REMOVAL OF THE NORTH SEA MINE BARRAGE 



107 



attempt is made to recover the mines, for 

 the risk involved is far greater than the 

 mine is worth (see pictures, pages no 

 and 116). 



During the war the German submarines 

 laid hundreds of mines in the entrances 

 to European harbors, and toward the end 

 had scattered some along our own At- 

 lantic coast. Permanent sweeping forces 

 were required to keep the channels 

 cleared, and, while vessels so engaged 

 were occasionally lost, our chief concern 

 was from a totally different source. 



These mines which Germany had laid, 

 likewise the British mines, were what is 

 known as the "horn type." Leaden horns 

 project from the mine and must be struck 

 and broken before the mine explodes. 



Our mine was different. Invented 

 shortly after the United States had en- 

 tered the war, it had made the construc- 

 tion of the Xorth Sea Barrage possible. 

 A piece of metal the size of a nail was 

 sufficient to explode it. Furthermore, a 

 long antenna stretching up above the mine 

 enormously increased its radius of action. 

 Vessels built of anything but wood could 

 not survive in such a field. Even the 

 sweep-wire was sufficient to detonate the 

 mine, and, worse, one mine frequently 

 caused other mines to countermine, and 

 if one of these should be beneath a 

 sweeper ! 



THE MAN CHOSEN EOR THE INTRICATE 

 TASK 



The task before us indeed was deli- 

 cate. It called for concentrated genius 

 and iron-handed resolution to tackle such 

 a problem, and Rear-Admiral Joseph 

 Strauss, United States Navy, was selected 

 for the job. Possessing an intricate 

 knowledge of explosives and their ca- 

 prices, a knowledge derived from long 

 periods of duty in the Bureau of Ord- 

 nance, and having personally directed the 

 actual construction of the barrage, he 

 was, without qualification, the one man 

 in the Navy best suited for such an ex- 

 acting undertaking. But even he didn't 

 have the faintest idea what the ultimate 

 method of sweeping would be. 



Every possible scheme must be tried 

 with the hope of finding a solution — a so- 

 lution not only for clearing the mines in 

 the shortest possible time, so that ship- 



ping might resume its normal routes, but. 

 primarily, one which would afford the 

 maximum safety to the men who were to 

 be engaged in this hazardous work, for 

 human life had at last returned to par. 



The first thing to be done was to ascer- 

 tain the then existing condition of the 

 barrage. 



It was now December. The mines had 

 been laid from three to six months. In 

 order to limit the depredations of the U- 

 boats as quickly as possible, it had been 

 necessary to lay these newly developed 

 mines without subjecting them to the ex- 

 haustive tests so essential to the logical 

 development of all intricate and delicate 

 mechanisms. Perhaps the firing batteries 

 had become exhausted or some other un- 

 foreseen defect had rendered them inac- 

 tive. This we must know at once ; for, 

 aside from the shortness of the winter 

 days in such high latitudes (60 degrees 

 north), gale follows gale with such ra- 

 pidity that small craft are scarcely ever 

 safe, and sweeping during the winter 

 would be impossible. 



If we were to complete our task dur- 

 ing the coming summer, everything must 

 be in readiness to begin active operations 

 at the first break of spring. 



MAKING SAILING-SMACKS MINE-PROOE 



Steel vessels could not, of course, be 

 used for this first experiment, and self- 

 propelled wooden vessels invariably have 

 so many iron fittings about their hulls 

 that they, too, would be in constant dan- 

 ger. Admiral Strauss therefore borrowed 

 from the British two of the only type 

 of vessels left — wooden sail-boats sixty- 

 nine feet long. 



Sweep mines with these ? The idea was 

 discouraged from the beginning. How 

 could two small fishing-smacks, with their 

 sterns tied together by a heavy sweep- 

 wire, keep position on each other, pass 

 sweep, and maneuver back and forth 

 across the mine field? Ridiculous as the 

 idea seemed, it was our only chance to 

 gain the information that was needed. 



The first step was to make them mine- 

 proof, as far as such a thing were possi- 

 ble. They were hauled out upon the 

 ways at Inverness, the hulls inspected, 

 nail-heads driven in and plugged, and 

 other metal fittings sheathed with wood. 



