Sea mines

a weapon (a type of naval ammunition) to destroy enemy ships and hinder their actions. Main properties of M. m.: constant and long-lasting combat readiness, surprise of combat impact, difficulty in clearing mines. Mine mines can be installed in enemy waters and off their own coast (see Minefields). A mine is an explosive charge enclosed in a waterproof casing, which also contains instruments and devices that cause a mine to explode and ensure safe handling.

The first, although unsuccessful, attempt to use a floating mine was made by Russian engineers in the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. In 1807 in Russia, the military engineer I. I. Fitzum designed a mine, detonated from the shore using a fire hose. In 1812, the Russian scientist P. L. Schilling implemented a project for a mine that would be exploded from the shore using an electric current. In the 40-50s. Academician B. S. Jacobi invented a galvanic shock mine, which was installed under the surface of the water on a cable with an anchor. These mines were first used during the Crimean War of 1853-56. After the war, Russian inventors A.P. Davydov and others created shock mines with a mechanical fuse. Admiral S. O. Makarov, inventor N. N. Azarov and others developed mechanisms for automatically laying mines on a given recess and improved methods for laying mines from surface ships. M. m. were widely used in the First World War of 1914-18. In World War 2 (1939-45), non-contact mines (mainly magnetic, acoustic and magnetic-acoustic) appeared. Urgency and multiplicity devices and new anti-mine devices were introduced into the design of non-contact mines. Airplanes were widely used to lay mines in enemy waters.

Depending on their carrier, missiles are divided into ship-based (thrown from the deck of ships), boat-based (shot from the torpedo tubes of a submarine), and aviation (dropped from an airplane). Based on their position after installation, moths are divided into anchored, bottom, and floating (with the help of instruments they are held at a given distance from the surface of the water); by type of fuses - contact (explode upon contact with a ship), non-contact (explode when a ship passes at a certain distance from the mine) and engineering (explode from a coastal command post). Contact mines ( rice. 1 , 2 , 3 ) there are galvanic impact, shock-mechanical and antenna. The fuse of contact mines has a galvanic element, the current of which (during the contact of the ship with the mine) closes the electrical fuse circuit using a relay inside the mine, which causes an explosion of the mine charge. Non-contact anchor and bottom mines ( rice. 4 ) are equipped with highly sensitive fuses that react to the physical fields of the ship when it passes near mines (changing magnetic field, sound vibrations, etc.). Depending on the nature of the field to which proximity mines react, magnetic, induction, acoustic, hydrodynamic or combined mines are distinguished. The proximity fuse circuit includes an element that senses changes in the external field associated with the passage of a ship, an amplification path and an actuator (ignition circuit). Engineering mines are divided into wire-controlled and radio-controlled. To make it more difficult to combat non-contact mines (mine sweeping), the fuse circuit includes urgency devices that delay bringing the mine into firing position for any required period, multiplicity devices that ensure the mine explodes only after a specified number of impacts on the fuse, and decoy devices that cause the mine to explode while trying to disarm it.

Lit.: Beloshitsky V.P., Baginsky Yu.M., Underwater strike weapons, M., 1960; Skorokhod Yu. V., Khokhlov P. M., Mine defense ships, M., 1967.

S. D. Mogilny.

Big Soviet encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

See what “sea mines” are in other dictionaries:

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Depending on their carrier, sea mines are divided into ship mines (thrown from the deck of ships), boat mines (fired from torpedo tubes of a submarine) and aviation mines (dropped from an airplane). According to their position after setting, mines are divided into anchored, bottom and floating (with the help of devices they are kept at a given distance from the surface of the water); by type of fuses - contact (explode upon contact with a ship), non-contact (explode when a ship passes at a certain distance from the mine) and engineering (explode from a coastal command post). Contact mines come in galvanic impact, mechanical impact and antenna types. The fuse of contact mines has a galvanic element, the current of which (during the contact of the ship with the mine) closes the electrical fuse circuit using a relay inside the mine, which causes an explosion of the mine charge. Non-contact anchor and bottom mines are equipped with highly sensitive fuses that react to the physical fields of the ship when it passes near the mines (changing magnetic field, sound vibrations, etc.). Depending on the nature of the field to which proximity mines react, magnetic, induction, acoustic, hydrodynamic or combined mines are distinguished. The proximity fuse circuit includes an element that senses changes in the external field associated with the passage of a ship, an amplification path and an actuator (ignition circuit). Engineering mines are divided into wire-controlled and radio-controlled. To make it more difficult to combat non-contact mines (mine sweeping), the fuse circuit includes urgency devices that delay bringing the mine into firing position for any required period, multiplicity devices that ensure the mine explodes only after a specified number of impacts on the fuse, and decoy devices that cause the mine to explode while trying to disarm it.

The first, though unsuccessful, attempt to use a floating mine was made by Russian engineers in the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. In 1807, in Russia, the military engineer I. I. Fitzum designed a sea mine, which was blown up from the shore along a fire hose. In 1812, the Russian scientist P. L. Schilling carried out a project for a mine that was exploded from the shore with the help of an electric current. In the 1840s and 1850s, Academician B.S. Jacobi invented a galvanic shock mine, which was installed under the surface of the water on a cable with an anchor. These mines were first used during the Crimean War of 1853-56. After the war, Russian inventors A.P. Davydov and others created shock mines with a mechanical fuse. Admiral S. O. Makarov, inventor N. N. Azarov and others developed mechanisms for automatically laying mines on a given recess and improved methods for laying mines from surface ships. Naval mines were widely used in the 1st World War 1914-18. In World War 2 (1939-45), non-contact mines (mainly magnetic, acoustic and magnetic-acoustic) appeared. Urgency and multiplicity devices and new anti-mine devices were introduced into the design of non-contact mines. Airplanes were widely used to lay mines in enemy waters. In the 60s, a new class of mines appeared - an "attacking" mine, which is a combination of a mine platform with a torpedo or missile of the "water - water - target" or "water - air - target" class. In the 70s, self-transporting mines were developed, which are based on an anti-submarine torpedo that delivers a bottom mine to the mining area, where the latter lies on the ground.

The forerunner of sea mines was first described by the early Ming Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in a 14th-century military treatise called Huolongjing. Chinese chronicles also talk about the use of explosives in the 16th century to fight against Japanese pirates (wokou). Sea mines were placed in a wooden box, sealed with putty. General Qi Juguang made several of these delayed-detonation drift mines to harass Japanese pirate ships. Sut Yingxing's treatise Tiangong Kaiu (Use of Natural Phenomena) of 1637 describes sea mines with a long cord stretched to a hidden ambush located on the shore. By pulling the cord, the ambush man activated a steel wheel lock with flint to produce a spark and ignite the sea mine fuse.

The first project on the use of sea mines in the West was made by Ralph Rabbards; he presented his developments to Queen Elizabeth of England in 1574. The Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel, who worked in the artillery department of the English king Charles I, was engaged in the development of weapons, including “floating firecrackers”, which showed their unsuitability. The British apparently tried to use this type of weapon during the siege of La Rochelle in 1627. American David Bushnel invented the first practical naval mine for use against Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. It was a sealed barrel of gunpowder that floated in the direction of the enemy, and its shock lock exploded when it collided with the ship. In 1812, Russian engineer Pavel Schilling developed an electric underwater mine fuse. In 1854, during an unsuccessful attempt by the Anglo-French fleet to capture the fortress of Kronstadt, several British ships were damaged by an underwater explosion of Russian naval mines. More than 1500 sea mines or " hellish machines”, designed by Boris Yakobi, were installed by Russian naval specialists in the Gulf of Finland during the Crimean War. Jacobi created a sea anchor mine, which had its own buoyancy (due to the air chamber in its hull), a galvanic impact mine, introduced the training of special units of galvanizers for the fleet and engineer battalions.

According to official data from the Russian Navy, the first successful use of a naval mine took place in June 1855 in the Baltic during the Crimean War. On the mines exposed by Russian miners in the Gulf of Finland, the ships of the Anglo-French squadron were blown up. Western sources cite earlier cases - 1803 and even 1776. Their success, however, has not been confirmed. Naval mines were widely used during the Crimean and Russo-Japanese wars. In the First World War, 310 thousand sea mines were installed, from which about 400 ships sank, including 9 battleships.
Sea mines can be laid both by surface ships (vessels) (minelayers) and from submarines (through torpedo tubes, from special internal compartments/containers, from external trailer containers), or dropped by aircraft. Antiamphibious mines can also be installed from the shore at a shallow depth.

To combat sea mines, all available means are used, both special and improvised. The classic means are minesweepers. They can use contact and non-contact trawls, mine search devices or other means. A contact-type trawl cuts the mine, and the mines that float to the surface are shot with firearms. To protect minefields from being swept by contact trawls, a mine protector is used. Non-contact trawls create physical fields that trigger fuses. In addition to specially built minesweepers, converted ships and vessels are used. Since the 40s, aviation can be used as minesweepers, including from the 70s x helicopters. Demolition charges destroy the mine at the place of placement. They can be installed by search vehicles, combat swimmers, improvised means, and less often by aviation. Minebreakers - a kind of kamikaze ships - trigger mines with their own presence. Sea mines are being improved in the areas of increasing the power of charges, creating new types of proximity fuses and increasing resistance to minesweeping. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki

Marine mine weapons (we will here understand by this term only sea mines and mine complexes of various types) are especially popular today among countries that do not have powerful navies, but have a fairly long coastline, as well as among the so-called third world countries or terrorist (criminal) communities that, for one reason or another, do not have the opportunity to purchase modern high-precision weapons for their naval forces (such as anti-ship and cruise missiles, missile-carrying aircraft, warships of the main classes).http://nvo.ng.ru/armament/2008-08-01/8_mina.html

The main reasons for this are the extreme simplicity of the design of sea mines and the ease of their operation compared to other types of naval underwater weapons, as well as a very reasonable price, several times different from the same anti-ship missiles. “Cheap, but cheerful” - this motto can be used without any reservations apply to modern naval mine weapons.

The command of the naval forces of Western countries came face to face with the “asymmetrical” mine threat, as it is often called abroad, during recent counter-terrorism and peacekeeping operations, which involved the involvement of fairly large naval forces. It turned out that mines - even outdated types - pose a very serious threat to modern warships. The concept of littoral warfare, on which the US Navy has recently been relying, has also come under attack.

Moreover, the high potential of naval mine weapons is ensured not only due to their high tactical and technical characteristics, but also due to the high flexibility and variety of tactics of their use. So, for example, the enemy can carry out mine laying in his territorial or even inland waters, under the cover of coastal defense means and at the most convenient time for him, which significantly increases the surprise factor of its use and limits the ability of the opposing side to timely identify the mine threat and eliminate it. The danger posed by bottom mines with proximity fuses of various types installed in shallow areas of coastal seas is especially great: mine detection systems in this case function more effectively, and poor visibility, strong coastal and tidal currents, the presence of a large number of mine-like objects (false targets) and the proximity of naval bases or coastal defense facilities of the enemy complicates the work of mine-sweeping forces and groups of divers-miners of a potential aggressor.

According to naval experts, sea mines are “the quintessence of modern asymmetric warfare.” They are easy to install and can remain in position for many months or even years without requiring additional maintenance or issuing any commands. They are in no way influenced by any change in the conceptual provisions of warfare at sea, or by a change in the country's political course. They just lie there, at the bottom, and wait for their prey. To better understand how high potential modern mines and mine systems have, let's look at several samples of Russian naval mine weapons that are allowed for export.

For example, bottom mine MDM-1 Mod. 1, deployed both from submarines with 534 mm torpedo tubes and from surface ships, is designed to destroy enemy surface ships and their submerged submarines. Having combat mass 960 kg (boat version) or 1070 kg (installed from surface ships) and a warhead equivalent to a TNT charge weighing 1120 kg, it is capable of remaining in position in the “cocked state” for at least one year, and after the expiration of its assigned combat service time, it it simply self-destructs (which eliminates the need to search for and destroy it). The mine has a fairly wide range of application depth - from 8 to 120 m, is equipped with a three-channel proximity fuse that responds to the acoustic, electromagnetic and hydrodynamic fields of the target ship, urgency and frequency devices, and also has effective means of countering modern mine-sweeping systems of various types (contact, non-contact trawls, etc.). In addition, detecting a mine using acoustic and optical means is made difficult by the camouflage paint used and the special material of the body. For the first time, the mine, adopted for service in 1979, was demonstrated to the general public at the Abu Dhabi Arms and Military Equipment Exhibition (IDEX) in February 1993. Note that this is a mine adopted by the Russian Navy almost 30 years ago, but after it there were other bottom mines;

Another example of domestic mine weapons is the PMK-2 anti-submarine mine complex (export designation of the PMT-1 anti-submarine torpedo mine, adopted by the USSR Navy in 1972 and modernized in 1983 according to the MTPK-1 version), designed to destroy enemy submarines various classes and types at depths from 100 to 1000 m. The PMK-2 can be deployed from 534-mm torpedo tubes of submarines at depths of up to 300 meters and speeds of up to eight knots, or from surface ships at speeds of up to 18 knots, or from anti-submarine aircraft from altitudes of no more than 500 m and at flight speeds of up to 1000 km/h.

A distinctive feature of this mine complex is the use of a small-sized anti-submarine torpedo as a warhead (the latter, in turn, has a warhead weighing 130 kg in TNT equivalent and is equipped with a combined fuse). total weight PMK-2, depending on the modification (type of director), ranges from 1400 to 1800 kg. After installation, the PMK-2 can remain in position in combat-ready condition for at least one year. The hydroacoustic system of the complex constantly monitors its sector, detects a target, classifies it and provides data to a computer to determine the elements of the target's movement and generate data for launching a torpedo. After the torpedo enters the target zone at the designated depth, it begins to move in a spiral, and its seeker searches for the target and subsequently captures it. An analogue of the PMK-2 is the American anti-submarine mine system Mk60 Mod0/Mod1 CAPTOR (enCAPsulated TORpedo), which has been supplied to the United States Navy since 1979, but has already been withdrawn from both service and production.

However, people abroad try not to forget about the “horned death”. Countries such as the USA, Finland, Sweden and a number of others are today actively working to modernize old and develop new types of mines and mine systems. Perhaps the only maritime power that has almost completely abandoned the use of live sea mines is Great Britain. For example, in 2002, in an official response to a parliamentary inquiry, the commander of the Royal Navy noted that they “have not held any stockpiles of sea mines since 1992. At the same time, the United Kingdom retains the ability to use this type of weapon and continues to carry out R&D in this area. But the fleet only uses practical (training) mines - during exercises to develop the skills of personnel.”

However, this “self-prohibition” does not apply to British companies, and, for example, BAE Systems produces the Stonefish mine for export. In particular, this mine, equipped with a combined fuse that reacts to the acoustic, magnetic and hydrodynamic fields of the ship, is in service in Australia. The mine has an operating depth range of 30–200 m and can be deployed from aircraft, helicopters, surface ships and submarines.

Of the foreign samples of naval mine weapons, it should be noted the American self-transporting bottom mine Mk67 SLMM (Submarine-Launched Mobile Mine), which is designed for covert mining of shallow (actually coastal) areas of the seas, as well as fairways, water areas of naval bases and ports, an approach to which the mine-laying submarine is too dangerous due to the strong anti-submarine defense of the enemy or is difficult due to the bottom topography, shallow depths, etc. In such cases, the carrier submarine can mine from a distance equal to the range of the mine itself, which, after leaving from the torpedo tube, the submarine, due to its electrical power plant, is advanced to a given area and lies on the ground, turning into an ordinary bottom mine capable of detecting and attacking surface ships and submarines. Taking into account the fact that the range of the mine is about 8.6 miles (16 km), and the width of territorial waters is 12 miles, it can be easily seen that submarines equipped with such mines can, in peacetime or on the eve of the start of hostilities actions without much difficulty to carry out mining of the coastal areas of a potential enemy.

Externally, the Mk67 SLMM looks like a standard torpedo. However, the torpedo is just included in its composition - the mine itself is built on the basis of the Mk37 Mod2 torpedo, in the design of which about 500 changes and improvements were made. Including changes combat unit– instead of a standard warhead, a mine is installed (it uses explosives of the PBXM-103 type). The onboard guidance system equipment was modernized, and combined proximity fuses Mk58 and Mk70, similar to those installed on American bottom mines of the Quickstrike family, were used. The working depth of the mine ranges from 10 to 300 m, and the mine interval (the distance between two adjacent mines) is 60 m. The disadvantage of the Mk67 SLMM is its “analog” nature, as a result of which when using the mine on submarines with a “digital” BIUS it is necessary to perform additional actions to “adapt” to the carrier.

Development of the Mk67 SLMM began in 1977-1978 and initial plans called for 2,421 mines of the new type to be delivered to the United States Navy by 1982. However, for a number of reasons, including the end of the Cold War, the work was delayed, and the complex reached the state of initial operational readiness only in 1992 (which is tantamount to putting it into service). Ultimately, the Pentagon purchased from the manufacturer, Raytheon Naval and Maritime Integrated Systems Company (Portsmouth, formerly Davey Electronics), only 889 mines, of which the oldest are already being removed from service and disposed of due to the expiration of their shelf life. An analogue of this mine is the Russian self-transporting bottom mines of the SMDM family, created on the basis of the 533-mm torpedo 53-65KE and the 650-mm torpedo 65-73 (65-76).

Recently, work has been underway in the United States to modernize the Mk67 SLMM mine complex, which is being carried out in several directions: firstly, the mine’s self-propelled range is increasing (due to improvements in the power plant) and its sensitivity is increasing (due to the installation of a newer programmable proximity fuse of the TDD type Mk71); secondly, the Honeywell Marine Systems company offers its own version of the mine - based on the NT-37E torpedo, and thirdly, back in 1993, work began on creating a new modification of the self-transporting mine based on the Mk48 Mod4 torpedo (the highlight of the mine should be the presence two warheads that have the ability to separate and detonate independently of each other, thus undermining two separate targets).

The US military also continues to improve bottom mines of the Quickstrike family, created on the basis of Mk80 series aircraft bombs of various calibers. Moreover, these mines are constantly used in various exercises of the Navy and Air Force of the United States and its allies.

The work in the field of naval mine weapons carried out by Finnish specialists deserves special mention. This is especially interesting due to the fact that the military-political leadership of Finland announced at the official level that the state’s defensive strategy in the maritime sector will be based on the widespread use of sea mines. At the same time, minefields designed to turn coastal areas into “dumpling soup” will be covered by coastal artillery batteries and coastal defense missile battalions.

The latest development of Finnish gunsmiths is the M2004 mine complex, serial production of which began in 2005 - the first contract for sea mines under the designation “Sea Mine 2000” was received by the Patria company (the main contractor for the program) in September 2004, committing to supply an unspecified number of them in 2004–2008 and then carry out maintenance of products in storage and operation areas.

Naval mine weapons are a “closed secret,” along with torpedo weapons, and are a source of special pride for those powers that can independently develop and produce them. Today, sea mines of various types are in service with the navies of 51 countries, of which 32 are capable of serial production themselves, and 13 export them to other countries. Moreover, in the US Navy alone after the Korean War, out of 18 lost and heavily damaged warships, 14 became victims of naval mine weapons.

If we evaluate the amount of effort expended by even the most advanced countries in the world to eliminate the mine threat, then it is enough to give the following example. On the eve of the First Gulf War, in January–February 1991, the Iraqi Navy deployed more than 1,300 sea mines of 16 different types in the coastal areas of Kuwait, in landing areas, which also caused the failure of the “brilliantly thought out” American amphibious landing operation. After the expulsion of Iraqi troops from Kuwaiti territory, it took the multinational coalition forces several months to completely clear these areas of mines. According to published data, the mine countermeasures forces of the navies of the United States, Germany, Great Britain and Belgium managed to find and destroy 112 mines - mainly old Soviet AMD aircraft bottom mines and KMD ship mines with Crab proximity fuses.

Everyone also remembers the “mine war” that took place in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s. It is interesting that then the commanders of American warships allocated to escort commercial ships in the zone of the “blazing fire” bay quickly realized: oil tankers, due to their design features (double hull, etc.), were relatively invulnerable to the threat from sea mines. And then the Americans began to place tankers, especially empty ones, at the head of the convoy - even ahead of the escort warships.

In general, during the period from 1988 to 1991, it was mines that caused serious damage to American warships operating in the waters Persian Gulf:– 1988 – the guided-missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts was blown up by an Iranian mine of the M-08 type, which received a hole measuring 6.5 m (mechanisms were torn from the foundations, the keel was broken) and then underwent repairs costing $135 million; - February 1991 - the landing helicopter carrier "Tripoli" was allegedly blown up by an Iraqi mine of the LUGM-145 type, and the guided missile cruiser "Princeton" was also blown up by an Iraqi bottom mine of the "Manta" type of Italian design (the explosion damaged the equipment of the Aegis system, air defense missile system, propeller shafting, rudder and part of superstructures and decks). It should be noted that both of these ships were part of a large amphibious formation with 20 thousand marines on board, which was tasked with conducting an amphibious landing operation (during the liberation of Kuwait, the Americans were never able to conduct a single amphibious landing operation).

In addition, the destroyer URO "Paul F. Foster" ran into an anchor contact, "horned" mine and only by luck remained unharmed - it turned out to be too old and simply did not work. By the way, in the same conflict, the American minesweeper Avenger became the first mine-resistant ship in history to detect and neutralize a Manta-type mine in combat conditions - one of the best “shallow-water” bottom mines in the world.

When the time came for Operation Iraqi Freedom, the allied forces had to worry more seriously. In the areas of operation of the forces and means of the joint grouping of naval forces, according to the data officially released by the Pentagon, 68 mines and mine-like objects were discovered and destroyed. Although such data raise reasonable doubts: for example, according to the American military, several dozen Manta-type mines alone were discovered, and in addition, 86 Manta rays were found by the Australians in Iraqi warehouses and minelayers. In addition, units of American special operations forces managed to detect and intercept a cargo ship literally “clogged” with Iraqi anchor and bottom mines, which were supposed to be placed on lines of communication in the Persian Gulf and presumably in the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, each mine was disguised in a special “cocoon” made from an empty oil barrel. And after the end of the active phase of hostilities, American operational search groups came across several more small vessels converted into minelayers.

It should be especially noted that during the Second Gulf War, in the area of ​​​​combat operations and on the territory of naval bases and bases of the US Navy and its allies in the Persian Gulf, American units that had dolphins and California lions, specially trained to combat sea ​​mines and mine-like objects. In particular, “animals in uniform” were used to guard the naval base in Bahrain. Exact data on the results of the use of such units have not been officially released, but the American military command acknowledged the death of one dolphin sapper.

Additional tension during the operation was created by the fact that military personnel of mine-sweeping forces and units of divers-miners were often involved not only in the search and destruction of mines and mine-like objects of all types - floating, anchored, bottom, “self-burrowing”, etc., but also in destruction of anti-landing mine-explosive and other obstacles (for example, anti-tank minefields on the shore).

Demining operations also left their indelible imprint in the domestic fleet. Particularly memorable was the demining of the Suez Canal, which was carried out by the Soviet Navy at the request of the Egyptian government from July 15, 1974. On the part of the USSR, 10 minesweepers, 2 cord-layers and another 15 escort ships and auxiliary vessels participated; The French, Italian, American and British navies also took part in trawling the canal and bay. Moreover, the “Yankees” and “Tommies” trawled areas with exposed Soviet-style mines - which helped them a lot in practicing actions to combat mine weapons probable enemy. By the way, permission for the American-British allies to mine these areas was issued by the military-political leadership of Egypt in violation of the Agreement on Military Supplies of September 10, 1965, signed by the USSR and Egypt.

However, this does not in any way detract from the invaluable experience gained by Soviet sailors in the Suez Canal. It was then that in real conditions, on live mines, actions were practiced to destroy bottom mines with the help of minesweeper helicopters that laid cord charges or towed non-contact trawls. The use of all types of trawls and mine detectors in tropical conditions, the use of the "VKT" trawl to pierce the first tack and the "BSHZ" (combat cord charge) to thin out the minefield of combat mines by helicopters. Based on the experience gained, Soviet mine specialists adjusted the minesweeping instructions that existed in the USSR Navy. A large number of officers, foremen and sailors were also trained, gaining invaluable experience in combat trawling.

Due to the changing nature of mine warfare at sea and the expansion of the range of tasks of mine countermeasures forces, their units must be prepared to operate equally effectively both in deep and shallow areas of oceans and seas, and in extremely shallow areas of coastal zones, rivers and lakes, as well as in tidal zones. zone (surf strip) and even on the “beach”. I would especially like to note that in the last decade of the last century there was a clear tendency for the military of third world countries to use a rather interesting method of minelaying - old contact anchor and more modern non-contact bottom mines began to be used within the same minefield, which made the process of trawling difficult, since required the mine action forces to use different types trawls (and to search for bottom mines - also underwater uninhabited mine countermeasures).

All this requires from the military personnel of the mine-sweeping forces not only the appropriate versatile training, but also the availability of the necessary weapons and technical means for detecting mines and mine-like objects, their examination and subsequent destruction.

A particular danger of modern naval mine weapons and their rapid spread around the world lies in the fact that up to 98% of world merchant shipping falls on water areas favorable for setting sea mines. The following circumstance is also important: modern concepts of the use of the naval forces of the leading countries of the world pay special attention to the ability of ship groups to perform various maneuvers, including in the coastal, or "littoral" zone. Sea mines, on the other hand, limit the actions of warships and auxiliary vessels, thus becoming a significant obstacle to the solution of their assigned tactical tasks. The result - for the leading countries of the world with large naval forces, it has now become more preferable to create effective anti-mine forces than to develop mines and minelayers.

In connection with all of the above, in the navies of the leading countries of the world, increased attention has recently been paid to the development of mine action forces and means. In this case, the emphasis is on the use modern technologies and the use of uninhabited remotely controlled underwater vehicles.

Modern sea mines seem to be the most formidable weapon on both sides, with the help of which it is possible to block sea communications around the world for a long time so that not only military operations are impossible, but trade and other peaceful activities are stopped. Relevant agreements should be developed in this direction.

On the evening of November 10, 1916, the ships of the German 10th flotilla, consisting of 11 brand new destroyers of 1000 tons of displacement, launched in 1915, left Libau, occupied by the Germans, to the expanses of the Baltic and headed for the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. The Germans intended to strike at Russian ships. Their destroyers confidently moved forward. With the stupid self-confidence characteristic of the Germans, German officers even in those years did not believe in the strength and skill of the enemy, and mines... it is unlikely that Russian minefields were impenetrable and dangerous.

The darkness of the autumn evening quickly thickened. The destroyers sailed in wake formation and “stretched out in a long straight line. From the lead ship, only the dark silhouettes of the three rear destroyers were visible; the rest seemed to blend into the surrounding darkness.

The first underwater attack hit the Germans at about 21:00. By this time, the three end ships had fallen far behind. The commander of the destroyer flotilla, Witting, knew about this, but still continued to lead his ships forward. And suddenly the radio brought him the first alarming news: the destroyer “V.75” - one of the stragglers - ran into a Russian mine. An underwater strike burst into the ship like a heavy hammer and damaged it so much that there was no point in saving the destroyer; it was time to save the people. As soon as the second destroyer S.57 took on board the crew, V.75 received a second blow, broke into three parts and sank. “S.57” with a double command began to retreat, but then another underwater strike sounded menacingly. The third ship "G.89" had to urgently triple its crew and take on board all the people from "S.57", which went to "catch up" with "V.75".

Freshly impressed by the Russian mine strikes, the commander of “G.89” had no time for bold raids and ordered a return to base.

Thus the end three of the line of German destroyers melted away. The remaining eight continued to move towards the Gulf of Finland. Here the Germans did not meet Russian light forces. Then they entered the bay of the Baltic port and began shelling the city. With this senseless shelling, the Germans expressed their anger at the losses they had suffered.

Having finished shelling, the German destroyers set off on a reverse course. And then again the sea boiled with underwater explosions. The first to hit the V.72 mine. Someone walking near the V.77 removed people from the blown up ship. The commander of this destroyer decided to destroy the V.72 with artillery fire. In the impenetrable darkness of the night, volleys of guns were heard. The lead ship did not figure out what was happening and decided that the tail of the column was attacked by the Russians. Then the leading destroyers made a 180° turn and went to the rescue. Not even a minute had passed before one of them - "G.90" - was hit near the engine room and followed "V.72". Like a frightened wolf pack, the German destroyers rushed in different directions, just to quickly escape from the deadly ring of Russian mines. The “victorious” arrogance disappeared from the German officers; they had no time for victories. At any cost it was necessary to bring at least the surviving ships to their bases. But at 4 o’clock a dull explosion and a waterspout rising above the S.58 notified the flotilla of the loss of the fifth destroyer. The ship was slowly sinking, and around, as if besieging it, not allowing other destroyers to approach, there were formidable Russian mines, spotted from the surface of the water. Only boats from the S.59 managed to penetrate this deadly underwater palisade and remove the crew from the dying ship. Now the expectation of another catastrophe did not leave the Germans. And indeed, after an hour and a half, "S.59" suffered the same fate as "S.58", and after another 45 minutes, "V.76" - the seventh destroyer that died on Russian mines skillfully placed on probable routes of enemy ships.

During the 1,600 days of the First World War, the Germans lost 56 destroyers to mines. They lost one-eighth of this amount on the night of November 10-11, 1916.

During the entire period of the First World War, Russian miners placed about 53,000 mines in the waters of the Baltic and Black Sea. These mines were hidden under water not only near their shores for their protection. Approaching the enemy’s shores, penetrating almost into their very bases, the brave sailors of our fleet littered the coastal waters in the southern Baltic and the Black Sea with mines.

The Germans and Turks did not know peace and security on their own shores, and Russian mines lay in wait for them there. At the exits from the bases, on coastal routes - fairways, their ships took off into the air and sank to the bottom.

Fear of Russian mines constrained the enemy's actions. The enemy's military transportation and combat operations were disrupted and disrupted.

Russian mines worked flawlessly. They killed not only warships, but also numerous enemy transports.

One of the German submarine “aces,” Hashagen, wrote in his memoirs: “At the beginning of the war, only one mine posed a danger - the Russian mine. Not one of the commanders who were “entrusted with England” - and, strictly speaking, we were all like that - willingly went to the Gulf of Finland. “Many enemies - many honor” is an excellent saying. But close to the Russians with their mines, the honor was too great... Each of us, if not forced to do so, tried to avoid “Russian affairs.”

During the First World War, many enemy ships were lost in minefields of Russia's allies. But these successes were not achieved immediately. At the very beginning of the war, the mine weapons of the British and French turned out to be very imperfect. Both of them had to take care of improving the mine equipment of the fleet. But there was no time for study; it was necessary to find a source of ready-made experience, high-tech mine equipment and borrow it. And so two countries, which had powerful, advanced in technology and numerous fleets, had to turn to Russia for help. And the Germans themselves diligently learned from the Russians the art of mine warfare. At all times, Russian naval sailors had mine equipment at a great height - they were not only brave, but also skillful, proactive, and inventive miners. Russian mines were distinguished by their high combat effectiveness; the tactics and techniques for laying minefields in the Russian fleet were excellent.

From Russia they sent to England 1000 mines of the 1898 model and mine specialists who taught the British how to create, manufacture mines, how to place them so that they could hit enemy ships without fail. Then, at the request of the British, they were sent our mines of the 1908 and 1912 models. And only after learning from Russian miners, borrowing their rich experience of studying in peacetime and combat use of mines during the war, the British learned to create their own samples of good mines, learned to use them and, in turn, had a great influence on the progress of mine weapons.

In the second world war The Allied mine weapons turned out to be better, more combat-ready, and more accurate than the German ones, despite all their “new products” advertised by the Germans.

Where the North Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean, England and Norway are separated by a very wide passage of water; between their shores is more than 216 miles. Ships pass here freely, without special precautions, in peacetime. This was not the case during the First World War, especially in 1917.

Under the water, along the entire width of the passage, were hidden mines. 70,000 mines in several rows, like a palisade, blocked the passage. These mines were placed by the British and Americans to block the exit to the north for German submarines.

Only one narrow water path was left for the passage of their ships. This underwater “stockade” was called the “great northern barrier.”

It was the largest in terms of the number of mines and the size of the blocked area. In addition to this barrier, both sides erected many others. Underwater “stockades,” entire chains of hundreds and thousands of mines, protected the coastal sea areas of the warring countries and blocked narrow water passages. More than 310,000 of these underwater shells were hidden in the waters of the Northern, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black and White Seas. More than 200 warships, dozens of minesweepers (ships designed to detect and destroy mines) and about 600 merchant ships were lost in minefields during the First World War.

During World War II, mines became even more important. In the days when these lines are being written, the results of the mine war at sea have not yet been published. But some of the data that has been published in the press allows us to say that both sides made extensive use of improvements in the design of mines, new methods of laying them, and continuously, very actively used mine weapons.

Underwater "stockade"

During the First World War, mines were primarily deployed to protect coastal areas and sea routes. Such barriers were placed in advance, in some cases even before war was declared, at naval positions covering the approaches to their waters. The position for such a minefield was chosen so that it could be defended by both naval ships and coastal artillery.

Thousands of mines were lined up in the lines of such a barrier, which is called “positional”.

One of the positional barriers was erected even before the start of the 1914 war at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. It was called the “Central Mine Position”, consisted of thousands of mines and was guarded by ships of the Baltic Fleet and coastal batteries. Throughout the war, especially at the beginning, this barrier was updated and expanded.

Minefields, which are placed near the coast to prevent enemy ships from approaching and not allowing them to land troops, are called defensive.

But there is another type of obstacle in which mines do not seem to protect or attack, but only threaten and by threat force enemy ships to change course, slow down their movements or completely abandon the operation. Sometimes, if the enemy is confused or neglects the threat of these mines, they turn into an attacking force and sink enemy ships. Such barriers are called maneuverable. They are placed at different moments during the battle to make it difficult for enemy ships to maneuver. Maneuver barrier mines should very quickly become dangerous once they are placed.

Very often, mines are also used as weapons for attack - minefields are placed off enemy shores, in foreign waters. Such barriers are called "active".

During the Second World War, mining enemy waters became one of the most frequently used operations. Aerial minelayers, which appeared in the First World War, made possible the widespread use of active barriers.

Modern aircraft penetrate deep into the rear of enemy states and litter rivers and lakes with mines. They perform operations that cannot be carried out by either surface or submarine ships.

At first, the Allies had to mainly protect their shores with mines in order to prevent the Nazi fleet from carrying out offensive operations. The Red Fleet laid minefields that reliably covered the flanks of the Red Army, which abutted the seas.

Important role played by English mines that surrounded the approaches to the British Isles and prevented the Germans from invading England from the sea. In the end, the Nazis had to abandon attacks from the sea; they had no chance of success.

While the Allies defended themselves with mines, the Germans carried out offensive mine operations. They mined the waters off the coast of their opponents, at the exits from their naval bases. They tried to do it later.

But soon the Allies switched from mine defense to mine offensive. There came a turning point in the mine war, around the fall of 1942, when the Allies themselves began to widely lay active minefields off the coast of Germany, lock fascist ships in their bases, and restrict their movement even along coastal fairways.

How are mines located in an underwater “stockade”? First of all, it depends on the place where the barrier is placed. If you need to block a narrow fairway, where an enemy ship has to stay in a strictly defined direction, it is enough to scatter a small number of mines along its path without particularly precise adherence to any placement order. In such cases, they say that a mine “can” has been laid. If we are talking about blocking a large water area or a wide passage, then they put a lot of mines, hundreds and thousands, or even tens of thousands. In this case, they say that a “minefield” has been laid. For such a barrier, there is a certain order for placing mines. And this order depends mainly on which enemy ships the barrage is set up against. First of all, you need to decide in advance which hole to place the mines on. If the barrage is placed against large ships sitting deep in the water, mines can be deepened 8–9 meters below the surface of the water. But this means that small enemy ships with a shallow draft will freely pass through the barrier, they will pass over the mines. The way out of this situation is simple - you need to put mines on a small depression - 4-5 meters or less. Then the mines will be dangerous for both large and small enemy ships. But it can also happen like this: it is unlikely that small enemy ships will pass through the barrier, but it would be good for your small ships to leave the possibility of maneuvering in a mined area.

Therefore, the miners have to carefully weigh all the features of the combat situation and only then decide which recess to place the mines on. And having solved this issue, it is necessary to ensure that the mines are placed exactly on the given recess.

How large are the gaps between mines in an underwater “stockade”? Of course, it would be nice to put mines thicker, so that the probability of a collision with mines and hitting a ship passing on the surface is as high as possible. But this is hindered by one very serious obstacle, which makes it necessary to maintain intervals between mines of at least 30-40 meters. What is this obstacle?

It turns out that mines are bad neighbors to each other. When one of them explodes, the force of the explosion spreads underwater in all directions and can damage the mechanisms of neighboring mines, disabling them or exploding them. It will turn out like this: one mine exploded under an enemy ship - this is good, but neighboring mines immediately exploded or completely failed. The passage seems to have cleared and other enemy ships will be able to pass through the barrier without losses, and this is already bad. This means that it is better to place mines less often, so that the explosion of one of them does not affect the others. And to do this, it is necessary to select in advance the size of the smallest gap between them, so that, on the one hand, the obstacle remains dangerous for enemy ships, and on the other, so that the explosion of one mine does not disarm neighboring sections of the obstacle. This interval is called the mine interval.

Different mine designs are more or less sensitive to the force of the explosion of a neighboring mine. Therefore, for different designs, mines and intervals are chosen differently. Some mines are protected from the influence of a nearby explosion using special devices. But still, the gap between mines varies between 30–40 meters.

How dangerous is such a rare underwater “stockade” for ships?

If a battleship 30–36 meters wide passes over such a barrier, then, of course, it will probably run into a mine and be blown up. What if it is a destroyer or other small warship only 8-10 meters wide? Then two cases are possible. Either the ship goes towards the obstacle so that its course line is perpendicular to the mine line, or the ship's course line is directed at an angle to the mine line. In the first case, there is little chance of hitting the ship, since the width of its hull is 3-4 times less than the gap between the mines, and most likely the ship will slip through the barrier. In the second case, the probability of a collision with a mine depends on the angle between the ship's course line and the mine line - the smaller and sharper this angle, the greater the chance that the ship will run into a mine. It’s not hard to imagine, and even better is to draw a line of mines and a ship that intersects it at an acute angle. That is why, if the miners know exactly in which direction the enemy ships will pass, they place mines at a very small, acute angle to the probable line of their course.

But this direction is not always known. Then the entire barrier placed against small ships in one line will most likely turn out to be useless or very ineffective. To prevent this from happening, against small ships, miners set up a barrier in two or more lines, placing mines in a checkerboard pattern so that each mine of the second line falls between two mines of the first. At the same time, such a safe gap is maintained between the lines so that the explosion of a mine in one line does not cause the explosion of mines in another line and would not put them out of action.

During the Second World War the situation changed. Small ships with shallow draft began to play a huge role in naval operations ( torpedo boats, sea "hunters"). It was against such ships that small mines had to be placed in a very small depression, sometimes 0.5 meters. And yet, such ships often easily passed through minefields.

The Germans began to set up dense barriers of small mines. But Soviet miners learned to cope with this “novelty” of the Nazis, to guide their small ships through German “dense” barriers.

And finally, there is another type of minefield. Two or more mine lines break, drawing an underwater zigzag. Therefore, enemy ships have to overcome not 2-3 lines of mines, but 6-9 such lines. All this applies to those obstacles that consist of so-called anchor mines, such mines that are anchored in one place and at a certain predetermined depth.

Anchor mines were the most common in the first world war, they did not lose their importance in the second world war.

But there are other mines that are located differently under water. These are bottom mines hiding at the bottom of the sea. These mines played a big role in World War II.

There are also floating mines that are placed in the likely path of enemy ships. Most of all, such mines were and are used in maneuverable obstacles.

These three types of mines differ in the method and location of placement under water, but the mines also differ in another important way. Some mines explode only upon direct collision with a ship; they are called “contact” mines. Other types of mines also explode if: a ship passes at a known, fairly close distance. Such mines are called “non-contact” mines. An anchor mine can be “contact” or “non-contact”, this depends on its devices contained in the housing. The same applies to floating mines and bottom mines.

All these mines, their structure, features and differences will be discussed further. But they have one thing in common. These spherical, oval or pear-shaped metal shells lurk at different depths underwater. They guard their area of ​​the sea like invisible sentries. An enemy ship is approaching. A deafening explosion, raising a huge column of water, hits the underwater part of the ship, tearing it apart. Streams of water rush into the hole. No pumps have time to pump out the mass of rushing water. It happens that the ship immediately or after a more or less short time goes to the bottom. It happens that an underwater attack incapacitates him and weakens his resistance to the enemy.

How are mines constructed?

The most important, “working” part of the mine is its charge. Long gone are the days when a mine was filled with ordinary black powder. Nowadays, there are special explosives that explode more powerfully than gunpowder. A common “filling” of a mine is an explosive substance - TNT.

A charging chamber filled with explosive is placed inside a metal shell - the body of the mine. The shape of the body can be different: spherical, ovoid, pear-shaped.

At the moment of explosion, the “filling” burns and turns into gases, which tend to expand in all directions and therefore press on the walls of the housing. This pressure instantly increases to a very large size, tears the hull and hits the ship and the surrounding masses of water with a blow of enormous force. If the walls did not offer resistance to gases, their pressure would increase more slowly and the impact force would be much less.

This is the first, main role of the mine body. But the same body also serves another very important purpose.

The chamber with the charge must be hidden underwater at a certain depth so that the mine is not noticed from the surface. An enemy ship, passing over a mine, must touch it and cause an explosion.

All mines (except bottom ones), if they are placed against surface ships, are usually installed at a depth of 0.5 to 9 meters. If a barrage is placed against submarines, mines are laid at different depths, including large ones. But the explosive chamber is heavier than water and cannot, by itself, float either on the surface of the water or at any level underwater. On its own, it would have sunk to the bottom. But this does not happen - the shell of the mine plays the role of a float for it. Inside the shell there are "voids" filled only with air, so that the weight of the water displaced by the mine is greater than the weight of the body with a charge and other devices. Therefore, the mine acquires the property of buoyancy, it will be able to stay on the surface of the water.

At the same time, we must remember and know that a mine is not a small or light projectile. The sizes and weights of mines vary. For example, the smallest German mine, together with the anchor, weighs 270 kilograms and contains only 13–20 kilograms of explosives. Its body is a ball. The diameter of the ball is only 650 millimeters. The Germans have mines with a diameter of more than a meter and a total weight of more than a ton. In such a mine, the explosive weighs 300 kilograms.

And yet, no matter how large and heavy the mines are, the body holds them well in a given recess.

If a mine is simply immersed in water to a certain level and then released, the sea will immediately push it back to the surface.

But we need the mine to remain under water, so that something holds it in one place and does not allow it to float up. For this purpose, a special anchor is attached to the shell on a steel cable. The anchor falls to the bottom and holds the mine at a given depression and prevents it from floating up. To make it easier to imagine how this happens, let’s watch the laying of a mine from a ship.

It turns out that it depends on the length of the rod. The longer it is, the sooner its weight touches the bottom, the sooner the mine will stop reeling in, the deeper the mine will go into the water. The shorter the pin, the later the view will stop, and the smaller the mine will be deepened. Let's explain this with an example. Our pole length is 4 meters. The weight touched the bottom. This means that the minrep stopped reeling in just at the moment when the anchor was 4 meters from the bottom. The mine at the same moment was still on the surface of the water. Now the anchor begins to pull her down. And since the anchor has 4 meters left to fall, the mine body will plunge into the water by the same 4 meters.

What is the shtert for? It is much easier to measure the minerep of the required length in advance and throw the mine and anchor into the water. The anchor will touch the bottom, and the mine will be positioned at a given depression. But it’s very troublesome every time to check on a map about the depth of the sea in a given place, calculate how long the minrep is needed, and measure it. It is much easier and faster to lay mines when a long minerep, suitable for various depths, is wound on the view. A small cable automatically places the mine on a given recess.

This whole device is very simple and at the same time quite reliable. But there are other, equally simple and at the same time very interesting devices for placing mines on a given recess.

One of these devices is a very simple and interesting mechanism. This mechanism is often found in both mines and torpedoes and performs very important and varied work in these shells. It's called a "hydrostat".

In any vessel, even an ordinary glass, the liquid presses on the walls and bottom. If we circle with a pencil any area on the wall or bottom of a glass, then this area is pressed by the weight of a column of liquid, the base of which is equal to the area of ​​the circled area, and the height is equal to the distance from the area to the surface of the water. It is clear that the greatest pressure will be on the bottom of the glass.

Now let's assume that our glass is made of metal, and its bottom can move up and down. This glass is empty. Place a compressed spring under the bottom. She will unclench and raise the bottom up. Let's now start pouring water into the glass, more and more. The bottom remains in place, which means that the force of our spring is greater than the weight of the poured water. But the water level rose again, the column of water in the glass increased, and the bottom went down. Such a device is called a hydrostat, and the movable bottom is called a hydrostatic disk (see figure on page 53). For it, you can always choose a spring that will be compressed by the weight of a column of water of a certain height.

A mine with an anchor first goes to the bottom. Then the body with the view associated with it is separated from the anchor with the help of a special mechanism and rises upwards, the minrep is unwound from the view. The hydrostat is located right there, near the view. All the time the mine body is raised, the water pressure is still very high, the hydrostat spring remains compressed, the disk is stationary. But now the shell has reached just such a level when the weight of the water column above the hydrostat disk turned out to be less than the spring force. The spring begins to decompress, the disk moves upward. A brake is connected to the disc. As soon as the disk starts moving upwards, the brake stops the minrep - the body stops at the depth at which the hydrostat is set.

The same hydrostat had already managed to work even earlier in the mechanism, which at the bottom separated the mine from the anchor. The rod that fastens the mine to the anchor is connected to the hydrostat disk. When the mine with the anchor reaches the bottom, the increased water pressure presses the hydrostat disk, and thereby takes the fastening rod aside. The mine is released and floats up.

Not only the hydrostat can play the role of a disconnector, release the mine from the anchor.

The rod that fastens the mine with the anchor can be supported by a spring, and so that it does not expand, insert between it and the stop ... a piece of sugar or another substance (rock salt) that dissolves in the will. Sugar or salt do not immediately dissolve in water; it takes several minutes. During this time, the mine with an anchor will reach the bottom. And when the sugar completely melts, the spring will open up so much that it will pull the rod along with it, the mine will free itself from the anchor and float up.

You can also adapt the shtert so that at the moment when its load touches the bottom, the mechanism that releases the mine is triggered.

All these simple devices - with a hydrostat, with dissolving substances, with a rod - often and successfully work in mine mechanisms and ingeniously solve the most diverse and complex problems; we will meet with them again.

So, the mine is placed on a given depression and lies in wait for enemy ships. Will an enemy ship explode if it simply touches the shell of a mine, even if it hits this shell hard with its hull? No, it won't explode. The explosive filling of the mine has a very valuable property - it is insensitive to shocks and shocks. During transportation of loaded mines, loading them onto a ship, while laying mines, no matter how careful the miners are, shocks and even impacts still occur. If the mines exploded, it would be too dangerous and difficult to use, and many accidents would occur.

In addition to tens or hundreds of kilograms of the main explosive, a metal cup with 100–200 grams of a more sensitive explosive is also placed in the mine. This substance is called a “detonator”.

In order for the mine to explode, it is enough to quickly heat the detonator, and the explosion is transmitted to the entire charge.

How to heat the detonator? To do this, just hit the detonator cap. Heat develops on impact. It is transferred to the detonator substance, an explosion occurs, which in turn causes the main charge of the mine to explode.

This means that the mine must be arranged in such a way that when it collides with a ship (and in this case the mine receives a very strong blow), something would hit the detonator cap. This is the essence of the device of a percussion-mechanical mine fuse. Inside the mine, the sharp firing pin "aimed" at the primer. A special stop does not allow the striker to hit the primer. This emphasis is made in the form of a load on a rod, which is mounted on a hinge. One has only to take the load to the side, and the lever with the striker will do its job; will fall on the capsule, hit it, heat it, ignite it, explode it. But this requires a strong push, from which the load would shift to the side. Such a push is obtained when the ship collides with a mine.

To heat the detonator, you can also use the collision of a ship with a mine in another way. It is possible to turn on the detonator in the electrical circuit from the battery and arrange the percussion mechanism so that the load moves away when pushed, and the fallen lever closes the electrical circuit. Then the electric current will heat the conductor, the heat will spread through the conductor, penetrate the detonator and explode it. But where will the current flow from? From the body of the mine, from its upper part, a kind of “mustache” of the mine sticks out in all directions, 5-6 whiskers. These are the so-called “galvanic shock caps”. They are covered with soft lead shells on top. Inside the lead caps are glass vessels. These glass vessels are filled with a special liquid - electrolyte. If such a liquid is poured into a vessel and two different conductors are immersed in it, then you will get the so-called galvanic cell - one of the sources of electric current. In a mine, these two different conductors - the electrodes of the element - are placed separately from the electrolyte, in a special cup. When a ship that has run into a mine crushes the cap, breaks glass vessels, the electrolyte is poured into a cup with electrodes. An electric current immediately arises, which flows through the conductors into an electric fuse. At this moment, the circuit is already closed and the developing heat explodes the detonator and the mine itself.

There are also mines that do not have dangerous “whiskers”, and yet the explosion is caused by an electric current. When the ship hits a mine, the weight releases the striker lever, the tip of the firing pin falls, not onto the detonator capsule, but onto the glass capsule with electrolyte and breaks it. The liquid is poured into a cup with electrodes, an electric current is generated, which flows through a closed circuit and explodes the mine.

We already know that the charge of a mine will not explode either from impact or from friction until a fuse is inserted into the shell, until a blow to an enemy ship or even proximity to it causes the mechanism that ignites the detonator to work. But before the start of setting the mines, the fuse is already inserted, the mine is ready for action. It is worth carelessly handling it on deck or touching it at the moment of setting, it is worth breaking the glass vessels of the fuse for some reason and ... the ship will become a victim of its own mine. In the past, such cases have happened more than once, and this has taught the miners not only to be careful and skillful in handling mines when setting them, but also to introduce special mechanisms into them that do not allow the mine to explode before a certain time. The device of these mechanisms is as ingenious as all other mine mechanisms.

How do all these devices work? In one place, the fuse's electrical circuit is interrupted, the contacts are disconnected and they do not close until the sugar or salt melts in the safety mechanism, or the wound clock mechanism starts working, or until the hydrostat disk moves.

All this takes time. Until this time expires, the mine cannot explode either on the deck or near the ship that placed it, even if the glass vessel breaks for some reason.

In the meantime, the ship that laid the mines will have time to get out into the open water, to get away from the danger it "sowed".

We already know about the “Great Northern Barrage” of 1917, when 70,000 mines formed an underwater stockade stretching between the coasts of Scotland and Norway.

This barrier was deployed against German submarines. Therefore, it was not only multi-row - in several lines, but also “multi-story” - rows of mines were placed at different depths. Could such a barrier be considered impassable for enemy submarines? To answer this question, it is best to do a simple arithmetic calculation. The width of the blocked area is 216 miles. If mines were placed every 40 meters in each line, then 10,000 mines would have to be spent on one line. But a submarine is a small ship, 40 meters is a very wide, safe gate for such a ship. This means that one line of mines or even two lines is not enough. You need at least three lines, or even more. And all these mines would constitute only one “floor” of the barrier. And several such floors were needed, one every 10 meters deep. When they calculated how many mines were needed, it turned out that about 400,000 of them would be needed. Such a number of mines was difficult to produce in a short time and, in addition, it would take a lot of time to plant them.

The difficulty was very serious; American and English miners persistently invented and looked for a way out of a difficult situation.

How can we ensure that a rarer barrier is impassable, so that one mine works as well as four or five mines?

The answer was very simple. It was necessary to ensure that the mine would explode not only if a ship struck its body and galvanic shock caps, but also if the ship passed close, at some distance. Then there will be no need to place mines so densely; fewer mines will guard the barred area just as well.

One of the American inventors, engineer Brown, solved this problem.

He reasoned something like this: sea water is a solution of salts. You can imagine the ocean or sea as a giant vessel filled with such a “solution.” It is known from physics that if one plate of zinc or copper and another of steel are lowered into such a vessel, then a galvanic current is formed between them. You can put a copper or zinc plate on the mine, then it will serve as one of the electrodes of the galvanic cell. And when the steel mass of the ship passes close to the mine, you will get a second plate, another electrode of the element. Now, if the copper plate of the mine and the steel plate (ship) are connected by electrical conductors to a sensitive device (in technology, such a device is called a “relay”), then the device will close the electrical circuit, current will flow into the detonator and detonate the mine. It is not difficult to connect the mine plate to the relay, but how to connect the steel bulk of the ship to the relay? Brown proposed to equip the mine with conductors - antennas - extending up to the surface of the sea and down to great depths. These antennas lie in wait for a submarine throughout the depths of the sea. As soon as the ship touches the conductor, the circuit will be closed and the mine will explode.

True, the strike will be delivered at some distance from the ship. But a mine explosion is dangerous even for a surface ship at a distance of 5 meters, and for an underwater ship even at a distance of 25 meters.

Therefore, Brown's invention greatly helped the Americans and the British. They managed to block the entire passage between Scotland and Norway and only cost 70,000 mines (instead of 400,000).

Such mines carried out underwater strikes during the Second World War.

The mine's antenna can also be arranged so that it extends not only down and up, but also to the sides, so that it can also act against surface ships.

That this is so can be seen from the design of one “new product” of German miners, which they tried to use against the Soviet fleet. True, this time we are not talking about an electric antenna, but about an ordinary hemp cable, which was assigned the role of a “tentacle” of the mine.

The Germans equipped an ordinary small anchor ball mine with a charge of 40 kilograms of explosive in a special way. In addition to the fuse caps on the upper hemisphere of the mine shell, they equipped the lower part of the shell with two ordinary mechanical contacts.

And from these contactors an ordinary hemp cable extends upward (to the surface of the sea) - the “tentacle” of the mine. It is supported on the water by cork floats, one for every meter of cable length.

In the evening twilight and at night it is very difficult to distinguish both the cable and its floats in the water, and during the day they can pass for a floating part of a harmless fishing net.

If the ship hits a mine and crushes the caps, the charge will explode. If this does not happen, the ship will pass by, but will touch and slightly pull the cable - one of the mechanical contacts will immediately work, and the mine will explode.

And against this new product, our miners quickly found their own means, learned to avoid the “tentacles” of the mine, and neutralize them.

This is how the miners ensured that the mine exploded without colliding with the ship, without direct contact with it. But still contact remained, if not with the mine itself, then with its antenna. What if the ship doesn't touch the antenna? It turned out that Brown's invention only partially solved the problem.

But it was necessary to solve it completely, to ensure that the mine exploded without any contact with the ship, only when it approached. Miners solved this problem in different ways at the end of the First World War, but only in the Second World War did the warring parties widely use new proximity mines.

Before the new year, 1940, on the English ship Vernoy, in a solemn atmosphere, King George VI presented awards to five officers and sailors.

The admiral, who presented the recipients to the king, said in his speech: “Your Majesty! You have the honor to present awards to these five officers and sailors as a sign of the country's gratitude and respect for their great courage and the high skill that they showed in carrying out the combat mission of dismantling, disarming and unraveling the secrets of the construction of two completely new type of enemy mines; they successfully completed their task, risking their lives every minute of their dangerous work.”

What feat did these five officers and sailors accomplish? What did they do to deserve being awarded in such a solemn and warm atmosphere in front of the ranks of their comrades?

On one moonlit night in November 1939, German bombers appeared over the southeast coast of England.

While the air raid sirens howled, while they rushed across the night sky and combed its long beams of searchlights, while they briefly and angrily “barked” anti-aircraft guns, shooting at the air pirates hiding high behind the clouds, a large three-engine German plane flew slowly and low along the coastline. Amid the noise and confusion of the air raid aimed high against the bombers, the plane quietly approached the intended area and... bombs flew into the water. But at that moment, observers of the English coastal defense discovered this air enemy. They were surprised: bombs in this area - it was very strange. It was difficult to understand what the Germans were actually bombing. There were no ships at sea in this place, there were no targets for bombing.

But suddenly the bombs began to disintegrate in the air. Something flew away from them and fell like a stone into the sea. And then it turned out that it was not bombs that were falling further, but some heavy objects suspended from parachutes. They reached the water. You can see the parachute panels still fluttering near the surface. This means that nothing is pulling them rapidly under water; This means that heavy objects separated from the parachutes and sank to the bottom. Observers began to guess... Maybe these are not bombs at all? After all, already in the first two months of the war, many British ships were lost to mysterious mines, in what seemed to be the safest places. Minesweepers walked ahead of the ships, combing the sea. And yet it didn't help. They suspected that these were mines of a special device, magnetic, hiding at the bottom of the sea, that they were delivered by airplanes.

Meanwhile, the second fascist plane turned too close to the shore. The darkness of the night deceived the air bandit; his bombs landed very close to the shore. Observers reported unusual shells to mine specialists on the Vernoy ship. They made tools from non-magnetic material and only then began to disassemble and disarm the suspicious surprise that had fallen from the sky. Why were such precautions needed?

Magnetic mines were not news to either the British or the Soviet miners. The British were making such mines at the end of the First World War, and Russian sailors had to deal with magnetic mines back in 1918. Therefore, it was known that such mines explode when any metal object approaches.

The magnetic properties of the steel mass of the ship’s hull were used to construct so-called “induction” fuses in mines. Several turns of conductor connected to a sensitive relay enter the main device of the mine's induction fuse. When a ship passes near such a mine, its steel mass excites a very weak electric current in the conductor, so weak that it cannot detonate the charge. But the strength of this current is sufficient to close the relay contacts - the arrow closes the contact from the battery placed in the mine body to the detonator - the mine explodes.

The conductor turns in the induction fuse are an intermediary between the steel mass of the ship and the relay pointer. It would be even better to do without this intermediary, who in some cases may fail and fail to fulfill his task. It turned out that it is really possible to do without an intermediary conductor... It is enough just to make the relay arrow magnetic. Then the steel mass of the ship, as soon as the relay is in its magnetic field, will force the needle to deflect and close the contacts from the battery to the fuse. Why would such a deviation occur?

The main material for building modern ships is steel. Earthly magnetism magnetizes the steel bulk of the ship, turns it into a very powerful magnet, forming its own magnetic field. The magnetic needle in a mine is under the influence of the earth's magnetic field and is located along its magnetic poles. This is the case until a ship appears nearby. The ship's magnetic field distorts the earth's magnetic field, and thereby causes the needle to deviate at some angle; at the same time, the contacts from the battery to the detonator are closed. This is how the idea of ​​constructing a magnetic mine, which caused so much noise at the beginning of the Second World War, was born.

So, five mine specialists from the Vernon, armed with non-magnetic tools, approached the mysterious mines. Their task was extremely difficult and dangerous. They had no idea about the details of the construction of German magnetic mines. Every new nut and screw removed threatened to cause an explosion. At every minute of work, the miners were guarded by a sudden, irresistible danger, death.

For this work, courage alone was not enough. It was necessary to arm this courage with cool, calm, cautious thoroughness. It was necessary not to rush in order to quickly get away from danger, but on the contrary, not to rush in work in order to more accurately sense this danger and neutralize it. The miners acted persistently and methodically. Only one of them worked for the mine. After each disassembly operation, having unscrewed a nut or screw, he walked away from the mine, returned to his comrades, and handed over the removed part to them. This was done so that in the event of a mine explosion during any disassembly operation and the death of one of the miners, the rest would know exactly at what point in the disassembly the explosion occurred, where the secret of the mine was hidden, and how to defeat this hidden death when dismantling the next mine.

So, slowly but surely and persistently mastering the “secrets” of the new underwater weapon, five English miners revealed all its secrets and learned how the German magnetic mine works.

The oka was very similar to an aerial bomb, a huge cigar 2.5 meters long and 0.6 meters in diameter. Its total weight was 750 kilograms, and the explosive charge weighed a little more than 300 kilograms. The body was made of light non-magnetic metal, duralumin. This was done so that the shell of the mine did not have a magnetic effect on the internal mechanism.

The charge (the newest explosive) is placed in the thicker part of the mine body. In the middle part of the body there is a mechanism for exploding the mine - an electric battery. The current of this battery cannot explode the charge because the electrical circuit is interrupted. Where the chain is interrupted, one of its ends is shaped like a magnetic needle. Two springs hold this arrow in one position. But as soon as a metal magnetic object appears near the mine and creates a magnetic field, the force of the springs is overcome and the arrow rotates on the axis until it touches the end of the second part of the chain (at the break point). The circuit will close, current from the battery will flow to the charge and explode it.

A parachute box in the form of two opening cones is placed in the pointed “tail” of the mine. The box contains a parachute with cables on which a mine hangs.

Airplanes equipped for dropping torpedoes are armed with magnetic mines. Only instead of one torpedo, such an aircraft takes with it two mines; they are placed in a chamber at the bottom of the aircraft fuselage. When the mine separates from the aircraft, its parachute box opens and releases the parachute. The parachute opens and lowers the mine onto the water on its cables. The impact on the water is not strong (thanks to the parachute) and the mechanisms do not break. After a mine falls into the water, a special mechanism is triggered, which releases the parachute. Mina sinks to the bottom. At low drop heights, mines are placed without parachutes.

A mine explodes when a ship passes over it and affects it with its magnetic field. A magnetic mine has to be placed at a shallow depth, no more than 20–25 meters, since at greater depths it will not “feel” the ship.

Almost simultaneously with the description of the magnetic bottom mine, information appeared in the press about another type of such weapon, about a pop-up magnetic mine. There are so many interesting and instructive details in the design of the pop-up mine that it is worth getting to know it.

Such a mine is dropped without a parachute at low altitude.

The design of this mine is more complex; it has many new mechanisms, because in front of the pop-up mine there is more difficult task- to lie in wait for ships at great depths, not in coastal waters, but on sea routes. Up to 120 meters separate such a mine from the surface of the water. When a ship appears nearby, the mine should float up and explode only at a shallow depth - 10-15 meters.

This mine is shaped like a radio tube, magnified 100 times or more. It weighs 400 kilograms and contains 200 kilograms of explosives. The body of this mine is also made of non-magnetic metal. An electric battery, a mechanism with a locked magnetic needle and electrical circuits are placed in the upper part of the case. In addition, two hydrostats are located here. Their mechanisms operate at a certain depth.

The charge and explosive device are placed in the middle part of the mine. There are two chambers at the bottom. One is designed for ballast water (we will soon find out when and why the mine takes this ballast). The second is filled compressed air. In addition, the back of the mine body is equipped with tails: this is a stabilizer.

The plane drops a mine from a low altitude (30–60 meters) without a parachute, and it falls with its front part down. The mine touched the water and sank to the bottom. But the disk of one of the hydrostatic devices is adjusted to operate at a depth of 20 meters. As soon as the mine reaches this depth, the disk begins to move and pushes a thin piston, which presses on the adjacent tube; mercury pours out of it into the place where the electrical circuit is interrupted. The circuit closes, and the current from the battery releases the magnetic needle from the fuse.

This mine has three electrical circuits. The first has already worked, but the second and third are still open. While the mine sinks to the bottom, the ballast compartment is filled with water through holes in the tail section. This makes the tail of the mine heavier than its front part - the mine turns over in the water and “sits” on the bottom on its tail. Now the mine is installed and lies in wait for its future victim.

The magnetic needle is very sensitive. When the ship is still a little less than a kilometer away, it begins to oscillate and turn around its axis. The ship is approaching - and the needle is turning more and more. Finally, the moment comes when the arrow touches the contact.

The second circuit will close, but the mine will not explode; after all, an explosion at a depth of 100–120 meters will not harm the ship. Besides, the ship is still far away; it is only approaching that part of the sea surface under which the mine is installed - there is still time for the explosion. Therefore, when the circuit closes, it is not the mine charge that explodes, but a small fuse in the tail section. This small explosion opens the valve of the compressed air tank. With enormous force, the air rushes into the ballast compartment and expels water from there. Mina is getting lighter. When water leaves the ballast compartment, special springs close the holes - more water no longer penetrates the mine. The mine begins to float to the surface. There is less and less water pressure on the disk of the second hydrostat, which has not yet “worked”. At a depth of 10–15 meters, this pressure will decrease so much that the spring will go up and push the disk; the lever connected to the disk will operate and close the third, combat electrical circuit. This time the electric current will charge and detonate the mine.

But where will it explode? Under the ship or to the side of it, in front or behind? These questions are difficult to answer. Of course, the ship will suffer most if a mine explodes under its very bottom. What is needed for this to happen? It is necessary that both the mine and the ship travel the distance to the explosion point at the same time. But the ship may not go in that direction at all, because the ship’s hull can affect the needle if the mine is not in front, but somewhere to the side. If the ship is heading towards a mine, then in this case one can rarely expect a real explosion. The mine goes upward at a speed of 6–7 meters per second; a battleship is approaching it at a speed of, say, 40 kilometers per hour or 11 meters per second; Let's assume that the arrow closes the circuit when the ship is 300 meters from the mine. The mine will reach the explosion point in 17 seconds (approximately), and the ship in 27 seconds. This means the mine will explode in front of the ship, approximately 100 meters away, and will not cause any harm. From this example it is clear that a successful coincidence of the magnitude and strength of the ship’s magnetic field is required (this determines at what distance from the ship the magnetic needle will close the contact of the second circuit and the mine will float up) with the direction of the ship, with its speed and with the depth of installation of the mine. Only in this case the explosion will occur under the bottom or very close to it. Therefore, even if a pop-up magnetic mine were actually used, it would hardly be expected to be particularly successful.

At the beginning of the Second World War, there were many cases of Allied ships being killed by German magnetic mines. We had to urgently look for remedies against the new underwater danger. Such a remedy has been found and is successfully serving its purpose.

How these means are designed and operate, we will talk about this in the chapter about sea workers, about sailors-miners from minesweepers who find and destroy enemy mines.

Even before German planes took off from their airfields in occupied Greece to land on the island of Crete, Nazi air destroyers often “visited” this area of ​​the Mediterranean and dropped mines on the waterways leading to the island. They tried to surround Crete with a mine ring, tighten a deadly noose around the island and cut it off from the main naval bases English fleet. All this was done in order to block the path of enemy ships in advance, weaken the defense of the island, and so that at critical moments of the air attack planned by the Germans, the British would not be able to provide assistance to Crete from the sea.

The Germans were unpleasantly surprised when it turned out that British ships regularly supplied the island and suffered negligible losses from mines. It’s as if someone managed to tell the English miners what kind of “traps” awaited them on the approaches to the island, and taught them to avoid dangers. The Nazis especially felt the weakness of their mines when the German transports heading to the island experienced powerful and destructive blows from British ships.

It seemed that the mines dropped by the Germans were powerless against the British ships. And the Nazis pinned special hopes on these mines. By this time, their magnetic mines, one of the types of Hitler’s “mysterious” weapons with which the Germans intended to conquer the world, were well known to the Allies. Allied miners learned to fight German magnetic mines without much loss. And then the Germans decided to unleash a new “unknown” weapon on the Allied ships, a new, seemingly irresistible, mine of enormous destructive power. It was with these mines that the Germans blocked Crete, and yet they were defeated again and again. The new mines caused almost no losses to the enemy. What new mines were these? Their peculiarity was that inside, in the body of the mine, there was a mechanical “ear” - a microphone, the same as in the handset of an ordinary telephone. Very soon the specialists figured out the structure of this mine. It turned out that the mine “hears” the noise of the machines and propellers of the approaching ship.

Moreover, this “hearing” is so subtle that it detects the moment when a ship passes over a mine. Then it explodes at the very bottom of the ship... unless, of course, measures are taken to prevent this from happening.

The device of the “hearing” mine is very interesting.

As with all other mines, the power of its impact lies in the charge. It is very large, much larger than in other mines. The amount of explosive filling the charging compartment of the mine reaches 700–800 kilograms. It is known that a “hearing” mine, or, as experts call it, an acoustic mine, hides on the bottom of the sea off the coast at relatively shallow depths. It explodes at some distance from the bottom of the ship. Therefore, the Germans equipped this mine with almost a ton of explosives, so that the force of its underwater strike, weakened by the thickness of the water, would be sufficient to destroy the ship. The membrane of the mine's mechanical ear is connected to a special oscillating vibrator lever located inside the mine, in the center of its upper part. There is a microphone under the vibrator; as soon as the vibrator touches the microphone, a continuous chain will be created from the shell to its mechanical ear. As long as there is no noise, as long as the “ear” does not “hear” anything, the vibrator is at rest and does not connect to the microphone.

The mine runs on an electric battery. The microphone is always connected to the circuit of this battery, and a small direct current flows through it. The primary winding of the transformer is included in the same circuit. While the mine does not “hear” anything and the vibrator is at rest, the current in the microphone circuit flows harmlessly, not threatening anything.

But a ship is approaching. Sound waves from the noise of cars and propellers diverge in all directions and travel far under water. They reach the membrane - the "eardrum" of the mine's mechanical ear - and begin to vibrate it. At first these fluctuations are small and slow. But the noise gets closer, the sounds intensify, the mine membrane begins to vibrate more and more. The vibrator also vibrates with it. And at the same time, with each vibration, it either touches the microphone, is included in its electrical circuit, then moves away from it, and is disconnected from the circuit. Each switching on causes an increase in the electrical resistance of the microphone, each switching off reduces this resistance. Because of this, the voltage of the direct electric current passing through the microphone circuit and the primary winding of the transformer changes all the time, becoming either less or more. Direct current turns into pulsating current. According to the laws of electrical engineering, an alternating current is excited in the secondary winding of the transformer, and its strength is greater, the “louder” the sounds of noise “heard” by the mine.

The mine also has a current rectifier. The alternating current from the secondary winding of the transformer passes through this rectifier and enters a new electrical circuit composed of two relays.

Meanwhile, the ship is approaching, its noises are intensifying and, along with them, the current in the new electrical circuit is increasing. Finally, the noise reaches a certain level and... the first relay is activated. It closes the contacts and at the same time connects a new special-purpose battery to the winding of the second relay. And within seconds the increasing noise causes the second relay to operate, which with its contacts forms a “bridge” between the new battery and the mine detonator. Current from the battery rushes through this bridge to the detonator, heats it, ignites it, and thereby explodes the mine. The entire explosive device is timed so that the explosion occurs just under the ship and hits it in the least protected part of the hull, at the bottom.

In addition to acoustic mines, which “hear” the approach of a ship, the Germans also used magnetic-acoustic mines. In these mines, both magnetic and acoustic devices work in the fuse circuit, or rather, the acoustic device seems to help the magnetic one. Such help was needed because a purely acoustic device often failed and worked at the wrong time.

Despite all the tricks of the Germans, their “new unknown weapon” - acoustic mines - was very quickly figured out by the Allies. They soon learned to neutralize them and clear blocked areas of the sea from them. In turn, the Allies managed to create more advanced models of acoustic mines.

All mines, both anchor and bottom, ordinary contact and non-contact (magnetic, acoustic) - they are all “blind” and do not recognize which ship is passing over them. Whether a friendly or enemy ship touches a mine fuse, its antenna, or passes near a magnetic or acoustic mine, an explosion will still follow. But there are also “sighted” mines that seem to “distinguish” between ships and explode only under enemy ships.

In 1866, when the Austrians fought with the Italians, among the coastal structures near Trieste, not far from its harbor, a small house, camouflaged by trees, was carefully guarded. One of the rooms inside the house, if Italian spies had penetrated it, would have aroused their legitimate curiosity. All the walls of the room were painted thick black. The only window was closed not with ordinary glass, but with optical glass - a lens.

The image of the harbor of Trieste through the lens fell on a glass prism inside the room and was reflected from it down onto the matte surface of a special “observation” table.

Dots were marked on the surface of the table. If the image of the harbor was reflected correctly onto the matte table, each dot represented a location where a mine was hidden under the water. But these were no ordinary anchor mines. An electric wire connected these mines to the mysterious house.

Attached to the observation table was the same keyboard as a grand piano. Each key controlled the explosion of a specific mine. As soon as one or another piano key was pressed, an electric current from the station on the shore immediately ran to the mine and exploded it.

From the picture of the harbor reflected on the frosted glass, the observer could monitor the approach of an enemy ship. As soon as the ship was above the mine, pressing the keys of the mine “piano” sank it.

This device was tested, the “music” of the mine piano was considered very successful, but... the Austrians did not have to use it as a military weapon: by this time the Italians had already been defeated in the naval battle of Lisse.

“Sighted” mines were not invented by the Austrians. These weapons originated during the American Civil War between northerners and southerners.

A few years before the Battle of Lissa, the southerners used mines that exploded with an electric current “sent” from the shore. The current was turned on when an enemy ship passed over the mine. These were “sighted” mines; it is these mines that should be considered the ancestors of modern “station” mines protecting naval bases warring parties. Since then, the technology for constructing and exploding sighted mines has continuously improved.

How do modern sighted mines protect the shores?

On the shore, somewhere between the rocks or underground, a mine control station is camouflaged. The protected area of ​​the sea is divided into square sections, clearly visible from the shore. Modern stations have neither a keyboard nor a panorama table.

Instead of a “piano” there is an ordinary control panel with switches, and instead of a panorama there is a periscope, like on a submarine. From the station, the cables stretch to the sea, go under water, wind along the rocky or sandy bottom and crawl into the distribution box.

Several wires are already radiating from the box to the mines guarding a certain square of the sea. These mines are similar to anchor mines, but they can also be bottom mines and are designed so that an electric current turned on from the station explodes the entire group. An enemy ship is approaching. He approaches the mined area, where one of the groups of mines lies in wait for the gate. A few more minutes, and the ship is already above the hidden sighted mines. The “eyes” of these mines are there, on the shore, inside the camouflaged station. From there, through the periscope, everything is clearly visible, and observers accurately catch the moment when they need to detonate the mines. Turning the switch - the electric current from a special coastal power station instantly runs the distance to the distribution box, from there it flows through the wires to the mine fuses and powerful explosion destroys the ship.

What happens if it is not a surface ship that is clearly visible that approaches the protected area, but an enemy submarine that is secretly approaching the shore? The submarine cannot be seen from the station through the periscope, but it will be heard: as soon as the submarine inevitably touches one of the mines or its mine, a signal will sound at the station, and turning the switch will explode exactly that group of mines, near which the invisible one is sliding under water at that moment enemy.

Until now, we have been talking about mines that precisely “know” their place under water, their combat post, and are motionless at this post. But there are also mines that move, float either under water or on the surface of the sea. The use of these mines has its own combat meaning. They do not have minreps, which means they cannot be trawled with ordinary trawls. You can never know exactly where and where such mines will come from; this is discovered at the last moment, when the mine has already exploded or appears very close. Finally, such mines, set adrift and entrusted to the sea waves, can “meet” and hit enemy ships on their way far from the place of deployment. If the enemy knows that floating mines have been placed in such and such an area, this hampers the movements of his ships, forces him to take special precautions in advance, and slows down the pace of his operations.

How does a floating mine work?

Any body floats on the surface of the sea if the weight of the volume of water displaced by it is greater than the weight of the body itself. Such a body is said to have positive buoyancy. If the weight of the volume of displaced water were less, the body would sink and its buoyancy would be negative. And finally, if the weight of a body is equal to the weight of the volume of water it displaces, it will occupy an “indifferent” position at any sea level. This means that it itself will remain at any sea level and will neither rise up nor fall down, but only move at the same level with the current. In such cases, the body is said to have zero buoyancy.

A mine with zero buoyancy would have to remain at the depth to which it was immersed when dropped. But such reasoning is correct only in theory. On the. In fact, at sea, the degree of buoyancy of the mine will change.

After all, the composition of sea water is different places, is not the same at different depths. In one place there are more salts in it, the water is denser, and in another there are less salts in it, its density is less. The temperature of the water also affects its density. And the water temperature changes at different times of the year and at different hours of the day and at various depths. Therefore, the density of sea water, and with it the degree of buoyancy of the mine, is variable. More dense water will push the mine upward, and in less dense water the mine will go to the bottom. It was necessary to find a way out of this situation, and the miners found this way out. They arranged the floating mines in such a way that their buoyancy only approaches zero, it is zero only for water in a certain place. Inside the mine there is an energy source - an accumulator or battery, or a reservoir of compressed air. This energy source powers the motor that rotates the mine’s propeller.

The mine floats under the current at a certain depth, but then it fell into denser water and was pulled upward. Then, as a result of the change in depth, the hydrostat, which is ubiquitous in mines, begins to work and turns on the motor. The mine's screw rotates in a certain direction and pulls it back to the same level at which it floated before. What would happen if the mine could not stay at this level and went downwards? Then the same hydrostat would force the motor to rotate the screw in the other direction and raise the mine to the depth specified during installation.

Of course, even in a very large floating mine it is impossible to place such an energy source so that its reserve would last for a long time. Therefore, a floating mine “hunts” its enemy - enemy ships - for only a few days. These few days she is “in waters where enemy ships could collide with her. If a floating mine could stay at a given level for a very long time, it would eventually float into such areas of the sea and at such a time when its ships could get on it.

Therefore, a floating mine not only cannot, but should not serve for long. The miners supply it with a special device equipped with a clock mechanism. As soon as the period for which the clock mechanism is wound has passed, this device drowns the mine.

This is how special floating mines are designed. But any anchor mine can suddenly become floating. Its minerep can break off, fray in the water, rust will corrode the metal, and the mine will float to the surface, where it will rush with the current. Very often, especially during the Second World War, warring countries deliberately laid surface-floating mines on the likely routes of enemy ships. They pose a great danger, especially in poor visibility conditions.

An anchor mine, which has involuntarily turned into a floating mine, can give away the place where the barrier is placed and can become dangerous for its ships. To prevent this from happening, a mechanism is attached to the mine that sinks it as soon as it floats to the surface. It may still happen that the mechanism does not work and the broken mine will swing on the waves for a long time, turning into a serious danger for any ship that collides with it.

If the anchor mine was deliberately turned into a floating one, then in this case it is not allowed to remain dangerous for a long time; it is also equipped with a mechanism that sinks the mine after a certain period of time.

The Germans also tried to use floating mines on the rivers of our country, launching them downstream on rafts. An explosive charge weighing 25 kilograms is placed in a wooden box at the front of the raft. The fuse is designed in such a way that the charge explodes when the raft collides with any obstacle.

Another floating river mine is usually cylindrical in shape. Inside the cylinder is a charging chamber filled with 20 kilograms of explosives. The mine floats underwater at a depth of a quarter of a meter. A rod rises upward from the center of the cylinder. At the upper end of the rod, just at the very surface of the water, there is a float with whiskers sticking out in all directions. The whiskers are connected to a percussion fuse. A long camouflage stem, willow or bamboo, is released from the float onto the surface of the water.

River mines are carefully disguised as objects floating along the river: logs, barrels, boxes, straw, reeds, grass bushes.

A sea mine is a munition that is placed covertly in the water. It is intended for damaging enemy water transport or impeding its movement. Such military products are actively used in offensive and defensive operations. After installation, they remain in combat readiness for a long period, but the explosion occurs suddenly, and it is quite difficult to neutralize them. A sea mine is a charge of explosive materials contained in a waterproof casing. There are also special devices inside the structure that allow you to safely handle ammunition and explode it if necessary.

History of creation

The earliest mentions of sea mines are recorded in the records of the Ming officer Jiao Yu in the 14th century. In the history of China, similar use of explosives is mentioned in the 16th century, when there were clashes with Japanese robbers. The ammunition fit into a wooden container, protected from moisture with putty. Several mines drifting in the sea with a planned explosion were planted by General Qi Jugang. Subsequently, the mechanism for activating the explosive was activated using a long cord.

Project about use marine world was designed by Rubbards and presented to Queen Elizabeth of England. In Holland, the creation of weapons called “floating firecrackers” also took place. In practice, such weapons turned out to be unsuitable for use.

A full-fledged sea mine was invented by the American Bushnell. It was used against Britain in the War of Independence. The ammunition was a sealed barrel of gunpowder. The mine drifted towards the enemy, exploding upon contact with the ship.

The electronic mine fuse was developed in 1812. This innovation was created by the Russian engineer Schilling. Jacobi later discovered an anchor mine capable of floating. The latter, in an amount of more than one and a half thousand pieces, were placed in the Gulf of Finland by the Russian military during the Crimean War.

According to official statistics of the Russian naval forces, the first successful case of using a sea mine was considered to be 1855. Ammunition was actively used during the Crimean and Russian-Japanese military events. During the First World War, with their help, about four hundred ships were sunk, of which nine were battleships.

Types of sea mines

Sea mines can be classified according to several different parameters.

Based on the type of installation of ammunition, they are distinguished:

• The anchors are attached at the required height using a special mechanism;
• The benthic ones sink to the seabed;
• Floaters drift along the surface;
• Pop-up ones are held by an anchor, but when turned on they rise vertically out of the water;
• Homing or electric torpedoes are held in place by an anchor or lying on the bottom.

According to the method of explosion they are divided into:

• Contact ones are activated upon contact with the body;
• Galvanic impact react to pressing on the protruding cap where the electrolyte is located;
• Antennas explode when colliding with a special cable antenna;
• Non-contact ones operate when a vessel approaches a certain distance;
• Magnetic ones respond to the ship's magnetic field;
• Acoustic ones interact with the acoustic field;
• Hydrodynamic ones explode when the pressure changes due to the ship's progress;
• Induction ones are activated by fluctuations in the magnetic field, that is, they explode exclusively under moving galleons;
• Combined ones combine different types.

Also, sea mines can be differentiated in terms of multiplicity, controllability, selectivity and type of charge. Ammunition is constantly improving in power. Newer types of proximity fuses are being created.

Carriers

Sea mines are delivered to the site by surface ships or submarines. In some cases, ammunition is dropped into the water by aircraft. Sometimes they are located from the shore when it is necessary to carry out an explosion at a shallow depth to counteract landings.

Naval mines during World War II

In certain years, among naval forces, mines were “weapons of the weak” and were not popular. Major naval powers such as England, Japan and the USA did not pay much attention to this type of weapon. During the First World War, attitudes towards weapons changed dramatically, when it was estimated that approximately 310,000 mines were delivered.

During the Second World War, naval “explosives” became widely used. Nazi Germany actively used mines; about 20 thousand units were delivered to the Gulf of Finland alone.

During the war, weapons were constantly improved. Everyone tried to increase his effectiveness in battle. It was then that magnetic, acoustic and combined sea mines were born. The use of this type of weapon not only from water, but also from aviation expanded their potential. Ports, military naval bases, navigable rivers and other water bodies were under threat.

There was heavy damage in all directions from sea mines. Approximately a tenth of transport units were destroyed using this type of weapon.

About 1,120 mines were installed in the neutral parts of the Baltic Sea at the start of hostilities. And the characteristic features of the region only contributed to the effective use of ammunition.

One of the most famous German mines was the Luftwaffe Mine B, which was transported to its destination by air. LMB was the most popular of all sea-bottom proximity mines assembled in Germany. Its success became so significant that it was also adopted for installation on ships. The mine was called Horned Death or Magnetic Death.

Modern sea mines

The M-26 is recognized as the most powerful of the domestic mines created in pre-war times. Its charge is 250 kg. This is an anchor “explosive” with a shock-mechanical activation type. Due to the significant volume of the charge, the shape of the ammunition was changed from spherical to spherocylindrical. Its advantage was that when anchored it was positioned horizontally and it was easier to transport.

Another achievement of our compatriots in the field of military armament of ships was the KB galvanic impact mine, used as an anti-submarine weapon. It was the first to use cast iron safety caps, which left their place automatically when immersed in water. In 1941, a sinking valve was added to the mine, allowing it to sink to the bottom on its own when separated from the anchor.

In the post-war period, domestic scientists resumed the race for leadership. In 1957, the only self-propelled underwater missile was launched. It became a pop-up rocket mine KRM. This became the impetus for the development of a radically new type of weapon. The KRM device made a complete revolution in the production of domestic naval weapons.

In 1960, the USSR began implementing advanced mine systems consisting of mine-missiles and torpedoes. After 10 years, the Navy began to actively use anti-submarine mine-missiles PMR-1 and PMR-2, which have no analogues abroad.

The next breakthrough can be called the MPT-1 torpedo mine, which has a two-channel target search and recognition system. Its development lasted nine years.

All available data and testing have become a good platform for the formation of more advanced forms of weapons. In 1981, the first Russian universal anti-submarine torpedo mine was completed. It was slightly behind the American Captor design in its parameters, while being ahead of it in installation depths.

UDM-2, which entered service in 1978, was used to damage surface and submarine ships of all types. The mine was universal from all sides, from installation to self-destruction on land and in shallow water.

On land, mines did not acquire any particular tactical significance, remaining an additional type of weapon. Sea mines have received a perfect role. As soon as they appeared, they became strategic weapon, often displacing other types into the background. This is due to the cost for combat of each individual vessel. The number of ships in the navy is determined and the loss of even one galleon can change the situation in favor of the enemy. Each ship has strong combat power and a sizable crew. The explosion of one sea mine under a ship can play a huge role in the entire war, which is incomparable to many explosions on land.

The G-7a steam-gas torpedo was used by destroyers and submarines. It was produced in three modifications: “T-I” (straight forward since 1938), “T-I Fat-I” (since 1942 with a maneuvering device) and “T-I Lut-I/II” (since 1944 with a modernized maneuvering and guidance device). The torpedo was propelled by its own engine and maintained a given course using an autonomous guidance system. The servo motors responded to commands from the gyroscope and depth sensor, keeping the torpedo in programmed modes. It had a steel body, two screws rotating in antiphase. The contact detonator was placed in firing position at a distance of at least 30 m from the boat. Since the torpedo had a bubble trail, it was more often used at night. Performance characteristics of torpedoes: caliber – 533 mm; length 7186 mm; weight - 1538 kg; explosive mass - 280 kg; cruising range – 5500/7500/12500 m; speed - 30/40/44 knots.

The torpedo was in service with submarines. It was produced in five modifications: “T-II” (straight-propelled since 1939), “T-III” (straight-propelled since 1942), “T-III-Fat” (with maneuvering device since 1943), “ T-IIIa Fat-II" (since 1943 with a maneuvering and guidance device), "T-IIIa Lut-I/II" (since 1944 with an upgraded maneuvering and guidance device). The torpedo had a contact fuse and two propellers. In total, about 7 thousand torpedoes were fired. Performance characteristics of torpedoes: caliber – 533 mm; length - 7186 mm; weight - 1603-1760 kg; weight - explosive - 280 kg; battery weight – 665 kg; speed - 24-30 knots; cruising range – 3000/5000/5700/7500 m; engine power – 100 hp

The homing acoustic (for ship noise) torpedo “T-IV Falke” was put into service in 1943. It had a bi-rotary (without gearbox) electric motor, two two-blade propellers, horizontal and vertical control rudders, and was powered by a battery. lead acid batteries. Having traveled 400 meters after the launch, the homing equipment was turned on and two hydrophones located in the flat bow listened to the acoustic noise of ships traveling in the convoy. Due to its low speed, it was used to destroy merchant ships moving at speeds of up to 13 knots. A total of 560 torpedoes were fired. Performance characteristics of the T-IV torpedo: caliber - 533 mm; length - 7186 m; weight – 1937 kg; explosive mass – 274 kg; speed - 20 knots; cruising range - 7000 m; launch range – 2-3 km; battery voltage - 104 V, current - 700 A; engine operating time - 17 m. By the end of the year, the torpedo was modernized and produced in 1944 under the designation “T-V Zaunkonig”. It was used to destroy escort ships guarding convoys and moving at a speed of 10-18 knots. The torpedo had a significant drawback - it could mistake the boat itself for a target. Although the homing device was turned on after traveling 400 m, standard practice after launching a torpedo was to immediately dive the submarine to a depth of at least 60 m. A total of 80 torpedoes were fired. Performance characteristics of the T-V torpedo: caliber - 533 mm; length - 7200 m; weight – 1600 kg; explosive mass – 274 kg; speed - 24.5 knots; battery voltage - 106 V, current - 720 A; power - 75 - 56 kW.

A human-controlled transporter for the covert delivery and launch of torpedoes was put into service in 1944. In fact, the Marder was a mini-submarine and could travel up to 50 miles without a torpedo. The design consisted of two 533-mm torpedoes - an elongated carrier torpedo and a standard combat torpedo suspended underneath it on yokes. The carrier had a driver's cabin protected by a hood at the head. A 30-liter ballast tank was installed in the bow of the transport torpedo. To launch a torpedo, it was necessary to surface and orient the bow of the device to the target through the sighting device. A total of 300 units were produced. Performance characteristics of the torpedo: surface displacement - 3.5 tons; length – 8.3 m; width – 0.5 m; draft – 1.3 m; surface speed – 4.2 knots, underwater speed – 3.3 knots; immersion depth – 10 m; range – 35 miles; electric motor power – 12 hp. (8.8 kW); crew - 1 person.

A series of aircraft torpedoes of the “Lufttorpedo” type were produced in 10 main modifications. They differed in size, weight, guidance systems and types of fuses. All of them, except the LT.350, had paragas engines with a power of 140-170 hp, which developed a speed of 24-43 knots and could hit a target at a distance of 2.8-7.5 km. The drop was carried out at speeds of up to 340 km/h without a parachute. In 1942, under the brand name “LT.350”, the Italian 500 mm parachute electric circulating torpedo, designed to destroy ships in roadsteads and anchorages, was adopted. The torpedo had the ability to travel up to 15,000 m at a speed of 13.5 to 3.9 knots. The LT.1500 torpedo was equipped with a rocket engine. The performance characteristics of torpedoes are presented in the table.

The torpedo was produced since 1943 by Blohm und Voss. It was a glider with an LT-950-C torpedo mounted on it. The torpedo was carried by the He.111 aircraft. When the torpedo approached a distance of 10 meters to the surface of the water, a sensor was triggered, giving a command to separate the airframe using small explosive packages. After diving, the torpedo followed underwater to the selected target. A total of 270 torpedoes were fired. Performance characteristics of the torpedo: length – 5150 mm; diameter – 450 mm; weight – 970 kg; explosive mass – 200 kg; release height – 2500 m, maximum range of application – 9000 m.

A series of aviation torpedoes of the “Bombentorpedo” type were produced since 1943 and consisted of seven modifications: VT-200, VT-400, VT-700A, VT-700V, VT-1000, VT-1400 and VT-1850. The performance characteristics of the torpedoes are set out in table.

Germany produced four types of magnetic mines of the RM type: RMA (produced since 1939, weight 800 kg), RMB (produced since 1939, charge weight 460 kg), RMD (produced since 1944, simplified design, charge weight 460 kg.), RMH (produced since 1944, with a wooden body, weight 770 kg.).

The mine with an aluminum casing was put into service in 1942. It was equipped with a macnitoacoustic fuse. It could only be installed from surface ships. Performance characteristics of mines: length – 2150 mm, diameter – 1333 mm; weight – 1600 kg; explosive mass – 350 kg; installation depth – 400-600 m.

The series of torpedo mines of the TM type included the following mines: TMA (produced since 1935, length - 3380 mm, diameter 533 mm, explosive weight - 215 kg), TMV (produced since 1939, length - 2300 mm, diameter - 533 mm ; weight - 740 kg; weight of explosives - 420-580 kg.), TMB / S (produced since 1940, weight of explosives - 420-560 kg.), TMS (produced since 1940 .. length - 3390 mm; diameter – 533 mm; weight – 1896 kg; explosive mass – 860-930 kg.). A feature of these mines was the possibility of their exposure through the torpedo tubes of submarines. As a rule, two or three mines were placed in the torpedo tube, depending on the size. Mines were exposed at a depth of 22 to 270 m. They were equipped with magnetic or acoustic fuses.

Aviation naval mines of the BM (Bombenminen) series were produced in five versions: BM 1000-I, BM 1000-II, BM 1000-H, BM 1000-M and Wasserballoon. They were built according to the principle high explosive bomb. Basically, all series of VM mines had the same device, with the exception of minor differences such as the size of the nodes, the size of the suspension yoke, the size of the hatches. Three main types of explosive devices were used in the mines: magnetic (they respond to the distortion of the Earth's magnetic field at a given point created by a passing ship), acoustic (they respond to the noise of the ship's propellers), hydrodynamic (they respond to a slight decrease in water pressure). Mines could be equipped with one of the three main devices or in combination with others. The mines were also equipped with a bomb fuse, designed to turn on the main fuse in the event of a normal situation, and when it fell to the ground, to blow up the mine. Performance characteristics of mines: length – 1626 mm; diameter – 661 ​​mm; weight – 871 kg; explosive mass – 680 kg; drop height – 100-2000 m without a parachute, with a parachute – up to 7000 m; drop speed – up to 460 km/h. Performance characteristics of the Wasserballoon mine: length – 1011 mm; diameter – 381 mm; explosive mass – 40 kg.

A series of anchor, contact mines of the “EM” type consisted of modifications: “EMA” (produced since 1930, length - 1600 mm; width - 800 mm; explosive weight - 150 kg; deployment depth - 100-150 m); “EMB” (produced since 1930; explosive mass – 220 kg; deployment depth – 100 - 150 m); "EMS" (produced since 1938, diameter - 1120 mm; explosive weight - 300 kg; deployment depth - 100 - 500 m), "EMC m KA" (produced since 1939, explosive weight - 250 - 285 kg; setting depth – 200-400 m); "EMC m AN Z" (produced since 1939, explosive mass - 285 - 300 kg, deployment depth - 200 - 350 m), "EMD" (produced since 1938, explosive mass - 150 kg, deployment depth - 100 - 200 m), "EMF" (produced since 1939, explosive mass - 350 kg, deployment depth - 200 - 500 m).

Marine and aviation parachute mines of the LM (Luftmine) series were the most common non-contact bottom mines. They were represented by four types: LMA (produced since 1939, weight - 550 kg; explosive mass - 300 kg), LMB, LMC and LMF (produced since 1943, weight - 1050 kg; explosive mass - 290 kg). The LMA and LMB mines were bottom mines, i.e. after being dropped they fell to the bottom. The LMC, LMD and LMF mines were anchor mines, i.e. Only the mine’s anchor lay on the bottom, and the mine itself was located at a certain depth. The mines were cylindrical in shape with a hemispherical nose. They were equipped with a magnetic, acoustic or magnetic-acoustic fuse. Mines were dropped from He-115 and He-111 aircraft. They could also be used against ground targets, for which they were equipped with a fuse with a clock mechanism. If the mines were equipped with a hydrodynamic fuse, they could be used as depth charges. The LMB mine was put into service in 1938 and existed in four main versions - LMB-I, LMB-II, LMB-III and LMB-IV. The LMB-I, LMB-II, LMB-III mines were practically indistinguishable from each other in appearance and were very similar to the LMA mine, differing from it in the larger length and weight of the charge. Externally, the mine was an aluminum cylinder with a rounded nose and an open tail. Structurally, it consisted of three compartments. The first is the main charge compartment, which housed an explosive charge, a bomb fuse, an explosive device clock, a hydrostatic self-destruction device, and a non-neutralization device. On the outside, the compartment had a yoke for suspension to the aircraft and technological hatches. The second is the compartment of the explosive device, in which the explosive device was located, with a multiplicity device, a timer self-liquidator and a neutralizer, a non-disposal device and an opening protection device. The third is the parachute compartment, which housed the stowed parachute. Performance characteristics of mines: diameter – 660 mm; length – 2988 mm; weight – 986 kg; charge weight – 690 kg; type BB – hexonite; application depths – from 7 to 35 m; target detection distance – from 5 to 35 m; multiplicity device - from 0 to 15 ships; self-liquidators - when lifting a mine to a depth of less than 5 m, according to a set time.