REMOVAL OF THE NORTH SEA MINE BARRAGE 



105 



DETAIL MAP OF THE MINE GROUPS 



The mines laid by the United States Navy are represented by full lines, and are further 

 distinguished by group numbers. The broken lines indicate the mines laid by Great 

 Britain. 



were more than 70,000 mines — more than 

 had been laid during the entire war in all 

 the other waterways combined — and of 

 these slightly better than 80 per cent had 

 been laid by the United States Navy dur- 

 ing the six months preceding the Armis- 

 tice. Now, with the arrival of peace, we 

 had accepted the responsibility of remov- 

 ing every mine that we had laid. 



Think what it meant. Here was a death 

 trap containing more than 21,000,000 

 pounds of TNT and extending over an 

 area of approximately 6,000 square 

 miles ! This mighty belt of destruction 

 had plucked from Germany her only hope 

 of victory, because the crews of her sub- 

 marines, after losing their comrades, who 

 tried in vain to cross it, mutinied and re- 

 fused to risk their lives in what appeared 

 a certain death (see maps, pages 104 

 and 105). 



Although the Germans had learned the 

 secret of our mines within a month after 

 the first one was laid, they were unable 

 to devise any means of safeguarding 1 their 

 ships to prevent them from exploding 

 these delicate weapons — weapons which 

 now confronted us with all the potential 



destruction that had been designed to 

 subdue an enemy. 



We had veritably sown our wild oats, 

 and now we had to reap them ; for the 

 only means of removing the mines was to 

 cross and recross the mine fields, time 

 after time, until we were sure that not a 

 single mine was left. 



HOW MINES ARE SWEPT 



Sweeping mines, for by such name is 

 the process of removing them called, is 

 not a particularly intricate art. It con- 

 sists essentially in dragging a heavy wire 

 between two vessels. In order to bury 

 the wire to a sufficient depth beneath the 

 surface to insure catching the mines, 

 "kites" are attached to the sweep-wire 

 just astern of each vessel. These kites 

 fly down in the water in much the same 

 manner that an ordinary kite flies up in 

 the air (see page 108). 



When a mine is caught in the sweep- 

 wire, it is dragged along until the slender 

 wire which holds it to its anchor breaks, 

 allowing the mine to rise to the surface, 

 where it is destroyed. This is ordinarily 

 done by puncturing it with rifle-shots, so 

 that it sinks and becomes innocuous. No 



