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on for its tankers kuwait s request for protection led to operation earnest will at the centre of the first convoy was bridgeton one of the largest ships in the world at the time originally launched in 1977 as al rekkah the ultra large crude carrier measured approximately 352 metres long 51 metres wide and could carry around 414 000 tonnes of cargo fuel water and stores the convoy s departure time route and speed had attracted significant media attention according to later accounts iranian forces laid mines near the well known transit route around farsi island located beside one of the gulf s principal shipping corridors during the night before the convoy iranian forces reportedly laid multiple lines of mines across the route roughly 13 nautical miles west of farsi island bridgeton struck a mine the blast tore a hole approximately 10 metres by 5 metres in steel plating over 27 mm thick to provide some perspective a naval warship has five eighths of an inch steel hull plating the giant tanker remained afloat retained propulsion and completed her voyage captain walter seitz later recalled that the shock wave travelled throughout the ship feeling much like a heavy impact from a large sea wave and powerful enough to almost knock him off his feet with concern that additional mines might be present the escorting warships fell in behind bridgeton and followed in her wake through the suspected danger area this was a practical response to a difficult tactical problem a relatively inexpensive mine had dictated the actions of a usn escorted convoy and exposed a vulnerability that many western navies had not seriously confronted since world war ii the incident demonstrated how asymmetric warfare can alter the behaviour of even the most powerful fleets thirty nine years later as attention once again turns to maritime security in the strait of hormuz the same lesson is being relearned asymmetric warfare can alter the behaviour of even the most powerful fleets 27 july 2026 andy perry 80 sea mines could take months to clear recent reporting suggests that clearing an estimated 80 sea mines from the strait of hormuz could take around two months to complete the strait of hormuz traffic separation scheme tss is approximately 16 nautical miles long and consists of two shipping lanes 2 nautical miles wide together that represents roughly 64sq nautical miles of waterspace if all 80 mines were laid within those lanes the average density would be 1 25 mines per square nautical mile in other words the problem isn t just the mine density it is the magnitude of area that must be searched assuming an autonomous underwater vehicle auv with a sonar swath of 80 metres a single run over the designated area will consist of 1 500 nautical miles of survey tracks multiple vehicles can reduce the survey phase but they do not remove pma launch and recovery deconfliction data management vehicle endurance battery replacement reacquisition identification neutralisation or re clearance issues even with automated target recognition ai a simplified first pass estimate suggests achieving sufficient confidence will take at least 4 to 5 weeks this is assuming no mines are found and that is only the search phase in the tss once mines are detected operations become more complex survey effort may need to increase additional investigation required mines must be positively identified neutralisation assets deployed and clearance has to be validated before confidence can be restored every confirmed mine will generate additional work and extends the timeline operators have to distinguish where the mines are but to do so they will need to sort through everything else on the seabed that looks minelike every discarded object thrown over the side of a ship rocky outcrop lost anchor shipping container fishing gear or sonar anomaly can become a contact of interest often in need of further investigation before it can be dismissed this is often tedious work and requires great patience seabed composition terrain debris and environmental conditions may effect sonar conditions and delay progress this is why sea mines remain one of the most strategically effective maritime weapons they can be laid in hours yet they are able to impose military economic and psychological effects lasting for weeks months or even years for mine warfare and mcm professionals the strait of hormuz will be an important case study in how far distributed autonomous and remotely operated mine countermeasure capabilities have progressed and importantly where our capability gaps reside operating from a distance completing the mcm kill chain and potentially doing so in contested waters appears to be one of the hardest problems in naval warfare 27 july 2026 andy perry on this day 5 july 1942 on this day in 1942 five allied ships were sunk two more were damaged and more than 120 men lost their lives after a convoy inadvertently sailed into a minefield the minefield had been laid by friendly forces following the successful delivery of supplies to the soviet union convoy qp 13 departed murmansk for iceland under the escort of the royal navy minesweeper hms niger its planned route would take it safely around the northern barrage a vast british minefield designed to restrict german naval access to the atlantic as the convoy approached iceland visibility deteriorated in dense arctic fog at some point niger s commanding officer believed he had identified the north west coast of iceland and altered course accordingly it wasn t the coast it was an iceberg unknowingly niger led the convoy directly into one of britain s own minefields niger struck a mine and sank rapidly merchant vessels heffron hybert massmar and rodina were also lost while john randolph and exterminator suffered severe damage more than 120 sailors from niger perished with only eight crew members surviving imagine being the commanding officer visibility is barely a nautical mile you believe you ve fixed your position and made the correct navigational decision minutes later your ship explodes followed by the merchant ships you are responsible for protecting those responding to the disaster would not initially have known whether they were dealing with a submarine attack or a minefield it would have been chaos the tragedy of qp 13 reinforces one of the most enduring lessons in mine warfare more than 80 years later technology has changed but the principle remains the same accurate navigation and effective information management save lives whether using paper charts in 1942 or digital command and control systems today success depends on maintaining an accurate accessible and trusted understanding of the battlespace navigation record management and information sharing remain fundamental to preventing losses to friendly forces commercial shipping and neutral vessels alike the loss of qp 13 is a sobering reminder that sea mines are inherently indiscriminate weapons once laid they threaten friend and foe alike unless the information surrounding them is managed with absolute precision 27 july 2026 andy perry on this day 19 june 1940 on this day 19 june 1940 a single sea mine brought world war ii to new zealand s home shores just five days earlier the german auxiliary cruiser orion had slipped undetected into new zealand waters and laid 228 mines in the approaches to the hauraki gulf in the early hours of 19 june the trans pacific liner rms niagara struck one of those mines and sank off bream head an interesting aspect of this story is niagara s colourful history known as the queen of the pacific she spent almost three decades linking australia new zealand fiji hawaii and canada carrying passengers mail and cargo across the pacific on her final voyage she was carrying a secret cargo of 590 gold bars and ammunition destined for the allied war effort most of the gold was later recovered through diving expeditions although three gold bars remain unaccounted for as a direct result of lessons learned from the titanic disaster niagara carried sufficient lifeboats and life rafts for all passengers and crew while the ship was lost every person onboard survived in may 1941 the new zealand minesweeper puriri struck another of orion s mines while transiting to conduct minesweeping operations of the 31 personnel onboard five were killed and 26 were rescued from the cold waters of the hauraki gulf for mine warfare practitioners niagara remains a powerful reminder of the strategic value of sea mines orion never engaged either vessel directly instead a well laid minefield generated significant operational economic and psychological effects demonstrating how an unseen threat can influence maritime operations far beyond the cost of the weapon itself more than 85 years later that lesson remains highly relevant as recent events in the strait of hormuz have demonstrated uncertainty perceived risk and the possibility of maritime disruption can influence the behaviour of shipping companies insurers and mariners long before a waterway is physically closed 27 july 2026 andy perry australia s declining mcm capability in 1989 an australian parliamentary inquiry warned that the inability of a nation to counter offensive mining is both obvious and easily exploited nearly 40 years later that warning still feels relevant australia relies heavily on maritime trade with most of it moving through a small number of key ports harbours and chokepoints that creates a clear vulnerability if one of these waterways was closed off from sea mines the economic and geopolitical impact would be immediate and significant the same inquiry states it is clear that an mcm capability must rank equally in the ran s force structure with submarine and surface warship programs this seems as pertinent today as it was back then i don t necessarily believe comparing these capabilities is useful in terms of funding however if mcm was recognised as a fundamental requirement and afforded just 10 of the funding for the hunter class frigate program or aukus australia would have a world class mcm capability and would be very well prepared to respond to mining threats at home or overseas mines are cheap adaptable and can be laid covertly they offer significant value to a proxy non state actor or outmatched military force because they can impose disproportionate cost and disruption for a relatively small investment in any military conflict against australia we should assume that sea mines will be deployed in our strategically valued ports and harbours and we must have an effective method to clear those waterways and restore access for shipping before it happens persistent underinvestment and a lack of long term planning mean australia s mcm capability is struggling to keep pace with the threat we are now down to a small number of mine hunter coastal vessels supported by relatively modest autonomous capabilities for an island nation that prides itself on resilience and self reliance allowing this vital capability to steadily erode over many years should be a serious concern australia s geography has not changed since 1989 and we are as vulnerable to the threat of sea mines now as we were then what appears to have shifted is the level of appreciation for that risk relevant extract from the 1989 parliamentary inquiry jcfadt report page 24 link to parliamentary report above 20 may 2026 andy perry hybrid mine countermeasures the rimini gaeta class mcmv fitted with the kongsberg auv the photo probably represents one of the most realistic and operationally capable mine countermeasures solutions available a hybrid approach where autonomous systems are deployed from a platform specifically designed and importantly safe to operate in or near a minefield capable of deploying auvs rovs and divers in order to complete the full mcm kill chain from a single unit it provides great flexibility and increased options for mcm command fitted with a thales variable depth sonar the ship can locate or reacquire contacts of interest identify them and conduct countermine operations as required rather than treating autonomy as a replacement for traditional mcm capability the italian navy appears to be adopting a layered or hybrid approach crewed mcm vessels are able to deploy uncrewed systems as the situation warrants while still retaining the ability to conduct more detailed mine warfare tasks when required i think this reflects the current reality and constraints of mcm operations it is becoming more apparent that detection and classification stages are capable of being carried out using autonomous systems however identification prosecution and clearance still depend heavily on supervised systems specialist operators and access near or to the battlespace in order to complete the kill chain it is an interesting example of how experienced european navies are approaching the transition from traditional mine warfare platforms towards greater autonomy rather than betting entirely on one concept they appear to be adopting a practical hybrid solution that balances capability risk and operational flexibility while newer technologies continue to mature in the field 20 may 2026 andy perry on this day 08 may 1942 on this day 84 years ago on 08 may 1942 the submarine hms olympus struck a mine shortly after leaving harbour leading to the death of 89 men and nine survivors olympus had previously embarked survivors from the submarines pandora p36 and p39 which had been damaged and sunk during air raids whilst the submarines were alongside in malta among them were captain edmonds of p36 and captain marriott of p39 shortly after departure the olympus hit a mine the damage was catastrophic and it quickly became clear she would not survive the order to abandon ship was given the survivors entered the water approximately seven miles from shore in temperatures around 10 5 c what followed was a long swim back to malta many did not make it the italian mining campaign which took place during the siege of malta had been extensive with around 54 000 sea mines deployed leading to the sinking of 180 ships a year earlier on 9 may 1941 the same minefields claimed the ss empire song with 18 killed the empire song caught two mines in her paravanes protective shields the mines exploded and the ship caught fire and sank taking 57 tanks and 10 aircraft with her the use of sea mines had proven very effective a weapon that once laid will remain patient until the opportunity to strike appears often with little or no warning and often having devastating effects the insidious sea mine continues to cause havoc to this day the fear hesitation and chaos this weapon can cause never ceases to amaze 9 may 2026 andy perry mines and australia s sea trade australia talks a lot about submarines and not enough about sea mines mine warfare remains one of the cheapest fastest and most effective ways to create strategic disruption that point came through clearly in a recent discussion featuring jennifer p...
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