Vol. XXXV, No. 2 



WASHINGTON 



February, 1919 



NATflONAL 

 GE0G1AIPMDC 



THE NORTH SEA MINE BARRAGE 



By Capt. Reginald R. Belknap, U. S. N. 



SAVAGE beasts are trapped most 

 easily near their dens. That is the 

 action which our Navy Depart- 

 ment urged against the enemy submarine 

 -campaign. 



From the moment of entering into the 

 war, our Navy advocated strong offensive 

 measures to block the German bases, so 

 that no more submarines, or very few, 

 might get out, and those returning might 

 t)e caught and destroyed. 



Now, the German forces were very 

 strong for operations near their own 

 coast, and although the British destroyers 

 were constantly planting mines in the 

 Helgoland Bight, they could not prevent 

 the German mine-sweepers from keeping 

 channels open through these mine fields. 



CEMENTS WHICH AIDED THE ENEMY AND 

 HANDICAPPED THE ALLIES 



The enemy even had special vessels 

 called barrage-breakers, and they were 

 also very much assisted by bad weather, 

 fogs, and variable currents, which handi- 

 capped the Germans much less than the 

 British, who had to operate from a start- 

 ing point farther away. 



There was also the Skagerrack passage 

 "between Denmark and Norway, where no 

 barrier could be placed without violating 



* An address delivered by Capt. Reginald R. 

 Belknap, U. S. N., before the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, in Washington, D. C, Feb- 

 ruary 7, 1919. Captain Belknap was the officer 

 in direct command of the American Navy's 

 mine-laying squadron. 



neutral waters. Consequently, the enemy 

 submarines could always use this channel 

 going to and from their bases at Kiel and 

 Wilhelmshaven. 



Any barriers that the allied navies could 

 place near the German coast and near the 

 Skagerrack were so close to the German 

 bases that the enemy could at any time 

 break through at some point by suddenly 

 attacking there with more force than the 

 allies could maintain over any one section 

 of the whole line, so far away from the 

 bases in Great Britain. Just as in a game 

 of football, no matter how strong the line 

 is, a wedge of two or three players to- 

 gether, striking the line in one place can 

 nearly always break through before more 

 men can get there to stop them.- That 

 was the situation eighteen months ago. 



There were mines in plenty near the 

 German coast, forcing all enemy craft to 

 be very careful and now and then doing 

 them some damage ; but the submarines 

 could still go in or out. The barrier close 

 to the German coast could not be made 

 effective 



AN AMERICAN INVENTOR'S IDEA ADAPTED 

 BY THE BUREAU OF ORDNANCE 



As soon as America went into the war a 

 flood of inventions poured into Washing- 

 ton — all kinds of schemes for winning the 

 war. Among them was one by an Amer- 

 ican electrician, which, though unsuited 

 for naval purposes in the form in which 

 submitted, had one part that was adapta- 

 ble to a submarine mine, offering great 



