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A minesweeper is a small
warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...
designed to remove or detonate
naval 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 ...
s. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.


History

The earliest known usage of the
naval 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 ...
dates to the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
.Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205. Dedicated minesweepers, however, only appeared many centuries later during the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, where they were deployed by the British. The Crimean War minesweepers were rowboats trailing
grapnel A grappling hook or grapnel is a device that typically has multiple hooks (known as ''claws'' or ''flukes'') attached to a rope; it is thrown, dropped, sunk, projected, or fastened directly by hand to where at least one hook may catch and hol ...
s to snag mines. Minesweeping technology picked up in the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, using aging
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...
s as minesweepers. In Britain, naval leaders recognized before the outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
that the development of sea mines was a threat to the nation's shipping and began efforts to counter the threat. Sir Arthur Wilson noted the real threat of the time was blockade aided by mines and not invasion. The function of the fishing fleet's trawlers with their trawl gear was recognized as having a natural connection with mine clearance and, among other things,
trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes ** Trawlers of the Royal Navy * Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built t ...
were used to keep the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
clear of mines. A Trawler Section of the
Royal Navy Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...
became the predecessor of the mine sweeping forces with specially designed ships and equipment to follow. These reserve Trawler Section fishermen and their trawlers were activated, supplied with mine gear, rifles, uniforms and pay as the first minesweepers. The dedicated, purpose-built minesweeper first appeared during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
with the Flower-class minesweeping sloop. By the end of the War, naval mine technology had grown beyond the ability of minesweepers to detect and remove mines. Minesweeping made significant advancements during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Combatant nations quickly adapted ships to the task of minesweeping, including Australia's 35 civilian ships that became auxiliary minesweepers. Both Allied and Axis countries made heavy use of minesweepers throughout the war. Historian Gordon Williamson wrote that "Germany's minesweepers alone formed a massive proportion of its total strength, and are very much the unsung heroes of the
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
." Naval mines remained a threat even after the war ended, and minesweeping crews were still active after
VJ Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...
. After the Second World War, Allied countries worked on new classes of minesweepers ranging from 120-ton designs for clearing
estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
to 735-ton oceangoing vessels. The
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
even used specialized
mechanized landing craft The landing craft mechanized (LCM) is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allies of World War II, Allied Amphibious warfare, amph ...
to sweep shallow harbors in and around
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
. , the U.S. Navy had four minesweepers deployed to the Persian Gulf to address regional instabilities. The Royal Navy also has four minesweepers stationed in the Persian Gulf as part of the
9th Mine Counter-Measures Squadron The 9th Mine Countermeasures Squadron is a front-line squadron of the Royal Navy with responsibility for mine warfare in the Persian Gulf region. The squadron is based in Bahrain and is equipped with four mine countermeasure vessels and a Royal F ...
.


Operation and requirements

Minesweepers are equipped with mechanical or electrical devices, known as "sweeps", for disabling mines. The modern minesweeper is designed to reduce the chances of it detonating mines itself; it is soundproofed to reduce its
acoustic signature The term acoustic signature is used to describe a combination of acoustic emissions of sound emitters, such as those of ships and submarines. In addition, aircraft, machinery, and living animals can be described as having their own characteristic ...
and often constructed using wood,
fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
or
non-ferrous metal In metallurgy, non-ferrous metals are metals or alloys that do not contain iron (allotropes of iron, ferrite, and so on) in appreciable amounts. Generally more costly than ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals are used because of desirable proper ...
, or is degaussed to reduce its magnetic signature. Mechanical sweeps are devices designed to cut the anchoring cables of moored mines, and preferably attach a tag to help the subsequent localization and neutralization. They are towed behind the minesweeper, and use a towed body (e.g. oropesa, paravane) to maintain the sweep at the desired depth and position. Influence sweeps are equipment, often towed, that emulate a particular ship signature, thereby causing a mine to detonate. The most common such sweeps are magnetic and acoustic generators. There are two modes of operating an influence sweep: MSM (mine setting mode) and TSM (target simulation mode or target setting mode). MSM sweeping is founded on intelligence on a given type of mine, and produces the output required for detonation of this mine. If such intelligence is unavailable, the TSM sweeping instead reproduces the influence of the friendly ship that is about to transit the area. TSM sweeping thus clears mines directed at this ship without knowledge of the mines. However, mines directed at other ships might remain.P A Brodtkorb, B-E Marthinsen, M Nakjem, R Fardal (2005): "Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) introduces new mine sweeping capabilities", Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) Europe, conf. proc., Amsterdam. The minesweeper differs from a
minehunter A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destroys individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines. A vessel that combines both of these roles is known as a ...
; the minehunter actively detects and neutralises individual mines. Minesweepers are in many cases complementary to minehunters, depending on the operation and the environment; a minesweeper is, in particular, better suited to clearing open-water areas with large numbers of mines. Both kinds of ships are collectively called
mine countermeasure vessel A mine countermeasures vessel or MCMV is a type of naval ship designed for the location of and destruction of naval mines which combines the role of a Minesweeper (ship), minesweeper and minehunter in one hull. The term MCMV is also applied collec ...
s (MCMV), a term also applied to a vessel that combines both roles. The first such ship was , also the first warship to be constructed from fiberglass.


See also

* List of minesweeper classes *
Demining Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By contra ...
*
Destroyer minesweeper Destroyer minesweeper was a designation given by the United States Navy to a series of destroyers that were converted into high-speed ocean-going minesweepers for service during World War II. The hull classification symbol for this type of ship was ...
*
List of mine warfare vessels of the United States Navy This is a list of mine warfare vessels of the United States Navy. Ship status is indicated as either currently active (including ready reserve), inactive or precommissioning Ships in the inactive category include only ships in the inactive ...
*
List of mine countermeasure vessels of the Royal Navy Active ships * s ** HMS ''Ledbury'' (M30) ** HMS ''Cattistock'' (M31) ** HMS ''Brocklesby'' (M33) ** HMS ''Middleton'' (M34) ** HMS ''Chiddingfold'' (M37) ** HMS ''Hurworth'' (M39) * s ** HMS ''Penzance'' (M106) ** HMS ''Pembroke'' (M ...
*
List of mine warfare vessels of the Second World War This is a list of mine warfare vessels of World War II. The List of ships of World War II contains major military vessels of the war, arranged alphabetically and by type. The list includes armed vessels that served during the war and in the immed ...


References


Further reading

* Bruhn, David D.. (2006). ''Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The U.S. Navy's Ocean Minesweepers, 1953-1994''. Heritage Books. . * Bruhn, David D.. (2009). ''Wooden Ships and Iron Men: The U.S. Navy's Coastal and Motor Minesweepers, 1941-1953''. Heritage Books. . * Lund & Ludlam. (1978) ''Out Sweeps! The Story of the Minesweepers in World War II''. Foulsham/New English Library . Minesweeping by the wartime Royal Navy.


External links


Pewter Aircraft , Vickers Wellington DWI of 1 GRU used to clear magnetic mines

Ex HNLMS M880 - Mahu - MSI
(Dutch)
Swedish Minesweeper from 1941 M 20 webpage still operational

"Fighting The Submarine Mine - How Navies Combat A Deadly Sea Weapon" October 1941
{{Authority control Ship types