BRITISH MINELAYING

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21370, 14 March 1941, Page 5

BRITISH MINELAYING

KIEL CANAL DAMAGED * GREAT WORK BY AIRMEN 1,250,000 MILES FLOWN (Official wireless) (Received March 14, 12 noon) RUGBY, March 13 Well over 100 ships engaged in supply for the enemy are known to have been destroyed in mined areas, representing less than ten per cent, of the total minefields laid by the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. In laying mines British aircraft have flown 1,250,000 miles. No German harbour is immune to British mine-laying aircraft, and despite its powerful and active defences the Kiel Canal has been the scene of considerable mine-laying. The results take some time to show. For example, in September certain mines were laid in the canal, but it was only at the end of November that it became known that seven enemy ships, each severely damaged by mines, were lying at one end of the canal. The repeated mining of the Kiel Canal has undoubtedly seriously embarrassed the movements of enemy naval and mercantile craft. The laying of mines from the air was a secret weapon when first used by the British, and Germany lost a great number of ships in narrow roadsteads and shallow channels beyond the reach of mine-laying ships before realising that the mines had been dropped by aeroplanes. A parachute attached opens as the mine falls, so that it slips gently into the water without damaging the delicate mechanism.