Evening star., 1939-11-19
Destructive Aids to Warfare Planted
In Fields Across Lanes Of Shipping
Use of Mines, Developed in World War,
Was Major American Activity, Leading
To Dangerous Sweeping Operations

the way for its battle fleet in case
of emergency. To the early mine
sweepers was given the delicate,
dangerous and vitally important
task of sweeping clear the seas in
advance of the fighting ships, just
as engineering detachments had to
go out in front of the infantry on
land to cut openings for the assault
waves through barbed-wire entan-
clements.
Nothing was actually done about
removing the World War fields un-
til after the Armistice. Then Rear
Admiral Joseph Strauss, command
ing the Mine Force of the United
States Navy, was informed that his
force, which had just completed
construction of the barrage, would
be required to remove it.
After hurried and anxious studies,
it was decided that the minelayers
themselves could not be used for
sweeping, owing to their deep draft,
and it was decided to use wooden
motor vessels with their propellers
guarded from contact with the
mines Two of these vessels were
to drag between them a sweep wire
to explode the surface mines, after
which heavier vessels would be free
to enter the fields to sweep the
mines which had been planted at
| lower levels.
On December 1, 1918, the Ameri-
can minelayers. some acting as troop
| transports, sailed for the United
! States, leaving behind the Black
Hawk, the Patapsco and the PatuXent
as the nucleus for the minesweeping
designated as flagship and repair
ship.
Fishing Smack Duties.
Two Lowestroft fishing smacks,
| the Red Fern and the Red Rose,
arrived at Inverness, the mineSWeep-
ing base, the latter part of Novem-
ber, and they were carefully pre-
pared and set out, escorted by the
Patapsco and the PatuXent, on De-
cember %, 1918. under command of
1t. Noel Davis, U. S. N.
A few minutes before noon De-
cember %, as the vessels crossed the
first line of invisible mines, a giant
column of discolored water sprang
high into the air close astern of the
Red RoSe-and the first mine in the
North Sea barrage had been swept.
The tremendous shock of the eX-
plosion all but crushed the hull of
the Rose; water spurted in between
the timbers in countless places; the
pump was started at once, but was
barely sufficient to keep her dry.
"It was a pretty sight to see these
little craft sailing back and forth
across the mine field, wearing and
tacking in unison, and keeping sta
ton on each other by furling top
sails or streaming sea anchors" the
Navy reported.
I'm all, the lines of mines were
crossed four times; six of the upper
level mines were exploded, neglt-
gible number, of course, when COM
pared with the $4,000 miles which
had been laid, but it had proved
conclusively that the mines were
still there, ready to explode upon
the slightest contact, and that every
possible precaution must be used in
the forthcoming operations to guard
the lives of the men who would be
required to sweep the mines"
A violent storm came up that eve
ming and continued for three days;
| o1 Ia 1f h.
suffered heavily and the Red Rose
and the Red Fern, given up for lost,
finally made port, the Rose, badly
wrecked, at Peterhead, and the Fern
at st. Andrews Bay, more than 200