If Iran were able to lay mines in the Persian Gulf, it would potentially extend the disruption from a couple days to several weeks, McNally estimated.
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A number of Iranian vessels trying to lay mines in the strait are sunk by aircraft from the U.S. carrier on station outside the gulf, but others offload their mines.
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SMS Meteor on fire, shortly before she sank On 29 May 1915 Meteor set out on her first mission, to lay mines in the White Sea and attack Allied merchant ships engaged in taking coal and other materiel to Russia. In this she had several successes, sinking three freighters and laying her mines, which accounted for another three ships. She returned unharmed in June 1915.Halpern p33 Her second mission, in August 1915, was to lay mines in the Moray Firth, but this was less successful.
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U-215 was sunk in the summer of 1942 by British warship while on a mission to lay mines in Boston Harbor after attacking and sinking the U.S. liberty ship Alexander Macomb, part of an allied convoy. The wreck was not discovered until 2004.
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E24 belonged to the Harwich-based 9th Flotilla at the time of her loss. She was the second E-class boat to be converted into a minelayer. E24 left Harwich on the morning of 21 March 1916 to lay mines in the Heligoland Bight. A positional report was issued late that night.
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Jack Simpson enlisted in the RAAF in 1942. On 9 April 1944, an Avro Lancaster took off from RAF Binbrook with 7 aboard, among them Flight Sergeant Simpson, serving as an air bomber on the flight. The bomber's objective was to lay mines in the Baltic Sea, but the Lancaster crashed six minutes after takeoff, killing all aboard.
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It was arranged that a coded signal would be transmitted to alert the submarines exactly when the operation commenced: "Take into account the enemy's forces may be putting to sea".Tarrant p. 56-57 Additionally, UB-27 was sent out on 20 May with instructions to work its way into the Firth of Forth past May Island. U-46 was ordered to patrol the coast of Sunderland, which had been chosen for the diversionary attack, but because of engine problems it was unable to leave port and U-47 was diverted to this task. On 13 May, U-72 was sent to lay mines in the Firth of Forth; on the 23rd, U-74 departed to lay mines in the Moray Firth; and on the 24th, U-75 was dispatched similarly west of the Orkney Islands.
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Here it came under the command of 6 AA Group, which had responsibility for covering the 'Overlord' embarkation ports around the Solent and Portsmouth.Order of Battle of AA Command, 27 April 1944, with amendments, TNA file WO 212/85. On the night of 16 May, 182 and 409 HAA Btys submitted claims for 'kills' of Luftwaffe aircraft attempting to lay mines in the Solent.
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In the meantime, the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla had been assigned to Home Fleet and the ship rejoined them when her refit was finished.English, pp. 107–08 A map of the 400px On 5 April Hero escorted the battlecruiser as she covered the minelayers preparing to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany.
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Her commander, Lieutenant-Commander Naper, was ordered to enter the Bight in darkness on the surface via the Amrum Bank. Once in position he was to lay mines in a zigzag formation. As mines were known to have been laid by the Germans off Ameland, Naper was ordered to return by the same route. She did not return from the mission, and was logged as missing on 24 March 1916.
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99 On 14 January she captured the German blockade runner Phaedra in the North Sea.Rohwer, p. 14 The ship was refitted between 16 February and 18 March 1940 and later reassigned to the Home Fleet. On 5 April Greyhound escorted the battlecruiser as she covered the minelayers preparing to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany.
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Provision is made for operations under NBC conditions by an air filtration system and a GO-27 or Polish-produced Tafios detection device.When burying mines the vehicle can travel at a speed between 6 and 10 km/h. When laying surface mines the speed range is from 6 to 20 km/h. It is possible to lay mines in water up to 900 mm deep at a speed of 6 km/h.
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UB-12s activities over the next year are not well documented, and no specific record of her can be found in English-language sources. However, it is known that during this period, she was helmed by four different commanders, with the final officer, Oblt. Ernst Schöller, assuming command in May 1918. Under Schöller's command, UB-12 departed Zeebrugge on 19 August to lay mines in the Downs off the Kentish coast, but never returned.
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In February 1940, U-33, then captained by Hans-Wilhelm von Dresky, had been ordered to lay mines in the Firth of Clyde, in Scotland. However, the minesweeper , captained by Lieutenant-Commander Hugh Price, detected the U-boat on the 12th and dropped depth charges over a period of several hours. Eventually, the damaged U-33 was forced to surface and the crew abandoned the boat, which sank soon afterward. 25 men died while 17 survived.
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During the First World War the castle battery mounted two 4.7-inch Quick Firing guns.Farndale, Martin, 2008. History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery – The forgotten fronts and Home Base, Royal Artillery Institution, London, p402 Broughty and the bank of river Tay Broughty Castle From 1886 to 1887 a range was built to house submarine miners to the east of the castle. In an emergency these would lay mines in the Tay Estuary to damage enemy shipping.
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In the opening cinematic of Iridion 3D Earth is attacked without warning by the Iridion, who take over much of the surface and lay mines in orbit and bombs in the Pacific Ocean. The player is the pilot of an experimental SHN fighter, the last hope for defending Earth from the Iridion. The player pilots his ship alone against hordes of Iridion fighters and natural obstacles. The early stages begin on Earth, with the player fighting through an Iridion garbage tunnel.
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Upon completion, V- and W-class destroyers, including Vehement, were assigned to the Grand Fleet or Harwich Force Vehement herself was assigned to the 20th Destroyer Flotilla in February 1918.Smith, p. 39. In 1918, the 20th Destroyer Flotilla was engaged in a major British effort to lay minefields in the North Sea to close the Heligoland Bight to passage by German ships and submarines. On 31 May 1918, Vehement put to sea from Immingham with the flotilla to lay mines in the Dogger Bank area.
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Pinguin headed north-eastwards towards the Sunda Strait to the shipping lanes between India and Australia. On 27 September the sea was calm enough to allow the spare seaplane to be assembled. Captain Krüder and his navigation officer Leutnant Wilhelm Michaelsen conceived and developed a plan to lay mines in six Australian and Tasmanian sea lanes, but it would require two ships. On 7 October off Christmas Island a vessel crossing the raider's path was flagged down and ordered to stop with a 75 mm warning shot.
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It dealt with the defense of North America. Long-range weapons meant that the heartland could no longer be considered invulnerable. In the immediate future, the Soviet Union was capable of conducting one-way air strikes and commando raids, and submarines could attack shipping and lay mines in American waters. The major threat though was seen as sabotage and subversion by Soviet agents. After 1950, there was a possibility the Soviet Union would develop nuclear weapons, and the long range aircraft or missiles to deliver them against cities in the United States.
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UC-55 sailed from Heligoland on 25 September 1917 to lay mines in the Lerwick Channel, the southern approach to the port of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. On 29 September, just as she started dropping her mines, she suffered a loss of trim which resulted in her diving beyond her rated maximum dive depth. This in turn resulted in the forward compartment flooding, the batteries failing, and chlorine gas developing. She was forced to surface to ventilate the boat, but when she surfaced, the rudder refused to answer the helm due to the lack of battery power.
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Another minefield was laid on the night of 2/3 January 1940 by Ivanhoe and Intrepid and they then laid a series of anti-submarine minefields later in the month.Smith, pp. 125–131 The ship replaced her guns and torpedo tubes at Portland from 27 January–3 February and resumed her former duties. In early April, Ivanhoe and three other destroyer minelayers were escorted by the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla as they laid mines as part of Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the shipment of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany.
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On 5 July 1943, U-230 departed Brest in company with on a mission to lay mines in Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the United States. Arriving at the end of the month U-230 laid 8 TMC mines on the night of 26/27 July, in the mouth of Chesapeake Bay;grid CA7353: a few days later U-566 laid 12 TMB mines nearby.grid CA7355: Neither of these minefields achieved any sinkings.Blair p387 Returning across the Atlantic U-566 sank the US patrol vessel with the loss of more than 90 of her crew, sparking a massive ASW operation by the Tenth Fleet.
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As part of its campaign against shipping, around each full moon from late January 1945 XX Bomber Command conducted minelaying missions. On the night of 25/26 January, 41 B-29s from the 444th and 468th Bombardment Groups laid six minefields in the approaches to Singapore.Cate (1953), p. 158 On the same night other B-29s laid mines off Saigon and Cam Ranh Bay as part of the largest single aerial minelaying effort in the Pacific up to that time.Chilstrom (1993), p. 14 On the night of 27/28 February, twelve B-29s were dispatched to lay mines in the Straits of Johor near Singapore.
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The original ROTOR network of 60 radars was cut in half, with a small number of MRS handling both the early warning task and ground controlled interception directly from their screens. Many of the centralized ROTOR operations rooms, only recently completed, were sold off. One outcome of Ardent that did direct effect the Type 80 was the realization that the lack of coverage over northern Scotland allowed the bombers to escape detection and then roam freely along the west. This was particularly problematic for the Navy, who were concerned that long-range bombers could use this route to lay mines in the western ports.
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To relieve the Mediterranean Fleet, while demonstrating British strength to the Spanish, the Admiralty and Admiral Cunningham planned to use Ark Royals Swordfish bombers in raids against Italian targets, supported by bombardment from heavy fleet units. The first bombing, on 2 January against the Tirso Dam in Sardinia, was unsuccessful, but Ark Royals Swordfish bombers were more successful on 6 January, when they bombed the port city of Genoa. The carrier's aircraft also covered the battlecruiser Renown and battleship Malaya while they shelled the port. On 9 January, Ark Royal launched aircraft to bomb an oil refinery at La Spezia, and to lay mines in the harbour.
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On 6 April Hardy and the rest of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla escorted the four destroyer minelayers of the 20th Destroyer Flotilla as they sailed to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the shipment of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany. The mines were laid on the early morning of 8 April, before the Germans began their invasion, and the destroyers then joined the battlecruiser and her escorts.Haarr, p. 65, 87, 308, 337 The wreckage of Hardy photographed in July 1962 The Admiralty ordered Captain Warburton-Lee to attack German shipping in Narvik, Norway, on 9 April.
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The ship sailed to Freetown, Sierra Leone on 30 August and arrived on 4 September to search for German commerce raiders. She was transferred back to the UK in November for a more thorough refit at Sheerness between 18 December and 23 March 1940. In the meantime, the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla had been assigned to the Home Fleet and Havock rejoined them when her refit was finished. On 6 April Havock and the rest of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla escorted the four destroyer minelayers of the 20th Destroyer Flotilla as they sailed to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany.
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Massie, pp. 31, 34–39 The Germans sortied from Messina on 6 August and headed east, towards Constantinople, trailed by Gloucester which was radioing the German movements to Milne. Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon ordered Breslau to turn about and pretend to lay mines in an effort to scare off Gloucester. Captain Howard Kelly decided to attack the German ship in an effort to force Goeben to turn around to support her consort as the British ship was more heavily armed than Breslau. Kelly opened fire at a range of with his forward six-inch gun at 13:35 on the 7th and then increased speed when the German ship replied with her guns.
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Liverpool had been tasked with other NATO warships, to intercept small, high-speed inflatable craft spotted approaching the port of Misrata, the type which had been used previously to lay mines in the Port of Misrata. Libyan rocket artillery on the coast fired an inaccurate salvo of rockets at Liverpool. Liverpool returned fire with her 4.5 inch main gun, silencing the shore battery, in the Royal Navy's first use of the weapon since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On 28 June 2011, Liverpool used her main gun to fire warning shots at pro-Gaddafi maritime forces moving along Libya's Mediterranean coast just west of the city of Misrata, amid concerns a threat was posed to civilians due to recent repeated attempts to mine the harbour.
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The of the Dover and Ramsgate flotillas, with a Motor Gun Boat (MGB) escort, would make torpedo attacks from . The boats would be followed up by Swordfish torpedo-bombers with fighter escorts and Beaufort torpedo-bombers and the coastal guns at Dover would fire for as long as the ships were in range; Bomber Command would attack any ship damaged enough to have been slowed or brought to a stop. As the German ships moved beyond the Straits of Dover, six Harwich destroyers of the Nore Command would make torpedo attacks and the RAF would continue bombing and lay mines in the paths of the ships. Bomber Command intended to have at four hours' notice (about of its operational strength), by reserving around from each group.
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Hotspurs bell She sailed later that month for the Mediterranean, but, once she reached Gibraltar, she was diverted to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to search for German commerce raiders. The ship was transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in October and was refitted in Sheerness between 18 January and 6 March 1940. On 6 April Hotspur and the rest of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla escorted the four destroyer minelayers of the 20th Destroyer Flotilla as they sailed to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany. The mines were laid on the early morning of 8 April, before the Germans began their invasion, and the destroyers joined the battlecruiser and her escorts.
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The following day, Fearless and three of her sister ships sank the and then resumed their normal escort duties. At the end of March 1940, Fearless and the destroyer were assigned to screen the light cruiser as she searched for German fishing ships off the Norwegian coast.English, p. 78; Rohwer, pp. 4, 17 Birmingham and her consorts were ordered to join the covering force for Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany, on the evening of 7 April, but they were delayed by the need to transfer prize crews to several captured trawlers and head seas.Haarr 2009, pp. 65–66, 87, 92, 105 A week later, she was escorting the battleship which was covering Convoy NP1, the first troop convoy to Norway, as the Allies began to execute Plan R 4 after the German invasion on 9 April.
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German tanker Jan Wellem with a sunk merchant vessel to the right, after the foray of the British destroyers into the fjord of Narvik When the Second World War began on 3 September, Hunter was en route to Freetown, Sierra Leone to search for German commerce raiders, before being transferred to the North America and West Indies Station in late October. Hunter remained on that station until she was transferred to the British Isles in February 1940 and began a refit at Falmouth that lasted until 9 March. The ship rejoined the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow on 17 March.English, pp. 112–13 On 6 April Hunter and the rest of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla escorted the four destroyer minelayers of the 20th Destroyer Flotilla as they sailed to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany.
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She intercepted the German ocean liner off Cape Hatteras on 19 December, but Columbus scuttled herself before she could be captured. Hyperion was transferred to the British Isles in mid-January 1940 and began a refit at Portsmouth that lasted from 25 January to 6 March. The ship rejoined the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. On 5 April Hyperion escorted the battlecruiser as she covered the minelayers preparing to implement Operation Wilfred, an operation to lay mines in the Vestfjord to prevent the transport of Swedish iron ore from Narvik to Germany. The ship and her sister pretended to lay a minefield off Bud, Norway on 8 April and reported its location to the Norwegians.Haar 2009, pp. 65–66, 88–89 Hyperion escorted the aircraft carriers and from 21 April as their aircraft attacked German targets in Norway. She remained with Ark Royal when Glorious returned to Scapa Flow to refuel on 27 April.Haarr 2010, pp.
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In March 1944, 44 AA Bde HQ was moved from Manchester to take over the AA defences on the Isle of Wight. Here it came under the command of 6 AA Group, which had responsibility for covering the 'Overlord' embarkation ports around the Solent and Portsmouth. The brigade established its HQ at 'Broadlands', Staplers Road, Newport, and took over command of 82nd (Essex) HAA Rgt and 151st LAA Rgt from 47 AA Bde and was soon reinforced. Additional LAA guns (mainly Bofors, with a few Oerlikon 20 mm cannon) were sited singly at Yarmouth, Shanklin, Sandown and Ventnor.Order of Battle of AA Command, 27 April 1944, TNA file WO 212/85. Brigadier Vere Krohn, MC, TD, a former head of AA Command's technical branch, arrived from 43 AA Bde to take command on 2 May, and began redeploying the HAA sites and additional radar-controlled searchlights to tackle aircraft attempting to lay mines in the Solent. There were sporadic attacks, with 619/185, 182/136 and 438/136 HAA Btys submitting claims for 'kills' on 15, 16 and 23 May, but the Luftwaffe failed to disrupt the 'Overlord' preparations.Routledge, p. 392.
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