Currently, all Sinking-3 bottom mines are upgraded to the Sinking-3-II (Chen-3Yi) standard and this latest version is a fully

solid state Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter. Solid state may also refer to: Electronics * Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials * Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their u ...

model. The upgrades were done by the Vanguard Instrumentation Factory.

Chen-4

The Chen-4 or Sinking-4 (沉-4, or Chen-4) is a bottom mine with non-

contact fuse A contact fuze, impact fuze, percussion fuze or direct-action (D.A.) fuze (''UK'') is the fuze that is placed in the nose of a bomb or shell (projectile), shell so that it will detonate on contact with a hard surface. Many impacts are unpredictabl ...

s. It was jointly developed by the

710th Research Institute 71 may refer to: * 71 (number) * one of the years 71 BC, AD 71, 1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population incr ...

of Chinese Shipbuilding and the

Dongfeng Instrument Factory Dongfeng is the romanization of several Chinese names of which most notably "East Wind" (); it may refer to: People's Republic of China * Dongfeng (missile) (), series of ballistic missiles of the People's Liberation Army * Chinese series of die ...

(东风仪表厂). This bottom mine is the counterpart of the Drifting-2 drifting mine and like the latter, it can be disassembled for easy transportation and then reassembled prior to being deployed. A mine with negative buoyancy which remains on the seabed. Also called a ground mine.

Chen-5

The Sinking-5 (Chen-5) is a Chinese naval mine. It is a small bottom mine, like the Chen-4 and Drifting-2 drifting mine it was designed around the concept of People's War of

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

. It can be dismantled for easy transportation and reassembled just prior to being planted. Unlike the Sinking-4 (Chen-4) bottom mine, this bottom mine cannot be used as part of other Chinese naval mine systems, but it does have the ability to incorporate the contact fuse, a feat that the Sinking (Chen-4) bottom mine lacks. Furthermore, Sinking-5 (Chen-5) bottom mine is developed by Fengxi Machinery Factory (汾西机器厂) can also be used on land as part of

booby trap A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...

s. The evaluation of this mine was carried out under combat conditions - these mines were deployed in Cambodia and Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the customers were satisfied with the performance, and as a result, the mine was considered an achievement and won a national award in 1978.

Chen-6

Another shallow-water bottom mine.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen Bottom Mine Mine, Chen, bottom