What's yours is mined.

A place to talk about all things military, paramilitary, tactical, strategic, and logistical.
Post Reply
toad
Posts: 2645
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:00 pm

What's yours is mined.

Post by toad »

Well it looks like the US is looking at sea mine warfare, again. I remember a Brit Officer saying that the only thing learned from "lessons learned" studies is that they get filed and immediately forgotten.
I remember my father telling me about the mine laying operations of the B-29 on harbors and coast line of Japan. They not only destroyed a lot of ships but because the railroads were destroyed even when they had food, they couldn't move it to where it was needed.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairw ... 51102.aspx
The CH-53 Helicopter problems are coming up again. They need them to tow anti-mine devices.
As a side note the Marines are getting their Ch-53's rebuilt, more powerful engines, redesigned, lighter and stronger blades, better transmission. It will be the CH-53K.. It is supposed to have three times the lifting power of the old CH-53's another source says twice as much lifting power.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/ch5 ... ted-01724/
Langenator
Posts: 1155
Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 2:10 pm

Re: What's yours is mined.

Post by Langenator »

The harbor mining was not something the bomber jocks were happy about doing, even though it was quite effective. They much preferred dropping bombs, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the mining mission.

In a future war against our most likely maritime opponent, China, I think sea mines would also be very effective, but I'm not sure our Navy has either the capability or doctrine for mine laying, especially in the face of enemy air, surface, and sub patrols.

But given how much oil Red China needs to import, I imagine a combined campaign to a) mine the approaches to their oil offloading ports; b) hit the oil offloading terminals with cruise missiles, preferably while ships are offloading (to damage/destroy the terminals, and sink the ships to prevent/slow access if the terminals can be repaired); and c) sink inbound tankers would start hurting their economy in short order. Maybe just for fun have some B-2s drop bunker busters on Three Gorges and maybe some of their other hydroelectrics.
Fortuna Fortis Paratus
toad
Posts: 2645
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Re: What's yours is mined.

Post by toad »

I'd pass on destroying the 3 Gorges dam. Almost as soon as it was built is started developing cracks. The Chinese said it was corrupt "Tofu" construction. Supposedly they've started patching and re-enforcing it. The nasty thing about it is a lot of Chinese live in narrow spots below the dam and because they depend on what water is left, they can't move high enough to get away from a flood if the dam ever gave way. There is speculation that the Chinese figure the question is when the damn is going to give way not if. Apparently they are not getting as much electric power from it as planned because they are afraid to let a full head of water build up behind the dam. It is thought that there is a push for nuclear power and other means to make up for the loss of the dam due to shut down and dismantling. Lot's of internal politics involved and lots of lying.
User avatar
Rumpshot
Posts: 3998
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:56 am

Re: What's yours is mined.

Post by Rumpshot »

The Navy has the capability to lay mines. I was aboard the USS Coral Sea when we mined Haiphong harbor. We probably had most of the mines onboard for less than a week. In a matter of hours we were done laying them, and President Nixon then made the announcement.
NRA Life Member
VFW Life Member
NMLRA Field Rep
North Central Arizona
User avatar
Darrell
Posts: 6586
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:12 pm

Re: What's yours is mined.

Post by Darrell »

toad wrote:I'd pass on destroying the 3 Gorges dam. Almost as soon as it was built is started developing cracks. The Chinese said it was corrupt "Tofu" construction. Supposedly they've started patching and re-enforcing it. The nasty thing about it is a lot of Chinese live in narrow spots below the dam and because they depend on what water is left, they can't move high enough to get away from a flood if the dam ever gave way. There is speculation that the Chinese figure the question is when the damn is going to give way not if. Apparently they are not getting as much electric power from it as planned because they are afraid to let a full head of water build up behind the dam. It is thought that there is a push for nuclear power and other means to make up for the loss of the dam due to shut down and dismantling. Lot's of internal politics involved and lots of lying.
Just wait until that new Chinese commercial airliner goes into service. :roll:
Eppur si muove--Galileo
toad
Posts: 2645
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Re: What's yours is mined.

Post by toad »

Darrell wrote:
toad wrote:I'd pass on destroying the 3 Gorges dam. Almost as soon as it was built is started developing cracks. The Chinese said it was corrupt "Tofu" construction. Supposedly they've started patching and re-enforcing it. The nasty thing about it is a lot of Chinese live in narrow spots below the dam and because they depend on what water is left, they can't move high enough to get away from a flood if the dam ever gave way. There is speculation that the Chinese figure the question is when the damn is going to give way not if. Apparently they are not getting as much electric power from it as planned because they are afraid to let a full head of water build up behind the dam. It is thought that there is a push for nuclear power and other means to make up for the loss of the dam due to shut down and dismantling. Lot's of internal politics involved and lots of lying.
Just wait until that new Chinese commercial airliner goes into service. :roll:
I wonder how many cruise missiles it can carry? :o
User avatar
randy
Posts: 8334
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:33 pm
Location: EM79VQ

Re: What's yours is mined.

Post by randy »

Rumpshot wrote:The Navy has the capability to lay mines. I was aboard the USS Coral Sea when we mined Haiphong harbor. We probably had most of the mines onboard for less than a week. In a matter of hours we were done laying them, and President Nixon then made the announcement.
One of the guys in my office at CINCPAC was the Command Mine Warfare Officer. Spent an interesting afternoon one day looking over his documents and being briefed on the various plans, including minefield maps of [REDACTED] and the various platforms and tactics for deploying them.

First time I ever saw an MMS crew practice load a B-52 it was with mines. A D model could carry a shitload of them.
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
Post Reply