MINES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3021, 7 March 1917, Page 6

MINES

THE "BARBED WIRE" OF THE

(From the "Daily Mail.") One cannot be at sea very long in! any kind of a lighting ship without discovering that tho Navy lias its own kind of "barbed wiro" to contend against. "When glancing over an up-to-date chart of the North Sea ono finds it blotched all about with markings which look like eruptions. As a matter of fact these markings do indicate possible eruptions, for they show the whereabouts of minefields. Thess are the "barbed wire" of the sea, and a nastier thing to run agains,t man, with all his ingenuity in devising methods of destruction, has never contrived. One need exert no effort oO imagination to justify the comparisoii, for the minefield answers just the same purpose afloat as the barbed-wire entanglement does on shore. Without ib sea war would bo a very different matter from what it now is. or, at least, inj the narrow waters where all the mosb' important fighting must take place.j One has only to look cursorily at the' situation to understand how important, an influence this naval "barbed wire"exorcises upon the conduct of operations afloat. x

For ono thing, it limits the movements of the belligerent forces. Even our Grand Fleet, master though it be of. the seas, cannot go whorever i& pleases because of the minefields scattered about the water. Whenever the sea Hun wants to "dig himself in" ab a base he drops a minefield in front ob it, and behind this protection proceeds with his task, well knowing that no British admiral would be so foolish as to play tho enemy's game by taking his ships into such a dangerous area. And they are not little minefields that the Hun puts down. Some of those ho' has laid'in the North Sea are quite the biggest ''entanglements" of the kind ever constructed, containing, as they do, thousands upon thousands of floating death-traps. They nave cost him a great deal of money, but from Jiis point of view it has been money well spent, since no hostile ship can get through a minefield unless it knows the secret channels, and where such exist they are continually being changed in order to prevent any of our vessels discovering, and using, them.

Keeping Minefields Intact. Experience has taught the Hun that) ho cannot rely for safety even on his, naval "barbed wire" unless he spends . a great deal of time keeping it intact. Our submarines are very inquisitive and have a habit of "poking their way" through his thorniest "entanglements,'* , which gives the Hun many uncomfortable moments. Although we on this side .of tho Channel hear nothing about those incidents, time and again have our E-boats crept through his' "barb'ed wire" and dared the Hun in his lair; so much so that he never feels wholly secure against them. Surface vessels, however, are quite another matter. Tor them to attempt "jumping"a minefield would mean almost certain destruction. Barbed wire erected against troops can be destroyed by artillery. The kind used at sea cannot bo swept away in this fashion. A squad* ion might bombard a minefield until its guns were worn out and the "entanglement" would still be impassable. The only safe way of treating such an, obstruction lies in finding out its position and then keeping away from it. And that is the course generally adopt-f ed - Minefields play the part of concealed: snares as well as protections. Ofte« enough-have the Huns' tried to entice our ships into them, though never once have they succeeded in doing this.. Numbers of such traps were laid foi* Sir John Jellicoe, and he fell into nona of them. In fact, the only ships loso in German minefields have heen the - Germans' own. Just how many they have had' destroyed and badly damaged in this way possibly the Marincamt (Admiralty) alone knows. Certainly lti is more than one or two, and in practically every case they met disaster hyj dashing into their own mines when running away from British vessels which were chasing them. The Germans, you see, had to get home some-' how in order to reach safety, wmla our ships were able to stop, when they, pleased, and, therefore, could keefl clear of unnecessary dangers.. By hearing in mind what the presenca of these death-bestrewn areas does in, the way of "roping off" cruising one becomes the hetter ablo to understand certain naval happenings which might otherwise seem a bits puzzling. Such, for example, as the periodic "comings out" of the German High Seas Fleet. Every now and a<rahvwe are told from Berlin thab 'Our High Seas Fleet went out into the North Sea yesterday and returned again without meoting with the enemy.

What "Coming Out" Means. Now this may bo quite true in stf far as tho bare statement of fact goes, thoudi a rank lie as regards the implication sought to be conveyed by it;. The German Fleet "comes out" in this way quite often—and there is. nothing to stop it from doing so. What really happens on these occasions is that the Kaiser!s timid "Armada" leaves liar-" hour, steams up and down inshore behind the shelter of its minefields, possibly ventures a little into some neutral three-mile limit, a'nd then "turns again home." As a military effort suck ai "cruise" counts for nothing, being about equivalent to a battalion of the Prussian Guard going for a routs march twenty miles behind the German Tront and then boasting that lb was not molested en route by any orthe Allied troops. For all practical purposes two fleets might just as well have a stretch of dry land betweeu them as a minefield, since tho one is no more passable toi ships than the other, and so long as the German High Seas Fleet keeps within the shelter of its -miles-wide minefields it may continue to "come out" with impunity. Upon such occasions the Gorman naval commander takes very good care to keep tile minefields between himhelf and the British Fleet, and not to put. tlirm_ between: himself and the • shore. This naval "barbed wire" also accounts for sundry things that happen off ZeebruggeJ From that base Him destroyers creep out and seize Dutch merchantmen by coming from behind minefields anil "grabbing" the unlucky Hollanders, much after the fashion of a footpad springing on an unsuspecting traveller from behind a wall. And the minefield likewise plays an important part in connection with the sporadic forays of enemy torpedo craft. Without it such guerilla-like adventures would be far less easy. But, the raiders can bolt out and bolt back again knowing that after reaching a certain p6int on the «ay home they will bo pretty secure against attack, as the minefields will stop pursuers from/risking their keels in unsafe waters at night.