WAR TIME PRECAUTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1941, Page 3

WAR TIME PRECAUTION

PARAVANES TO BE USED FITTED ON STEAMERS. PROTECTION AGAINST MINES. I (By Telegraph—Press Association.) I ' CHRISTCHURCH, May 26. As an ordinary wartime precaution against possible enemy mines, vessels engaged in the steamer express service between Lyttelton and Wellington have been fitted with paravanes, an anti-mine device first brought, into use in the war of 1914-18. One result of this will be that longer time will be taken for the trip. It is expected that the Maori, under normal conditions, will not arrive in port at Lyttelton or Wellington before 9 a.m. each day, and the Wahine, with her greater horse-power, should reach port about 7.30 a.m. That is about an hour later than at present. The Maori was fitted with the device during the weekend and was to use paravanes tonight on her trip from Wellington. She is expected at Lyttelton between 9 and 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. Till paravanes are tried out the times of the trips are a matter of conjecture and nothing will be known for certain for a few days at least. The paravane is an adaption of the fisherman's “otter,” as the twin-weight-ed boards which keep the mouth of a trawl net extended on the sea bottom are called. In shape it resembles a squat torpedo .equipped with hydrovanes and tailfins and a rudder actuated by water pressure. It is - also fitted with a pair of serrated steel jaws. Two paravanes are carried, by a ship and they are attached to her forefoot by wire cables. As a vessel forges ahead the action of the fins causes the paravanes to stream away from the bows at an angle of 50 degrees, while the rudders keep them at a fixed depth below the surface. Thus the vessel is protected by a V-shaped barrier of taut steel wire. If a submerged mine is encountered its mooring cable is caught by the paravane wire and deflected into the steel jaws of the paravane, which instantly sever it. The released mine then bobs up to the surface well away from the ship and is easily disposed of by gunfire.